Absolute Monopoly (Please Add to Your Reading List)

Brent's heart stirred. At once, he pictured those noble ladies and young misses buying cosmetics, then casually picking up a hat or a pair of shoes as well. His admiration for the Crown Prince's business acumen deepened immediately.

The bespectacled old man beside him suggested, "Your Highness, nearly half of yesterday's customers were noblewomen from Versailles Palace. Should we open a branch there?"

"There's no need." Joseph smiled and shook his head. "Making them travel all the way to Paris to buy our products will better highlight Paris Angel's rarity and irreplaceability. At the same time, when Parisian nobles see them constantly coming and going from our shop, they'll follow suit and make purchases as well."

Having finished discussing product sales, Brent added, "Your Highness, in recent days, six people—including Count Albrau, Duke Lavalliere, and Marquis Montes—have expressed interest in joining Paris Angel. Regarding this matter..."

Indeed, from the very first day Joseph planned the specialty stores, he had intended to expand Paris Angel through a franchise chain!

Opening shops one by one himself would not only be slow, but exhausting and time-consuming.

Before he could even open a few, sharp-nosed capitalists would start copying him and competing against him.

Although Joseph held Salicylic Acid, the core technology, firmly in his grasp and had no fear of competition, it would still divert a considerable number of customers.

So he intended to use franchisees to seize the cosmetics market across all of France, and even all of Europe, at the fastest possible speed—leaving competitors not a sliver of opportunity, whether in product effectiveness, publicity and promotion, or market scale!

In any case, this era had no concept of antitrust laws. If he did not make good use of monopoly, would that not be letting down the era's gift?

Moreover, his cosmetics had staggering profit margins, roughly between 800% and 1300%. Giving one-fifth of that to franchisees was entirely acceptable to him, while to the franchisees, it would be enough to make them wake laughing from their dreams!

Finally, through Paris Angel's agents, he could establish a complete sales channel. If he developed other products in the future, he could rely on that channel to distribute them rapidly and recoup costs just as quickly.

Joseph nodded and said to Brent, "I'll leave the franchise matter entirely to you. I've written all the franchise terms and negotiation techniques in the documents. I trust you already know them by heart. Once you've reached an agreement, simply bring it to me for my signature."

Joseph had never underestimated the wisdom of people in this era. They merely lacked broader vision and the concepts of later generations. Once those things were taught to them, they would not do any worse than people of the future.

Especially experts like Brent, outstanding in their professional fields.

Joseph could not possibly waste his future energy on Paris Angel's commercial operations. Therefore, it was extremely necessary to train his subordinates and delegate authority to them as early as possible.

"Thank you for your trust." Brent placed a hand over his chest and bowed. "I certainly won't disappoint you!"

Rue de Seine-Bont, Paris.

That day, the headquarters of Paris Angel Company welcomed several heavyweight guests.

They included Count Albrau, Duke Lavalliere, Marquis Montes, and others. Some were old nobles with deep family fortunes, while others were newly risen capitalists who had made vast sums of money. Every one of them was well known in Paris's business world.

They had gathered here today for one purpose alone—joining Paris Angel Company.

Brent first showed them around the company's production workshop, and the sight left these business elites utterly amazed.

Was this even a workshop? It was practically an imposing villa!

The workers wore clean, neat uniforms and sat on carved chairs, working at an unhurried pace. Whether it was the raw material warehouse or the filling stations, everything was crafted from high-quality oak wood, exquisitely shaped and spotless.

After touring the production facilities, Brent led them into the conference room. First, he unveiled a huge oil painting depicting one of the company's specialty stores, then declared in a clear voice, "Joining us is actually very simple: it means that each of you will own a store as extraordinary as this!"

Then he smiled faintly. "I know you must be worried that you may not be able to achieve such outstanding results. Please rest assured on that point. You need not concern yourselves at all with the new store's renovation, layout, and so on. Paris Angel Company will handle all of it. What you receive will be a shop ready to open for business."

a shop.

"You need not worry even about store managers or clerks. Paris Angel Company will train them for you, supervise them for you, and even make their uniforms for you!"

"In other words, all you need to do is sign the franchise contract, then count money every day."

Count Albrau, Duke Lavalliere, and the others all exchanged knowing smiles.

Brent immediately added, "I can reveal a secret to you all. The Paris Angel specialty store on the Champs-Élysées once reached a daily sales record of 126,000 livres."

Even these business elites, who had seen vast sums of livres before, widened their eyes in shock at those words.

That shop's daily revenue was even higher than the monthly income of the large factories they owned!

Brent continued, "The company will open only three franchise stores in all of Paris, and the distance between each store must not be less than half a lieue."

One lieue was four kilometers. With more than two kilometers between stores, they could fully ensure that they would not fight one another for customers.

"Oh, and the first franchisee will receive a discount. The franchise fee will be 150,000 livres. After that, it will rise to 180,000 livres. For franchisees outside Paris, the price will be 110,000 livres."

The business elites immediately began whispering among themselves.

To be honest, the franchise policy and its prospects were tremendously appealing to them. After all, they had personally witnessed the astonishing spectacle when the Champs-Élysées store opened. But they had never encountered this franchise model before, and they could not help harboring some reservations.

Duke Lavalliere, whose nasolabial folds were deeply etched, said, "General Manager, who can say what the situation will be like these days? It may sell 120,000 today, but perhaps only 1,200 tomorrow. I hold a pessimistic view of its profitability."

"Your Grace, you underestimate women's devotion to beauty. They would rather go hungry than neglect their faces. I can guarantee that Paris Angel has no off-season."

"Then I hope to sell other products in the shop," Count Albrau said.

"Oh, now you're making things difficult for me..."

While everyone bargained back and forth, a young man sitting in the corner clenched his fists.

His name was Baudouin. He had taken over his family's textile business only three years ago, but last year, the French Government signed a trade agreement with the English, reducing tariffs on nearly all industrial goods to almost zero.

Massive quantities of high-quality, cheap English textiles flooded into France, and his factories were immediately beaten so badly that they had no strength to fight back.

In barely over a year, he had lost more than half of his enormous family fortune. In the end, he painfully sold off the dozen or so textile mills he had left as a package deal, intending to lower his banners and silence his drums for good, and honestly live out his remaining years as a wealthy man.

He had never intended to join Paris Angel. An old friend had dragged him here to take a look, but at that moment, he suddenly recalled Paris Angel's franchise advertisement in the newspaper: Perhaps pessimists are always right, but only optimists can make money!

He abruptly rose to his feet and stared at Brent. "General Manager, I've decided to join. As the first franchisee, I'm entitled to the discounted 150,000-livre fee per store. Therefore, I'll invest 300,000 livres to open two franchise stores!"