Reborn since 1993

Chapter 623 The Fortress Was Conquered from the Inside

At this moment, Antoine felt that it was extremely ridiculous. He had been playing with eagles all his life, but in the end, an eagle pecked his eyes.

This lighter company that came out of nowhere has completely surpassed Bic in terms of technology, production capacity, and cost control. How could Antoine not find this ridiculous?

"Send this lighter to the laboratory. I want to see its detailed data tonight!"

"Also, check for me which companies have registered new patents for safety locks and constant flow valves in old Europe this year!"

Although he was angry and even panicked, Antoine still made arrangements. The company brand could be used to fool people, and the lighter brand could be used to mess around, but patents and technology couldn't be used to fool people.

"How should we respond to the Eastern European distributors? Should we adjust the supply price of Bick lighters?"

Hearing what his supervisor said, Antoine became even angrier. "What adjustments are needed? The production costs are there. It costs Bic only three or four dollars to produce a lighter. How can you make adjustments? Are you going to make up for the losses?!"

Seeing Antoine transformed into a hippopotamus again, the several supervisors in front of him didn't dare to say anything and had to walk out of the office with sad faces.

Antoine refused to lower the supply price of lighters and let sales go. There was no such good thing in the world. Believe it or not, if they responded like this to the BIC dealers in Eastern Europe, they would turn against them early the next morning.

After a sleepless night and with dark circles under his eyes, Antoine finally saw the experimental data brought by the technical department before dawn the next day.

"The Black Label lighter is a technically mature lighter, with innovations in both design and lighter technology!"

Listening to his technical director praising Black Label, Antoine said impatiently, "I don't need to hear this. Regarding the safety lock and constant flow valve technology and materials, did Black Label plagiarize..."

"no!"

Knowing what Antoine wanted to ask, the head of Bic's technical department said directly, "The safety lock used in the Black Label lighter is a safety lock with an oblique lighter belt structure.

It is completely different from the safety lock technology used by BAK. In fact, the other party’s safety lock technology may be more advanced and more reasonably designed.

In addition, the constant flow valve technology is still being tested in the laboratory. The other party uses a lot of new materials and new processes, and the ratio of gas to materials is completely different from BAK's constant flow valve technology!"

When Antoine heard this, his heart, which had been hanging in the air, finally...died.

Not wanting to listen any further, Antoine asked the head of the technical department to leave and slumped in his chair. Thinking of having to report all this to Bruno Bick, Antoine felt like he would rather die than live.

……

"You mean, Piccolo lost the Eastern European market?"

Bruno Bick, who had just sat in the president's office, received a "surprise" from Antoine. However, the surprise came too suddenly, making him want to pick up the golf club in the office and hit Antoine's forehead as if it were a golf ball.

Antoine also noticed Bruno Piccolo's actions and took two steps back unconsciously, as if he was afraid that the angry little Piccolo would hit him on the head.

"It's just a part that's lost. This is only temporary. At present, BIC is temporarily at a disadvantage in terms of price in the Eastern European lighter market compared to Black Label lighters."

Antoine said with a stiff face, then glanced at Little Bic and said, "The most critical issue now is whether the emergence of the Black Label will affect Bic's market in Western Europe!"

Bruno Bick stared at Antoine with sharp eyes, "What do you mean by that?"

“The supply price of Black Label is so different from that of Bic, the difference is nearly two dollars for a lighter.

It is hard to guarantee that those damn scalpers, smugglers, and even lighter dealers in the old European Union region will not be tempted!

After all, the old European Union consumes more than 800 million lighters a year!"

Bruno Bick also took a breath of cold air. Compared with large products such as cars and televisions, lighters are not very eye-catching, and its previous profits were not high.

But now, due to the reduction in supply on the mainland, the price of old European lighters has skyrocketed. The supply price of black label lighters is even more eye-catching when sold in markets such as France, Germany, and Italy.

The profit margin for a black label lighter sold from Eastern Europe to Western Europe is two dollars. If there are hundreds of millions of lighters, how much profit can there be?
Profits of hundreds of millions of dollars are enough to attract scalpers, lighter dealers, and even some gangs.

Don't be like the old European gangs, who play so high-end games, playing with contraband and guns all day long. There are gangs that play with those things, but not all gangs squeeze into those industries.

Just like the Italian Mafia in the eyes of the outside world, influenced by Hollywood movies, people think that they are engaged in "high-end" business. In fact, what are gangs? Kidnapping, extortion, and collecting protection fees are what they most often do.

Much of the agricultural product and meat supply in Old Europe is controlled by gangs led by the Mafia, who use various means to snatch meat and vegetables from farmers at low prices, and then supply them to Old Europe's hamburger restaurants, fast food restaurants, pre-made steaks in shopping malls, etc.

Among them, some gangs think that they do not make enough money, so they use sick cows, expired frozen beef, and even horses as cows, and sell horse meat as steak to fast food restaurants in old Europe. The profit is four times that of normal beef.

If they find that lighters are profitable, will those old European gangs be tempted? They are very mobile. It is not difficult to sell the black label lighters from Eastern Europe to Western Europe. Moreover, supermarkets, tobacco shops, bars and the like probably dare not refuse to accept them.

Bruno Bick suddenly felt a severe headache, "Where did that black label lighter and Global Trading Company come from?" "I'm still asking people to investigate. But if we find out which company supplies the technology and patents used in the black label lighter, we will know who our opponent is, but this will take some time!" Antoine said.

Bruno Bick glared at Antoine and said with suppressed anger, "Get to the bottom of this whole damn thing, I'll go see Councillor Lucas!"

The Bic Group is also supported by powerful people. Even Bruno Bic himself is the vice president of the old European Lighter Association. Otherwise, how could he push the old European Trade Commission to launch an anti-dumping investigation into the inland.

……

Just when Antoine was getting anxious and the BIC Group announced that it would not lower its supply price, large shopping malls, convenience stores, tobacco shops and other places selling lighters in Eastern European cities, from Russia to Poland, from Hungary to Romania, began to "change their tune" and put black label lighters on the shelves.

These lighter dealers don’t bother to sympathize with whether BIC is having a hard time or not. If BIC delays them from making money, they will ruthlessly get rid of the BIC Group.

In Naples, Italy, Rossi, who had been partying all night in the most famous nightclub in the area, walked out of the nightclub hugging a blonde woman who was dressed coolly and had a hot body.

Rossi is a member of a family gang in Naples and is considered a small leader. For people like them, their lives are basically precarious, so they don't think about tomorrow. They just spend money when they have it. Nightclubs, women, contraband and the like are commonplace every day.

Rossi, who had drunk a lot of wine in the nightclub, hugged the woman, his steps were a little unsteady, he took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, then touched his pocket, but there was no lighter.

He looked up and saw a convenience store not far away, so he staggered over.

"I want a lighter!" Rossi shouted to the salesperson after entering.

"7500 lira!" The salesperson took out a Bic lighter.

Now in the old European Union, the euro has not yet been introduced, and Italy still uses its own lira, with one US dollar being exchanged for about 1500 liras.

"what?"

Rossi thought he had misheard and couldn't help but ask the salesperson, "How much did you say?"

Rossi used to buy a lighter whenever he bought tobacco, and he had a lot of them in the drawer of his apartment, but he didn't pay much attention to them on a daily basis.

But he also knew the approximate price, which was usually between three or four US dollars, or four thousand five hundred liras to six thousand liras, so the price would not be too outrageous.

But now, when he suddenly heard that a broken lighter was going to cost him 7500 lire, Rossi suddenly felt like he was being ripped off.

The price is not expensive, but for a person who lives on the edge of a knife and is isolated from mainstream society, Rossi felt offended that he used to slay others with his knife, but suddenly he was slayed by others. Who the hell is the gang?
The salesperson got nervous when he saw Rossi, who had fierce eyes and tattoos on his arms and even neck.

"This... this is the company's regulation, not the price I set. I heard that there is a shortage of lighters throughout Europe, and the prices have risen sharply. In the mall, the price of this roll of lighters has almost soared to 9,000 lira!

I’ll pay for this lighter and give it to you…” the salesperson stammered.

Looking at the salesperson, Rossi suddenly realized something. He seemed to see the scene when he was still in school and working as a handyman in a supermarket during the holidays.

But Rossi no longer remembers when he became like this, and he doesn't want to recall it. He only knows that there is no turning back. If he cannot climb to the top of the gang and continues to do dirty work for the gang, he is not sure whether he can live to the age of thirty. He may be killed in a gunfight.

Rossi took out several lira bills from his wallet at random, not bothering to count them, and threw them on the counter. Rossi picked up the lighter, hugged the woman and rushed towards the apartment.

The next day, Rossi was awakened by a rapid ringing of the phone. The woman next to him had long disappeared. Rossi was too lazy to pay attention. This scene happened every day anyway. Even if the woman told him her name, he would not be able to remember it.

But the ringing of the phone suddenly made Rossi sober up. Only the gang could make this call.

After answering the phone, Rossi climbed out of bed, put on his clothes hastily, and rushed to the gang's lair.

Riding a Harley, Rossi picked up a cigarette out of habit halfway, but the lighter he bought yesterday was left in the apartment, making him curse inwardly.

Rossi saw a tobacco store with a T logo on it on the street. When he was about to go over to buy a lighter, a figure came up to him stealthily.

"Want cigarettes or lighters? I have them all here!"

Rossi took a look and knew that this was a street scalper. Italy also has a tobacco monopoly and the price is quite high. Naturally, there are a group of people selling smuggled cigarettes. The one in front of him is a small scalper at the bottom level who sells loose goods. He has no idea who his supplier is and he just relies on his miserable life to make a profit from the price difference.

"How much is a lighter?" Rossi asked casually with a frown after checking the time.

"Seven thousand lire!"

Rossi, with his hand on the accelerator, suddenly remembered the lighter he bought at the convenience store yesterday and couldn't help asking, "How much did you say?"

Looking at Rossi, the little yellow bull felt guilty, "Six thousand lira is fine, at least not less than six thousand lira, my purchase price is always six thousand lira!"

(End of this chapter)