The Sacred Land Is Going Bankrupt, I Invented a Mobile Phone!

Chapter 192: The Advantages of Online Shopping! Commission!

Due to the existence of the Immortal Net Auction, the concept of online shopping was quickly accepted by the elders.

Essentially, it was the same as auctions, where photos of items were posted online with descriptions.

If cultivators liked them, they could directly place orders and pay.

Then, the merchants would deliver the goods to them via courier.

It sounded like there was no problem with this approach.

However, the elders didn’t view it favorably.

The Foreign Affairs Elder voiced the concerns of many elders.

Why buy common items like pills and magic treasures online when you could buy them in the local market without paying shipping fees and waiting for two to three days?

Why go the extra mile?

—

Hearing the Foreign Affairs Elder’ question, Ye Chen smiled.

On Earth, there were many factors that contributed to the popularity of online shopping.

But the most important factor was the variety of goods available online.

Offline supermarkets typically offered only around a dozen variations of each product type.

But online, there were thousands of options for you to choose from, catering to various needs.

Online shopping in the cultivation world was similar.

Ye Chen leaned back in his sacred seat and chuckled, “There are actually many reasons why cultivators choose online shopping. But the most important point is that online shopping offers more choices, allowing you to buy countless things that you can’t normally find.

“Take pills for example. Let’s use the Bright Foundation Pill from the Xu Family as an example. The effect of the Bright Foundation Pill is thirty percent higher than that of ordinary pills, but the price is almost the same. It’s very popular among Foundation Establishment cultivators and is trending on the Immortal Net Weibo.

“But the Xu Family is a small clan with limited expansion capabilities, and they only have stores in two or three Immortal Cities.

“For Foundation Establishment cultivators in other Immortal Cities, they can’t buy it locally and can only continue to consume ordinary pills.

“However, through our new application, even cultivators ten thousand miles away can easily purchase the Bright Foundation Pill, only needing to wait two to three days and pay a little extra for delivery fees.

“What do you think? Would Foundation Establishment cultivators be willing to use our new application?”

With that, Ye Chen paused.

The elders nodded, showing pensive expressions.

If they were Foundation Establishment cultivators, they would definitely be willing.

After all, delivery fees were not expensive, and they only needed to wait two days to get pills with better effects.

No one would refuse.

Seeing the elders nodding, Ye Chen smiled slightly and continued, “It’s the same for other pills. Cultivators can browse through all the introductions of pills of the same type in Great Yan Province through our new application and choose the most suitable one for themselves.

“Can you do this in reality? Which store can supply such a wide variety of pills?

“The same goes for magic treasures. The variety of magic treasures in the market is always limited, and most stores only sell the best ones.

“Even if there are more stores in Immortal Cities and more varieties, they still can’t cover everything.

“However, through our new application, you can use the search function or browse the category list to find the most suitable magic treasure from all over Great Yan Province.

“All kinds of rare demands can also be met by our new application.

“For example, if you suddenly get poisoned by a rare toxin, because it’s not common, there are no detox pills available locally. In the past, the poisoned person could only despair and wait to die!

“But through our new application, you can directly search for detox pills from all over Great Yan Province.

“Send a special express delivery, and you’ll receive the antidote early the next morning.

“It could save lives.

“There are too many examples, so I won’t continue,” Ye Chen said.

“In short, the biggest advantage of the new application lies in its comprehensiveness. It has everything you need.

“Any bizarre shopping needs of cultivators can be met through the new application.

“That’s the significance of the new application’s existence.”

Listening to Ye Chen’s relaxed explanation, the elders were all amazed.

Just like that, everyone understood.

The new application created by their Saint Master was far more useful than they had imagined.

Great Yan Province was vast, and the distances between Immortal Cities were extremely far.

This resulted in differences in the popularity of pills, magic treasures, and even specialties between different Immortal Cities.

Through their new application, you could directly purchase goods from all over Great Yan Province.

It was indeed quite attractive.

Even they were now looking forward to it.

But here came the problem.

To buy goods from all over Great Yan Province, you need all the forces and businesses in Great Yan Province to open stores on your new application.

Wasn’t that a bit difficult?

The elders looked at each other, as if seeing through each other’s thoughts.

Ye Chen smiled slightly and said directly, “I know what you’re thinking, but we don’t need to intervene too much in the matter of merchants opening stores. Once they see the benefits, they will naturally come in droves.

“Let’s take the Xu Family as an example to illustrate this point.

“The Xu Family only has stores in three Immortal Cities. If they can sell a hundred thousand Bright Foundation Pills in each Immortal City every day, then their daily sales volume would be three hundred thousand pills!

“If the Xu Family wants to increase sales, what should they do?

“They can only open branches in other Immortal Cities to face more customers.

“But if the Bright Foundation Pills are sold on our new application…

“Without opening branches, they can get more customers, and the sales of pill medicine will naturally skyrocket.

“On our new application, they don’t need to do anything to get more customers.

“But if they open branches, the rent for stores in Immortal Cities is not cheap. Secondly, there’s the delivery cost, and the farther the Immortal City, the higher the delivery cost.

“Next, there’s trouble. If the branch is too far from their territory, they will encounter various problems, such as suppression from local forces, and so on.

“But through our new application, all expenses and troubles can be avoided.

“Do you elders think that, given these advantages, the major forces and businesses in Great Yan Province will choose our new application? Will they sell products on our application?”

With a simple example provided by Ye Chen, all the elders’ eyes lit up instantly…

Their new application unexpectedly had such a huge advantage?

It was truly astonishing.

Cultivators could buy goods from anywhere in Great Yan Province through the new application.

And the major forces and businesses could sell their products to any corner of Great Yan Province through the new application.

This was the best thing for both cultivators and forces.

Cultivators could receive goods from all over Great Yan Province at home.

And the major forces could save expenses, saving the cost and trouble of opening branches.

It’s almost perfect.

The elders couldn’t help but admit to themselves that if they were in Ye Chen’s shoes, they would definitely not refuse this new application created by their Saint Master.

And as more people started buying things on the new application, it would inevitably drive up the number of courier orders.

If all the cultivators in Great Yan Province were to buy things on the new application, imagine the enormous volume of courier orders it would generate!

By then, the problem of losses incurred by the Immortal Net Express would naturally be solved, even turning into a lucrative venture.

The elders, who now understood everything, looked at their Saint Master with admiration in their eyes.

Their Saint Master was truly a genius.

He had ingeniously created demands that didn’t even exist in the cultivation world before.

They even felt they had been short-sighted to think that their Saint Master had failed.

“Saint Master, what’s the profit model for this new application?” All the elders’ emotions were filled with anticipation as they looked at their Saint Master with longing.

Ye Chen smiled and replied, “Commission. We’ll take a ten percent cut from the selling price of all items sold on the new application as our profit.”

On Earth, shopping websites didn’t take a commission.

They made money through advertising fees and traffic.

The reason they didn’t take a commission was because there’s competition.

If they dared to take a commission, merchants would simply go to other shopping websites to set up shop.

But it’s different in the cultivation world.

Because there were no competitors, taking a commission directly was the easiest way!

The elders nodded in agreement.

In the cultivation world, taking a commission was the most common practice.

Auction items were subject to commissions from the auction house, and if you want to sell magic treasures, talismans, and the like in other people’s stores, you also have to pay a commission, usually around thirty percent.

Even if you open your own store, the rent for an Immortal City store isn’t cheap.

After all, major Immortal Cities were where cultivators gather most, and they were both safe and prosperous.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that every inch of land was valuable.

The rent, personnel, and transportation costs of a typical store combined usually account for at least thirty percent of the sales.

Now, all of these costs could be saved.

For merchants, this was simply the best thing ever.

To be honest, the elders even felt that ten percent commission was a bit low.

In most industries in the cultivation world, a thirty percent commission was the norm.

If they took a twenty percent commission, there would be no problem, and they could even make more money.

Ye Chen directly vetoed the elders’ proposal.

Taking a ten percent cut from all online transactions in Great Yan Province would bring in astronomical profits.

Taking too much commission as an intermediary would inevitably shift costs onto cultivators, leading to higher prices for goods.

Another major advantage of online shopping was that there were no additional expenses, making it cheaper.

If online shopping became more expensive than offline shopping due to excessive commissions, it would hinder the development of online shopping.

In Ye Chen’s view, the best way to make money was to make money for oneself and let others make money too.

This way, everyone would support this business together and make it more prosperous.

On the contrary, if only one could make money, it wouldn’t last long.

“Have you noticed any problems with the Immortal Net Delivery since it went online?” Ye Chen asked.

The elders all shook their heads.

Other than not making money, everything else about the Immortal Net Delivery was fine.

Ye Chen nodded.

The reason he launched the Immortal Net Delivery knowing it would incur losses was to test it. Discovering any problems early on, while the number of users was still low, would result in minimal losses.

If problems were discovered after the volume of orders surged, it would cause even bigger problems.

Now that there were no issues, the online shopping application could be launched.

“Tomorrow at noon, the new application will officially go online!” Ye Chen snapped his fingers and set the launch date.

The elders were all filled with anticipation upon hearing this.

The Foreign Affairs Elder asked, “Since it’s going online tomorrow, Saint Master, have you thought of a name for the new application?”

Ye Chen’s lips curled up. “Let’s call it Immortal Net Taobao!”