Wu Yang, a Teochew native who came to Britain after university, put down roots in Ipswich and opened a supermarket, which she has held up ever since. The supermarket was reported by the British media for its successful business transformation during the epidemic.
I've now spent more time in the UK than IN China. When I was studying in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, my major was International Business. I went abroad when there was an opportunity for exchange abroad. The first stop to England is London. I was in London for about three years and then I met my husband and followed him to Ipswich.
Ipswich, a town about the size of Teochew in The county of Suffolk in the east of England, is home to the famous Wuipswich Town Football Club. As the largest container port in the UK, a lot of container traffic in and out pass through here, and there are many logistics companies. At first, I chose to open a supermarket just to have something to do and do it for fun. At first, it was just a small shop. Unconsciously, this supermarket has been open for more than ten years.
Instant noodles are the best seller
Initially I took goods through secondary agents, looking for information on the Internet, and then asked little by little. In the UK, there is usually a label on the bottle of a product in a supermarket that tells you who the agent is. When I see something good, I call them one by one. Some of the more outgoing people would tell me where they were coming from and where they could pick up the goods. Gradually, I have many sources of goods from France, Holland and other European countries.
In my small supermarket, instant noodles were the first to sell best. Maybe people think that British instant noodles are not that tasty, so they like to try other brands from other countries. The varieties of instant noodles are now synchronized with domestic brands. Basically, whatever brands are available in China will be available in The UK two months later.
Instant noodle sales in South Korea now account for 80 percent of the market, compared with 20 percent in China. Master Kong, for example, is mostly bought by overseas students. There is an objective fact that domestic instant noodles packaging is not exquisite, not too international. The details of instant noodles in South Korea are perfect, such as the mouth of the package is different, and the texture is better to hold. Sell or not to sell the sales volume and price, the outer packaging is actually very important.
The same instant noodles of different origin are also very different. There are three versions of this brand of instant noodles, one is from Holland, one is from Japan and one is from Hong Kong. The Japanese ones are very expensive, more than two pounds a pack, the Hong Kong ones are better and more affordable, and the Dutch ones are less authentic and have a strange taste. In fact, a small bag of instant noodles or a lot of knowledge.
Supermarket tastes change very quickly. For example, some time ago, barreled snail noodles were very popular. My friend's supermarket bought more than 300 boxes and sold out in two days. Seeing the popularity, they placed an order for another container of snail noodles, but they could not sell them after they arrived. Therefore, when operating supermarkets, order quantity should be cautious and cautious again, because the popularity of goods update too fast. But there are also many things that are enduring, like Korean products, influenced by the Korean wave, have been selling well.
Don't get too close, but don't let it go
My supermarket mainly deals with foreigners, so I have to rely on sales to recommend products to customers. Little sister not only to do shopping guide, but also take into account replenishment, when seeing customers but also take the initiative to greet them. Sales is a way, can not chase too hard, but also can not let go too. The person promoting the product will directly affect the sales of this product, because foreigners are not familiar with many non-British products in the supermarket, so the introduction of the shopping guide is very important.
In fact, the British business is easier to do, because they will not come to you even if they buy the wrong goods, at most, they will not come to buy again. The main reason for the wrong purchase is the label, because some Chinese is difficult to translate, some translated names can only rely on their own ideas, it is difficult to explain clearly.
Sometimes I will post the food in my supermarket on wechat moments to share with everyone, which is also a marketing tool. For example, I shared how to make oyster burgers, and Taiwan called oyster omelets. Oysters and fish sauce were very popular in those days. I also taught foreigners how to make kway teow and noodles and introduced them to the satay sauce, which has been selling very well so far. Some foreigners would buy many bottles of satay sauce and give them to their relatives and friends.
Doing business with foreigners also involves understanding their eating habits. A lot of people here in the UK have gluten allergies and need gluten Free food, and we have that section too. This is where the powdered staples are usually kept. There are many varieties of noodles, such as Jiangxi rice noodles, Guilin rice noodles, Yunnan rice noodles and so on. Now what is available in China will be on the shelves in the UK.
Selling teochew casseroles to The UK
Foreigners are very different from Chinese people. They like fish without bones, like sashimi. Even then we occasionally sell some fresh things, like shrimp and crab. We also pay attention to the variety of fresh and occasionally sell things like tofu fish. I have a wechat group that I send to Chinese people at a set time every week. Of course, some fresh foreigners won't buy it, so we won't put it on the shelves. I will put this kind of food in the warehouse. Once it arrives, I will take a photo and post it to the wechat group. It will be sold out soon.
Vegetables are very expensive in Britain. Balsam pear here costs 10 pounds a catty, about 20 yuan a balsam pear. There are no turnips in the UK, and white turnips are only available in Chinese supermarkets, but they are very expensive for small pieces. We also sell horseshoes in the supermarket, but the secret to storage is to order frozen horseshoes so that most of them are still good when opened. If you buy them unfrozen, 80% of them will go bad because they are usually shipped from Thailand.
Almost all the groceries I sell are imported from home. Mainly to foreigners. A lot of yiwu's small goods, in the domestic often can see, but foreigners have not seen, they will feel very cute. A lot of things that don't fit our aesthetic, like lucky Cat, are selling really well.
I also got a lot of Teochew casseroles. My dad will help me restock and pack. When you sell a pot in the UK, you have to consider whether the pot will fit on the stove here. In the past, traditional casseroles were carefully maintained, but now many of the casseroles in Chaozhou are very well made, because of the special ingredients added to the material, so they can be used on the induction cooker, very up-to-date, the shape is very good-looking.
Ground supermarket transfer online shop
Now, looking back, after the COVID-19 pandemic, our sales actually went up by nearly 40 percent. Instead, the problem is freight and capacity. You know, shipping during the pandemic is very expensive. After the goods come in, the gross profit becomes very low, but it is not a good idea to raise the price again. The surrounding residents are very dependent on my supermarket, and there is also a great demand for wechat group delivery. After the outbreak was brought under control, many customers still came to shop.
My supermarket did not have an online store at first, but at the beginning of the epidemic, I decided to do so. Because in the early days of the pandemic, I was faced with having to temporarily close my shop. At the time, staff salaries had to be paid, and nearly 5,000 items in the warehouse needed to be disposed of. How are we gonna sell this stuff? My first thought was through the Internet. I have a friend is to do the website, within three days to help us put all the goods online.
The system is still in use today. It's hard to imagine what my supermarket would have done if it hadn't sold online. If the supermarket didn't make money for a single day, the pressure would be great. In the early days of the epidemic, we could apply for a lot of government subsidies. We just needed to fill in the information, and the subsidy arrived in the account on the third day. The government subsidies are very timely. 80% of my employees' wages are covered by government subsidies.
During the pandemic, my husband helped me with a lot of delivery and loading because he worked from home, and most of the store staff went home during that time. Although the number of confirmed cases in the UK is still significant, it has become normal. Once diagnosed, you take 10 days off and then you can return to work.
