Chapter 86: Making a Fortune

"Hey, Mengzi, did you buy Lee Yunjae's album? This afternoon, I went to the retail store, but those damn retailers didn't even stock it... I wasted a trip in the cold weather!"

"What... Saoyao, you actually went to buy it yourself... Hurry up and go to MelOn's homepage. LOEN Entertainment has set up a special online sales channel there. A genuine album costs only 19,500 KRW, and it comes with a beautiful poster of Lee Yunjae. You also have a chance to win a free autographed poster and album from Lee Yunjae... I've already ordered one, and the delivery should arrive tomorrow!"

"What... I can't believe it, 500 KRW cheaper than the retail store, and an extra beautiful poster, plus a chance to win an autographed poster and album from Lee Yunjae? Are you serious? Don't mess with me!"

"Damn, Saoyao, just go check it out yourself, hurry up. LOEN might already be randomly selecting lucky fans. Take advantage of the low traffic now and order quickly. If too many people order, your chances of getting the autographed album will decrease!"

"Damn, why didn't you tell me earlier... I don't have time to talk, I'm hanging up!"

At this moment, the MelOn website was bustling with activity. Fans who hadn't been able to buy the album were already seething with anger, hating those retailers. Now that LOEN Entertainment was offering online sales, 500 KRW cheaper than retail stores, and including a beautiful poster, plus a chance to win an autographed poster and album from Lee Yunjae, it was a great deal.

"Let those retailers eat shit. I'll buy directly from the 'manufacturer.' " This was the first thought of all the fans who wanted to buy the album but couldn't.

......

Meanwhile, the employees of LOEN Entertainment were swamped with work. During the day, they had taken all the albums out of the warehouse, a total of 130,000 CDs, which were piled up in the LOEN lobby like small mountains, leaving everyone speechless.

At 7 PM, LOEN officially announced the online sales and called in a courier company with which they had a partnership. They contracted all their future courier services to this company at the lowest price, with only one condition: speed. Delivering the albums to fans as quickly as possible was LOEN's only requirement.

When the first fan placed an order, the staff divided the tasks: some packaged the CDs, and others wrote down the addresses. However, as more and more people ordered online, the dozen or so staff members were clearly overwhelmed.

What to do about the shortage of manpower? Easy, call in the trainees. So, with a wave of his hand, Bae Song-in summoned the fifty or so trainees who were still practicing at LOEN. They all rushed out, shoulder to shoulder, to start packaging the albums in the lobby. For a moment, the LOEN lobby was filled with noise, and outside, fifty local couriers and ten logistics trucks were on standby.

"President, 26,000 people have already ordered!" A staff member responsible for real-time statistics rushed into Bae Song-in's office, trembling with excitement. In just two and a half hours, 26,000 people had ordered, which could be described as a miracle, almost matching the first day's sales. However, in terms of quantity, the first day's sales were far from matching the two and a half hours of tonight, and the number was still increasing. It was almost 10 PM, but fans were still ordering online.

Bae Song-in was also extremely excited. He almost refreshed the order page every ten minutes, and the constantly increasing order numbers almost made him jump with excitement.

At that moment, Lee Yunjae was also sitting nearby. It was the first day of online sales, and he was also a bit nervous. If no one bought the album, it would be a disaster. Fortunately, Lady Luck had smiled upon him, and the number of orders had been increasing since the online store opened.

"Yunjae, you've done a great job this time! We must reward you... Hahaha..." Bae Song-in laughed heartily, his previous gloom completely gone.

Lee Yunjae smiled faintly. The success of this sale wasn't just because his songs were good; there were many objective factors.

For example, the online trolls had initially tried to smear him but ended up promoting him, making him widely known. There were also the fair reviews from music critics. But the most important factor was the foolish retailers who wanted to return the albums. If they hadn't returned them, LOEN wouldn't have been able to make a profit from their share, and Lee Yunjae's income would have been slightly higher. If the retailers hadn't pushed LOEN to this point, Lee Yunjae wouldn't have thought of implementing online sales. This could be considered a blessing in disguise.

However, what Lee Yunjae didn't know was that the success of online sales was closely tied to the convenience of e-commerce.

For example, it was already 10 PM, and stores that weren't open all night would have closed. The retail store owners would have closed long ago. But online album purchases had no time restrictions; even if you ordered in the middle of the night, someone would still process it.

In addition to the unlimited time, there was another point: modern people are lazy. They don't want to go out, especially when it's freezing outside, with temperatures dropping to -5 degrees. Who would go out to shop if they didn't have a car? But with online shopping, you could stay in bed, click a few times, place an order, and have it delivered to your door, convenient and quick.

Besides these points, the most important factor was the difference between using a credit card and paying with cash.

The money in your wallet is limited, and you can feel it decreasing. When you see your wallet getting emptier, you become hesitant to buy things. But with a credit card, there's no such feeling.

Seeing a string of numbers on a webpage, the purchase of an album is just a small change in the thousands place. Who would really care? This is why banks repeatedly encourage people to use credit cards. Green consumption is all nonsense. Banks want you to keep spending and going into debt, ultimately making money for them.

"President, it looks like you'll be too excited to sleep tonight!" Lee Yunjae chuckled.

"Can you even sleep?" Bae Song-in countered. Lee Yunjae was slightly stunned and then shook his head decisively.

Indeed, at such an exciting moment, who could sleep?

An hour passed, and the number of orders had increased from 26,000 to 35,000, and the number was still rising.

"Insane... These fans are really insane..." Bae Song-in sighed.

Lee Yunjae smiled inwardly. Weren't you waiting for the fans to go crazy buying albums? Then he suddenly thought of something and said to Bae Song-in, "President, I suggest you immediately contact the record company. I'm afraid our 130,000 albums will be sold out by noon tomorrow. If fans want to buy and we have no stock, that would be a real problem!"

Bae Song-in slapped his thigh and said, slightly agitated, "How could I forget this...?" He immediately called the record company and woke up the boss from his mistress's bed. Although the boss complained about the late call, the opportunity to make money was too good to pass up, so he had to endure it.

This time, Bae Song-in was more relaxed and placed an order for 300,000 albums. For Bae Song-in, if they could sell all 500,000 albums, they would make a profit of 721.5 million KRW after costs. After giving Lee Yunjae 40% (288.6 million KRW, about 15.6 million RMB), they would still have 432.9 million KRW left.

Thinking about this, Bae Song-in was deeply moved. Even if you added up all the profits from the artists LOEN had previously launched, none of them had made as much as Lee Yunjae in one go. It could be said that LOEN had been losing money until Lee Yunjae, who finally turned the tide and made a huge profit.

"President... Don't look at me like that... I feel like throwing up..." Lee Yunjae gagged a few times, as Bae Song-in's gaze was like looking at a naked beauty.

"Go to hell..." Bae Song-in laughed and scolded. If the employees outside saw this, they would be shocked. When had their square-faced president ever been so easy to talk to?

"President, do you think 300,000 albums will be enough?" Lee Yunjae's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"What do you mean?" Bae Song-in was taken aback. Since Lee Yunjae came up with the idea of online sales, Bae Song-in felt that it was a waste for him not to be in business.

At this moment, Lee Yunjae, with insatiable greed, said, "To be safe, I suggest you order 500,000 albums from the record company. This time, we need to make a fortune and fill our coffers to make up for the injustice we've suffered!"

Thud... Bae Song-in fell off his chair when he heard this.