Reborn since 1993

Chapter 628 The defense is broken

When Bic Lighter gritted its teeth and announced to its distributors that it would offer a price of one dollar per cigarette, preparing to compete with Black Label Lighter to the death, Black Label lowered the supply price to $0.5 in one breath!
When this supply price came out, BIC, as well as other old European lighter brands such as Clive, Dunhill, and Grasshopper, were all silent for a while.

However, for lighter dealers, scalpers, and gangs that resell lighters, the retail prices of lighters on the shelves of convenience stores, tobacco shops, and supermarkets are also constantly decreasing.

But even if the black label lighters on the counter only have a retail price of one dollar, they still make a profit. The supply price is $0.5, and they sell one and split the profit with tobacco shops, convenience stores, etc. In total, they can make $0.2 or $0.3 for each lighter!

It may seem insignificant, but in old Europe, the daily consumption of lighters is about four to five million, which is equivalent to a profit of 1.2 million US dollars. Those who resell black label lighters can get a piece of the pie.

And it is quite stable. Even if you only make tens of thousands of dollars a day, that's tens of millions of dollars in revenue a month or a year, and it's net profit. Not to mention the gangs that are on the verge of collapse, even the ordinary old European companies would be jealous!

But when Bick saw the supply price offered by Global Trading Company, it was not good news!
"They are crazy, aren't they!"

"The supply price is $0.5. What are the Global Trading Company and Torch Group trying to achieve?"

Inside the Bic Group office, Bruno Bic was furious and had been scolding Antoine who was standing in front of him for more than half an hour.

In this price war, Bic has been crushed. When the price was set at one dollar per stick, Bic was already losing money on every stick it produced, and it continued to fight the price war with gritted teeth.

But when Global Trading Company offered a price of $0.5, Antoine was a little hesitant to follow it. This was a price that could really make Bic go bankrupt!

"The other party is just dumping!"

Antoine said bitterly, "If I'm not mistaken, the other party will probably lower the price again, or even multiple times!"

Bruno Bick looked at Antoine and was stunned for a long time. "How low do you think the other party will lower the price?"

“US$0.3, or even US$0.1, or even lower than US$0.1, it’s all possible. I asked someone to estimate the production cost of China Hanxi Torch Group.

By adopting a large-scale integrated lighter industry chain and centralized production model, the cost of producing a lighter by Torch Group may be as low as $0.06. That is, as long as the supply price of the black label is higher than $0.1, Torch Group can break even or even make a profit! "

"0.1 dollars?"

This time, Bruno Bick was not angry but terrified. Now Bick had tried his best to reduce the production cost of Bick lighters to about two dollars.

But faced with the black label whose production cost is only $0.06, a cost gap of 33 times, Bruno Bick doesn't know what kind of industrial Cthulhu he is facing!

"What on earth are they going to do?" Bruno Bick said absentmindedly.

“Dumping!”

“A complete dump!”

Antoine smiled bitterly. Now, he had a vague idea of ​​what the Black Label Vest, which was supported by the Torch Group, was trying to do.

Seeing Bruno Bick, still a little puzzled, Antoine said, "We also have lighter manufacturers in America, Japan, and South Korea. Haven't they always accused mainland lighter manufacturers of dumping?
This time, the other party may be showing us what dumping is! "

"The other party probably doesn't care about the price war at all, or even whether they make a profit or a loss. They just want to watch us and other old European lighter manufacturers get killed by Black Label!"

"madman!"

Bruno Bick murmured to himself, how could they do this? According to the previous script, shouldn't the other party come to the door and beg for food?

If Bick and others do not agree, then they will have to accept the fine, or rely on Bick to give them orders and survive as an OEM, and they may not even dare to file a lawsuit.

But now, the Torch Group directly drew its knife, and without saying a word, it stabbed Piccolo in the heart and bled him.

"We must drive the Black Label out of France and old Europe. We must drive it out!"

Bruno Bick said with fear, staring at Antoine, "I don't care what method you use, you must drive the Black Label Lighter out!"

"I'm going to see Councillor Lucas now!"

Watching Bruno Bick's departing figure, Antoine covered his face with his hands, a helpless and frustrated expression under his palms. For the first time, he felt powerless.

How to get rid of black label lighters?

Should we rely on price wars or judicial institutions such as the French Customs Department to confiscate all black label lighters?
When black label lighters continuously lower their supply prices and give up profits, a 50% profit is enough to make those who resell black label lighters take risks, and a 100% profit is enough to drive people crazy!
Antoine had a feeling that it was impossible to drive away Black Label. If Piccolo wanted to resolve this war, he might have to try another approach. Although that approach would cause Piccolo to suffer heavy losses and lose face, it was still better than death!

……

"The French Customs Department, Paris Police Department and other departments jointly took action to crack down on a lighter smuggling case, seizing more than 30 lighters in a single operation. This is the largest lighter smuggling case in French history!"

From France, Germany, Italy and other old European Union regions, news about the crackdown on smuggling of black label lighters has begun to come out.

But can this kind of blow stop the crazy sales of black label lighters in old Europe? Now it is in Italy, the largest black label lighter dealer, no, the black label distributor, Rossi said, it is useless!
In Naples, Italy, I stood on a street corner and watched a police team come out of a supermarket, carrying confiscated lighters and getting into their car and leaving.

Rossi took a long puff of his cigarette and shook his head. Then several of his younger brothers followed him, carrying several large boxes, and walked into the convenience store together.

"It's still the same old rules!"

After Rossi entered, he spoke to the supermarket manager in a familiar manner.

The latter was also very familiar with the process. He asked his employees to receive the large boxes and then placed the black label lighters inside on the counter, filling the vacant position left by the black label lighter that had been taken away by the police station.

Looking around, the lighter counter area is filled with Black Label lighters, with no BIC or other brands to be seen. The label under the Black Label lighters reads 1500 lira, which is a retail price of one dollar.

"The inspection has been too strict these days. Several batches of our black label lighters have been confiscated!" the supermarket manager complained to Rossi.

Rossi didn't take it seriously, as he knew that the supermarket manager was not complaining about him, but about the Naples police department, which was meddling in other people's business.

"You don't need to compensate for the goods that were taken away. Just send us the money from the machines you sold!"

Rossi said, "We will handle those police station matters!"

As for the machines that were seized and taken away, did Rossi feel sad? Of course he did, but he had no time to feel sad as he had to continue distributing the products.

It's not that Rossi is magnanimous, but there is money to be made. With a profit of nearly 70%, who wouldn't be motivated?

Now, Global Trading Company has reduced the price of Rossi's black label lighters to US$0.15 per piece.

Rossi and his gang took these lighters and sold them to local supermarkets, tobacco shops, bars, etc. Even if the retail price was $1, as long as they were sold, after deducting the $0.2 commission given to these sales places, Rossi could earn $0.65 for each black label!

Just like the news Rossi saw today, the Paris Police Department confiscated 30 black label lighters.

What is the purchase cost of 30 Black Label lighters? Forty-five thousand US dollars. But if they are not taken away, the revenue after they are sold is three hundred thousand US dollars, and the net profit is about two hundred thousand US dollars!

You asked the Paris gang that imported this batch of Black Label lighters whether they still dared to sell Black Label lighters. Its answer was that the goods were seized in the morning, but in the afternoon it used its own channels to ship another 500,000 new Black Label lighters from Hungary. Not only did it dare to sell them, it also wanted to make back all the losses with interest!

As for Rossi's solution to the problem of Naples Police Department confiscating black label lighters, it is of course to give that gang a share. The Naples Police Department has been so actively investigating black label lighters these days. In fact, they are a little jealous.

Although Rossi felt the pain, it was tolerable compared to the benefits brought by the black label lighter.

The company registered by Rossi's gang is now the largest lighter supplier in Italy, supplying black label lighters to Naples, Milan and other cities.

Not only Rossi's gang, but also a group of scalpers and gangs in Italy are reselling Black Label lighters. Now in Italy, Black Label lighters have completely taken away the market share of other lighters, because everyone can make money with it. Who would be willing to sell Bic's loss-making products!

……

"Clang!"

France's second largest city and largest commercial port is also the gateway for all kinds of goods, both compliant and non-compliant, to enter France, both overtly and covertly.

A container was pried open, and boxes with black label lighter labels were seen stacked inside.

"At least 60,000 or 70,000!"

The police officer swept the area with a flashlight and said in a tired voice that this was the nth container they had opened today, but they could not check all of them.

In the time it took them to dismantle this container, countless containers full of black label lighters would have already been circulated throughout France.

Rousseau, the legal manager of BAK Group who came with the team, felt a little numb when he saw the scene in front of him.

"Merde!"

A young police officer who was following the team threw out a phrase that was always on the lips of the Franks. Tired after a day's work, he moved his stiff thighs, went outside, took out a lighter and lit a cigarette.

Then the police officer saw Rousseau and stared at him with murderous eyes.

This made the young member of the Paris police station a little overwhelmed, until he saw that Rousseau's eyes were fixed on the lighter in his hand.

Then, the young member of the police station awkwardly put away the black label lighter in his hand.

As for throwing away something, what a joke, he was a rookie police officer who had just joined the company and his starting salary was only about $1800.

This is Paris, one of the places with the highest consumption levels in the world. What else should this rookie police officer use if not a black label lighter? As for throwing it away, that is impossible. He bought it with his own money, so why should he throw it away?

Rousseau's defenses were immediately broken when he saw the scene in front of him. When the police officers who seized the black label lighters all used black label lighters, how could they investigate it? Should they investigate themselves?
(End of this chapter)