Propaganda Brewing

Two days passed.

Fruit Hunter Yang Yang's social media account posted the first promotional video collaborating with Hai Lu Feng Company for their strawberries. It was first released on the B platform.

Several company accounts managed by the Online Store Department also followed suit, posting a promotional video and mutually following each other's accounts.

Besides the B platform, promotional content was simultaneously released on platforms like Note, WeChat, Little Red Sweet Potato, and others.

However, the traffic purchased by the Online Store Department had not been immediately deployed, as there was still about a week until the strawberries were officially available.

On the B platform.

In the comment section of the video posted by Fruit Hunter Yang Yang, many fans or visitors were already browsing and commenting.

The comment section was refreshing with several new comments every few minutes.

[Bi Shu Mountain Villa: Purchased, the child loves eating it (ω)]

[Durian King: Dandong Strawberries are the YYDS, argue if you dare!]

[Anti-Argument Guard: 99 per kilogram? I'm out!]

[Audebiao Transportation Company: At this price, aren't Dandong Strawberries better? This isn't how you make money.]

[Fallen Cherry Divine Axe: The price is touching, but with coupons and discounts, buying half a kilogram to try is okay. Already placed an order!]

[Universe-Embracing Sun Liancheng: Hai Lu Feng Company? Don't they sell eel fry? Why are they selling strawberries? Or is it the same name?]

[Ala Likes to Eat Eel Rice: Sisters, go for it! It's really delicious! I ate it at a physical store in Shanmei, all three varieties are very tasty! There are pictures to prove it!]

[Abnormal Human Research Institute: Bought it! If it's not good, I'm unfollowing immediately!]

[Boston Garden Sword: The blogger has to make a living after all, everyone be understanding. Even if you don't 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 also sell strawberries?]

[Zhang Erchibubao: Hai Lu Feng's canned eels are okay, very good with rice, I feel they are not inferior to grilled eels at Japanese restaurants.]

[Bieqieliefu in the Arctic: @Zhang Erchibubao, brother, is there a possibility that the grilled eel you ate at the Japanese restaurant was canned eel produced by Hai Lu Feng Company?]

The comment section was a chaotic mix.

Some were sarcastic.

Some were indifferent.

Some placed orders directly.

Some started arguments and ranted.

Some kept derailing the topic.

On the third floor of Hai Lu Feng Company's headquarters.

Zhang Xinyi and several subordinates were looking at the data in the store's backend. In less than two hours, over three hundred orders had been pre-ordered.

From the order sources in the backend data, two-thirds came from the Fruit Hunter's account recommendation, and the rest were traffic drawn from Hai Lu Feng Company's own social media accounts.

This is the internet age; the traffic brought by those big online influencers can sometimes be truly impressive.

The two customer service representatives were already swamped, and Zhang Xinyi had to temporarily pull people from the marketing planning office, plus pitch in herself, just to barely handle the various inquiries for this wave of orders.

Zhang Xinyi watched the decreasing number of customer service notifications in the backend, knowing that the customer flow brought by the first wave of traffic had begun to decline. She breathed a sigh of relief, then picked up her cup and took a sip of coffee.

Putting down the cup, she picked up the phone and dialed the number of the farm manager, Lu Weibin.

Beep beep beep...

"Hello, Manager Zhang, what's the matter?"

"Manager Lu, the orders have accumulated to 376 so far. I've already sent you the synchronized orders, you can start arranging the shipments."

"I'm looking at them, no problem. We'll start loading on the 19th, but I suggest we only take a thousand pre-orders. The peak fruiting season isn't until next month, and right now we only have a little over a hundred catties of fruit per day, which isn't enough for sales."

"Understood, I'll stop pre-orders once we reach a thousand."

Lu Weibin hung up the phone and turned to look at the order printer: "A Xin, pay attention to the shipping arrangements. Starting from the 19th, arrange 100 items per day, and increase it to 200 items per day next month."

"Okay."

Lu Weibin then went to the logistics warehouse to check.

He instructed the warehouse keeper to constantly monitor the inventory of consumables such as corrugated cardboard boxes and foam inner boxes.

Immediately after, Lu Weibin went to the farm's goods warehouse to check the operation of the cold storage.

Meanwhile, one selector and two packers in the packaging workshop were already busy.

However, the products they were packaging now were not for online store orders, but for products to be sent to physical stores for sale.

The packaging for physical store products and online store products is different.

Lu Weibin picked up a box of packaged Vanilla Strawberries. Six Vanilla Strawberries were neatly arranged, and their sizes were almost identical. There were no damaged skins from pressing on the surface of the strawberries, nor were there any green parts.

He placed it on the electronic scale next to him, after taring.

153g

The standard fruit weight of Vanilla Strawberries is usually between 20 and 30 grams. Based on different sizes, they are divided into two grades, A fruit and B fruit.

A fruit weighs around 25 to 30 grams.

B fruit weighs around 20 to 24 grams.

The box Lu Weibin weighed was A fruit, and the price tag was already attached, priced at 14 yuan per box.

Immediately after, he picked up two boxes of B fruit and placed them on the electronic scale.

134g

138g

The price of each box of B fruit is 10 yuan.

The strawberries harvested these days were not stored in the warehouse for refrigeration, but were all sent to the physical store on Erma Road for sale.

Lu Weibin placed great importance on every step of strawberry production, as this matter was related to South Lake Farm's standing within the company.

Compared to the Yan Ting Eel Base, South Lake Farm's position was indeed inferior.

If South Lake Farm couldn't make money, the company might lay off this department, and Lu Weibin didn't want to be unemployed again; his age was simply too awkward.

After inspecting several boxes of strawberries, he instructed the selectors to pay attention to quality control, preferring to increase product loss slightly rather than mix in inferior goods.

This was also a requirement that Jiang Miao had repeatedly emphasized.

If Hai Lu Feng Company's brand was to be maintained well, ensuring product quality became a crucial matter.

This was also the reason Lu Weibin frequently came for spot checks; he was worried that the employees would be perfunctory and mix in bad strawberries, damaging the company's reputation.

Coming out of the packaging workshop, Lu Weibin rode an electric tricycle to the farm's greenhouses.

He happened to meet Jiang Miao, who was coming out of the experimental greenhouse.

"Boss."

"Lao Lu, how have things been these past few days?" Jiang Miao asked while washing his hands.

Lu Weibin locked the vehicle: "The online store department has a lot of orders, and the farm's production capacity is a bit behind. I've asked the online store department to control the volume of pre-orders."

"Yes, indeed. Although they are pre-orders, we still can't make customers wait too long, otherwise they easily lose patience," Jiang Miao nodded. "I need to go to the breeding base. You stay busy!"

"Okay, boss, take care."

Lu Weibin didn't linger at the entrance for too long and went directly into the three acres of strawberry greenhouses that were already flowering and fruiting.

Three pickers were holding miniature electric scissors, picking strawberries.

He looked at the plastic crates that had already been picked; a total of 4 crates had been picked. These plastic crates, when full, weigh around 10 kilograms.

In other words, only 40 kilograms of strawberries were picked this morning.

Lu Weibin then looked at the remaining unpicked area; about two-thirds were still unpicked. He estimated that 120 kilograms of strawberries could be picked today.

Yesterday's picking volume was 115 kilograms.

Clearly, as the temperature gradually warmed up and the strawberries entered their peak fruiting period, the farm's strawberry yield would increase daily.

After observing the picking situation, he called over one of the agricultural technicians, Lao Zhou. The two went into the strawberry greenhouses that had not yet flowered and fruited.

"Lao Zhou, when will these strawberries start flowering and fruiting?"

Lao Zhou looked at the seedling situation: "I estimate that greenhouses 4, 5, and 6 will start flowering and fruiting in late April. Greenhouses 7 to 12 will start flowering and fruiting in mid-May. The rest will have to wait until June."

Lu Weibin asked again: "How many empty greenhouses are left now?"

"There are still 50 mu."

"When can they all be planted?"

"Soon. The seedling greenhouse has already sown a large batch of seedlings from seeds. It's estimated that they will all be planted before the end of April and will start flowering and fruiting in mid to late July."

"How many people are still needed?"

"We probably need about 15 more people."

"15? Okay, I'll notify the HR department to recruit."

Lao Zhou whispered, "Manager, we can just find rural women from nearby villages. Is it necessary to go through the HR department?"

"What do you know? This is a matter of principle," Lu Weibin quickly reminded him.

Lao Zhou was stunned for a moment, then felt a bit awkward and scared.

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."

"Got it, got it." Lao Zhou nodded like a chicken pecking rice.

Lu Weibin had worked as a project leader in a major internet company. He was very clear that the core power of a company lay in HR and finance.

And the boss, Jiang Miao, had always personally handled HR. Managers of other departments and industries had no right to decide on recruitment and promotions.

He didn't want to be marked down by the boss because of this matter.