The launch of pork jerky did not attract much attention, mainly because most people didn't buy Meimei Sausages from the Taobao store every day. Even when restocking Meimei Sausages, people were accustomed to searching for them directly in the search bar.
After clicking on the search result link, they would purchase directly and then exit.
Even those who enjoyed browsing Taobao rarely clicked into Liu Chen's store, primarily because everyone online knew that Liu Chen's Taobao store only had two products. Unless one intended to buy both, why else would they visit?
However, the internet is a strange place. Xiao Mei, a receptionist working in an office building in Shanghai, liked to refresh her Taobao page after each purchase. This time, her refresh revealed a brand-new product.
Meimei Pork Jerky!
"What is this?"
Xiao Mei murmured, unable to resist clicking into the product's main page, looking at the Meimei Pork Jerky on her phone, photographed like a fashion spread.
"Should I buy one to try? It's from the Meimei brand after all."
At this moment, her neighboring receptionist, listening to Xiao Mei's murmurs, peered at her phone.
"Meimei Pork Jerky? What's that? It sounds like Meimei Sausage. Could it be someone trying to copy it?"
Hearing this, Xiao Mei knew that Liu Xia was peeking at her phone again. She quickly closed her phone and couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Copycat? This is new from the Meimei store. It must have just been put up. It wasn't there when I clicked in, only appearing after I refreshed."
"Really?" Liu Xia said, picking up her own phone and opening Taobao to search.
As a modern woman working in Shanghai's CBD, she had naturally bought the currently popular Meimei Sausage.
In fact, after eating Meimei Sausage every day, her patience at work improved.
Thus, Liu Xia impulsively bought ten packs, which amounted to two hundred yuan plus ten yuan for shipping, totaling two hundred and ten yuan.
Seeing Liu Xia spend over two hundred yuan on a single purchase, Xiao Mei couldn't help but ask, "Liu Xia, buying so much at once, aren't you on a diet? Didn't you say you wanted to lose weight to find a rich guy?"
Liu Xia waved her hand dismissively. "Marry a rich guy? I was just joking. Besides, don't look at me buying ten packs; these are for my family. It's almost Lunar New Year, and our family's New Year's goods haven't changed for over a decade."
Hearing Liu Xia's explanation, Xiao Mei realized she had misjudged her as a gold-digger and felt a bit sheepish.
"Then, what do you usually buy for your New Year's goods?"
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Compared to the quiet online launch, major supermarkets in S Province gave significant prominence to the new Meimei brand product.
After all, the consumer base in supermarkets largely consisted of middle-aged and elderly people who were not very active online.
Banners were hung, promotional staff were deployed, tasting booths were set up, and loudspeakers continuously played announcements.
"Meimei Brand's latest masterpiece, Meimei Pork Jerky. Eat it, and you'll be beautiful, I'll be beautiful, everyone will be beautiful!"
In those days, pork jerky was considered a relatively luxurious snack. Normally, even with promotion, there would be more onlookers than buyers.
However, the Meimei Brand was now quite familiar to people. Coupled with the approaching Lunar New Year, when children were home from school, and relatives visiting from out of town, families needed to have presentable snacks to serve.
Pork jerky, a large bag for twenty yuan, contained individually wrapped pieces, perfect for filling a coffee table fruit platter and exuding class.
Consequently, Meimei Pork Jerky experienced explosive sales on its first day in supermarkets. Moreover, Chinese people naturally gravitated towards crowds. Seeing a group of people scrambling for products at a shelf, others would follow suit, pushing their way in to grab two packs for their shopping carts without even asking what it was or its price!
By the peak shopping hour of 8 PM, the stock prepared by various distributors was completely depleted. The restocking staff could barely arrange the pork jerky packs neatly before customers behind or diagonally behind them snatched them away.
Later, the restocking staff figured it out: why bother stocking such a popular product?
They simply opened the boxes, each containing ten large bags, and stood by, with the ten bags being taken as soon as they were unpacked.
Before 9:30 PM, the entire inventory was sold out, leaving later customers to inquire repeatedly.
That evening, six thousand pieces out of Liu Chen's two-thousand-piece inventory were sold.
The once-full warehouse now had a quarter of its space cleared by the removal of six thousand pieces of pork jerky.
These six thousand pieces were distributed to six chain supermarkets via six trucks, entering their central warehouses. From there, central warehouse personnel were responsible for allocating the quantities to individual supermarkets.
First, C City, the provincial capital, took half of the stock. The remaining half was then distributed to the dozens of other prefecture-level cities' supermarkets.
A large truck carrying a thousand pieces was divided at the central warehouse, and then vans with the names of various supermarkets began to arrive, moving like ants.
The six thousand pieces of Meimei Pork Jerky were continuously cut and distributed, finally arriving on the shelves before the supermarkets in S Province opened.
University students, who had already started their holiday break, were the primary internet users and also the ones who preferred to stay indoors. However, when the university students in S Province accidentally saw the familiar Meimei Brand, and it wasn't Meimei Sausage but pork jerky, their first reaction was:
"Mom! You bought a fake!"
This exclamation angered Xu Mama, who was in charge of buying New Year's goods.
Xu Mama placed the freshly heated soy milk on the table with a "snap!" She crossed her arms and sat down on the living room sofa.
"Fake?"
Xu Mama's voice rose slightly, and then she leaned forward, picked up a piece of rosy-colored pork jerky from the fruit platter, tore open the small packet, and popped a piece into her mouth.
"This is what I managed to grab at Renrenle supermarket last night, even skipping my square dancing! Auntie You told me not to rush to buy things, but when she got there ten minutes after me, there wasn't even a plastic bag left!"
Xu Shi, hearing her mother's words, reached out hesitantly to take the remaining piece of pork jerky from the small packet and placed a tiny corner of the rectangular jerky on the edge of her mouth.
She gently tasted the flavor.
With just this taste, Xu Shi was certain:
"Mom! This is really Meimei Brand pork jerky! Mom! When did they release it!"
More and more people began posting on Weibo, showcasing the new Meimei Brand product they bought through offline channels—Meimei Pork Jerky.
They described this new product as—an essential, high-class snack for entertaining guests during the New Year.
However, as more people said this, other voices began to emerge.