Two days later.
Fruit Hunter Yang Yang posted the first collaborative promotional video about Hai Lu Feng Company's strawberries on his social media account, debuting on A B Platform.
Several company accounts managed by the Online Store Department also posted promotional videos, and they followed one another's accounts.
Besides A B Platform, promotional copy was released simultaneously on Note Platform, WeChat, Little Red Sweet Potato, and other platforms.
However, the traffic purchased by the Online Store Department was not deployed immediately, because there was still about a week before the strawberries officially went on sale.
On A B Platform.
Quite a few fans and passersby were already browsing and commenting under Fruit Hunter Yang Yang's video.
The comment section refreshed with several new comments every few minutes.
Bi Shu Mountain Villa: Bought it already. My kid really loves it (ω)
Durian King: Dandong Strawberry is forever the best. Come argue if you disagree!
Anti-Argument Guard: 99 per kilogram? I'm out!
Audebiao Transportation Company: At that price, wouldn't Dandong Strawberry be better? Even sponsored content shouldn't be this shameless.
Fallen Cherry Divine Axe: The price is pretty painful, but with coupons and discounts, buying half a kilo to try is okay. Ordered!
Universe-Embracing Sun Liancheng: Hai Lu Feng Company? Aren't they the ones that sell eel fry? Why are they selling strawberries now? Or is it another company with the same name?
Ala Likes to Eat Eel Rice: Girls, go for it! They're genuinely delicious! I had them at the physical store in Shanmei, and all three varieties were amazing! Pictures included, proof is right there!
Abnormal Human Research Institute: Bought it! If it isn't good, I'm unfollowing immediately!
Boston Garden Sword: Bloggers have to make a living too. Everyone, be understanding. Even if you don't want to support it, there's no need for sarcasm.
Hi Hi Life: Damn! It really is the Hai Lu Feng Company that sells eel fry. They sell strawberries too?
Zhang Erchibubao: Hai Lu Feng's canned eel is pretty good, great with rice. Feels no worse than grilled eel from a Japanese restaurant.
Bieqieliefu in the Arctic: @Zhang Erchibubao, brother, has it occurred to you that the grilled eel you ate at the Japanese restaurant might have been canned eel produced by Hai Lu Feng Company?
The comment section was complete chaos.
Some were mocking them.
Some did not care at all.
Some placed orders directly.
Some were stirring up fights and hurling insults.
Some kept derailing the discussion.
On the third floor of Hai Lu Feng Company's headquarters.
Zhang Xinyi and several subordinates were looking at the store's backend data. In less than two hours, more than three hundred preorders had accumulated.
Judging from the order sources in the backend data, two-thirds came from Fruit Hunter's account recommendation, while the rest had been drawn in by Hai Lu Feng Company's own social media accounts.
This was the traffic brought by major online influencers in the internet era. Sometimes, it really was considerable.
The two customer service representatives were already overwhelmed. Zhang Xinyi had no choice but to temporarily transfer people from the Marketing Planning Office, and she personally joined in as well, barely managing to handle the various inquiries generated by this wave of orders.
Watching the customer service notifications in the backend gradually decrease, Zhang Xinyi knew that the first wave of traffic was starting to decline. She let out a sigh of relief and picked up her cup for a sip of coffee.
After setting down the cup, she picked up the phone and called South Lake Farm manager Lu Weibin.
Beep, beep, beep...
"Hello, Manager Zhang. What is it?"
"Manager Lu, the orders have currently reached 376. I've synced the orders to your side, so you can begin scheduling shipments."
"I'm looking at them now. No problem. We'll start loading on the 19th, but I suggest we only take one thousand preorders. The peak fruiting period won't come until next month. Right now, we're only producing a little over a hundred jin of fruit per day, which isn't enough for sales."
"Understood. Once we reach one thousand orders, I'll suspend preorders."
Lu Weibin hung up and turned to the order clerk. "A Xin, pay attention to shipment scheduling. Starting from the 19th, schedule one hundred boxes per day. Raise that to two hundred per day next month."
"Okay."
Lu Weibin then went to inspect the logistics warehouse.
He instructed the warehouse manager to keep a close eye on the inventory of consumables such as corrugated cartons and foam inner boxes.
Immediately afterward, Lu Weibin went to the farm's goods warehouse and checked on the operation of the cold storage.
Meanwhile, one sorter and two packers in the packaging workshop were already busy at work.
However, the products they were packaging were not for online store orders, but for sale at physical stores.
The packaging for physical store products differed from that of online store products.
Lu Weibin picked up a box of packaged Vanilla Strawberry. Six Vanilla Strawberries were arranged neatly inside, all nearly identical in size. There were no bruised patches on their surfaces and no green areas.
He placed it on the electronic scale beside him and tared it.
153g
Standard Vanilla Strawberries usually weighed between 20 and 30 grams each. Depending on their size, they were divided into two grades: Grade A and Grade B.
Grade A fruit weighed around 25 to 30 grams.
Grade B fruit weighed around 20 to 24 grams.
The box Lu Weibin had weighed was Grade A. Its price label had already been attached, listing it at 14 yuan per box.
He then picked up two boxes of Grade B fruit and placed them on the electronic scale.
134g
138g
Grade B fruit sold for 10 yuan per box.
The strawberries harvested over the past few days had not been refrigerated in the warehouse. Instead, all of them had been sent to the physical store on Erma Road for sale.
Lu Weibin took every stage of strawberry production very seriously, since this matter concerned South Lake Farm's standing within the company.
Compared with the Salt Town eel farming base, South Lake Farm's status was indeed inferior.
If South Lake Farm could not make money, the company might cut the department. Lu Weibin did not want to lose his job again. At his age, it would be far too awkward.
After inspecting several boxes of strawberries.
He again instructed the sorter to pay attention to quality control. It was better to increase product loss a little than to pass off inferior goods as good ones.
This was also something Jiang Miao had repeatedly emphasized.
If they wanted to maintain Hai Lu Feng Company's brand, ensuring product quality was crucial.
That was also why Lu Weibin frequently came over for spot checks. He worried that the employees would cut corners, mix bad strawberries in with the good ones, and ruin the company's reputation.
After leaving the packaging workshop, Lu Weibin rode his electric tricycle toward the farm greenhouses.
He happened to run into Jiang Miao, who was coming out of the experimental greenhouse.
"Boss."
"Old Lu, how have things been these past few days?" Jiang Miao asked while washing his hands.
Lu Weibin locked his vehicle. "The Online Store Department has quite a lot of orders, and the farm's production capacity is falling a little behind. I told them to control the number of preorders."
"Mm, that's true. Even though they're preorders, we still can't make customers wait too long, or they'll easily lose patience." Jiang Miao nodded. "I'm heading to the farming base. Get back to work."
"Okay, boss. Take care."
Lu Weibin did not linger at the entrance. He headed straight into the three mu of strawberry greenhouses that were already flowering and bearing fruit.
Three harvesters were picking strawberries with miniature electric scissors.
He looked at the plastic baskets already filled with picked strawberries. There were four baskets in total, and each full basket held around ten kilograms.
In other words, only forty kilograms of strawberries had been harvested that morning.
Lu Weibin then looked at the unharvested area. About two-thirds remained, so they could probably harvest 120 kilograms of strawberries that day.
Yesterday's harvest had been 115 kilograms.
Clearly, as the weather gradually warmed and the strawberries entered their peak fruiting period, the farm's strawberry output would increase day by day.
After checking on the harvest, he called over one of the agricultural technicians, Lao Zhou, and the two entered the strawberry greenhouses that had not yet flowered or borne fruit.
"Lao Zhou, when will these strawberries start flowering and bearing fruit?"
Lao Zhou examined the seedlings. "I estimate greenhouses 4, 5, and 6 will start flowering and bearing fruit in late April. Greenhouses 7 through 12 will start in mid-May. The rest will have to wait until June."
Lu Weibin asked again, "How much vacant greenhouse space is left now?"
"Fifty mu."
"When can we get all of it planted?"
"Soon. The seedling greenhouse has already raised a large batch from seeds. Everything should be planted before the end of April, and they'll start flowering and bearing fruit in mid-to-late July."
"How many more workers do we need?"
"Probably around fifteen."
"Fifteen? Fine. I'll notify the Human Resources Department to recruit them."
Lao Zhou said quietly, "Manager, can't we just hire rural women from the nearby villages? Is there really any need to go through the Human Resources Department?"
"What do you know? This is a matter of principle." Lu Weibin hurriedly warned him.
Lao Zhou froze instinctively, then looked somewhat embarrassed and frightened.
Lu Weibin reminded him again, "I'll pretend I didn't hear that this time. Don't say things like that again in the future."
"Understood, understood." Lao Zhou nodded like a pecking chick.
Lu Weibin had once been a project team leader at a major internet company. He understood very well that a company's core powers were personnel and finance.
And Jiang Miao had always personally overseen personnel matters. Other departments and division managers had no authority to decide on recruitment or promotions.
He did not want the boss to hold this against him.
Before you continue