Author | rice
Edit the | Tailfire
Flammable and explosive
Chinese New Year's Eve night, is your circle of friends also flooded with fireworks?
With crackling cannon bamboo and sparks blooming in the night sky, the taste of the year does seem to be a little fuller. How popular are fireworks? The circle of friends who set off fireworks on the New Year has more likes than a large table of Chinese New Year's Eve and rice, and holding a Gatling is the most enviable existence in this New Year.
In Xi'an, since late December, I have been woken up by the sound of cannons and bamboos several times, and the air is filled with the smell of fireworks. At the entrance of the community, at a distance of 500 meters from the east gate to the south gate, there were five or six fireworks stalls.
In the first Spring Festival, when the haze of the epidemic gradually faded, we all need this grand and dazzling romance to bless the good luck and expectations of the new year.
Of course, some people see romance, others see business opportunities.
The plainly dressed stall brother at the entrance of the community told me that he made tens of thousands a day; And a post-80s fireworks veteran in Jinan told me that he has 43 large cars in his additional orders this year, each worth 12W~43W, a total of nearly 10 million...
At this moment, in the noise and roar outside the window, I realized how many secrets of wealth were hidden in this fleeting fireworks.
During the winter vacation, he set up a stall to sell fireworks and earned 10,000 a day
"Every afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m., then have dinner and come back, and finish the stall around 8:30 p.m."
Gao Yang told me that this job of selling fireworks is easy and moneyy.
He is one of the many small vendors selling fireworks at the door of my community, and this male college student of the post-00s generation who looks very introverted took advantage of the winter vacation to start a fireworks selling business.
In the past, he also did various part-time jobs - supermarket temporary promotion, restaurant waiter, but often standing for only 80~100 yuan a day, very hard.
"If I want to change the way to make money this year, I feel that now that the epidemic has just been lifted, I can travel without restrictions, and the New Year is coming soon, and selling fireworks must be a good business." Gao Yang and his brother had the same idea, and it just so happened that his brother had a channel to enter the fireworks, and this great money-making plan was quickly produced and implemented.
Walk from his house to the stall downstairs of the supermarket opposite, no more than 3 minutes, cross the street.
It's even easier to set up a stall, just take the cardboard box with the fireworks out of the trunk: the cost is low, and it is convenient to hide from the city management, pick up the box and run if necessary.
Hawkers choose to sell fireworks in cardboard boxes, which is convenient and flexible
Then all he needs to do is wait for the customer to come up and ask for a price.
But this seemingly simple work, but the income is not much - since December 24, Gao Yang and his brother have earned more than 10,000 on New Year's Day, and for more than half a month, they have earned an average of five or six thousand a day.
You must know that the average monthly salary in Xi'an in 2022 is only 4203 yuan, and Gao Yang sells more fireworks than this in one night.
Gaoyang's fireworks stall
There is a market and purchase channels, and Gao Yang and his brother have been holding cardboard boxes since December 24.
"You don't need to shout, you are standing in front of your fireworks box, and many young people from work, small couples, and elementary school students who are pulling their elders are coming one after another... So, the best sellers are the seven wolves (the little boys like to play with cannons), as well as the ornamental fairy sticks and silver pearls. ”
The most popular fairy stick
Of course, there are many people in the community who have the same flexible brain as Gao Yang and start selling fireworks.
I counted, at the craziest time, from the east gate of the community to the south gate of 500 meters, there were 7 stalls, and even some stall owners, after work in the evening, went home for a quick meal, and came out to business with their children - making money and bringing children.
Other stall owners have a table for fireworks
Among these hard-working stall owners, Gao Yang and his brother belong to the very Buddhist type, and they sit quietly in front of the fireworks stall and wait for the customers to come forward.
The young lady next to her will not only pull the customer to introduce enthusiastically, but also open the mobile phone to show the customer the effect of fireworks, and after the customer chooses one, she also tries to show the other, hoping to sell more. Even when the customer took it away, she warmly invited to add a WeChat, telling the customer that if she wanted fireworks later, she could find her on WeChat at any time.
In order to sell more fireworks, some stall owners use WeChat group marketing
"I'm embarrassed about marketing, and I'll answer whatever questions people ask." Gao Yang, on the other hand, started a business of waiting for rabbits.
Fortunately, this year of the rabbit, there are really many "rabbits" who love fireworks. It is said that on one occasion, an older brother drove up to his stall, rolled down the window, and "brought me two of them for all the fireworks and put them in the trunk."
Although it was like making a movie, Gao Yang was still very happy, and this order sold 700 yuan.
Gao Yang was also shocked when he heard that a Gatling sold for 450 yuan on the night of the clock tower straddling Chinese New Year's Eve, but he and his brother were still very authentic - they kept selling for 120 yuan, although with the explosion of fireworks, the purchase price of Gatling rose from 40 yuan to 80 yuan in just half a month.
In 2023, Xi'an Bell Tower will span Chinese New Year's Eve Source: Little Red Book
Gao Yang and his brother have a heart: Gatling is the fastest and most expensive fireworks to sell, and he and his brother are pressing the goods after New Year's Day, waiting for the New Year wave to earn a lot of tickets.
Since selling fireworks for more than half a month, Gao Yang and his brother have purchased goods three times, each time for five or six thousand yuan, basically sold out, and the profit is more than 50%.
Not long ago, Xi'an issued the Notice on Strengthening the Safety Management of Fireworks and Fireworks during the 2023 Spring Festival, which undoubtedly injected another shot in the arm into Gaoyang's small business.
Fireworks that were originally planned to be sold out a few years ago are now in short supply. This post-00s boy also did not expect that a freewheeling winter vacation entrepreneurship would allow him to earn enough tuition and living expenses for several years.
For Gao Yang, this year's winter vacation is worth the odd jobs.
Fireworks wholesalers, tired to close their doors to catch up with customers
If the fledgling Gao Yang is a windfall, then Brother Yang, who has been engaged in the fireworks business for 19 years, can be described as a veritable fireworks "old gun".
But even he, in the face of this year's hot fireworks market, just kept repeating two words to me:
"This year is really a once-in-a-century market!"
"No one expected it!"
Brother Yang, a native of Jinan, Shandong, is a self-employed person whose main business is catering and selling fireworks as a side business during the New Year.
In 2004, he entered the fireworks industry, where his mother and three brothers and sisters retailed stalls; The retail business gradually became popular until 2016, and in 2017, with the ban on burning in Jinan, it came to an abrupt end; After a year of rest and adjustment, in 2018, he partnered with friends to set up a fireworks wholesale company in the areas around Jinan where fireworks are allowed, until today.
Brother Yang's fireworks business history
In the era when he was still setting up stalls, Brother Yang had already experienced the huge profits of the fireworks industry - the annual net profit was easily hundreds of thousands, and in 2008 it was the peak, reaching 28W.
In the era without WeChat and Alipay, bundles of cash were so many, CITIC and China Construction Bank on the street came to woo him as a big customer, and even, the president of China CITIC Bank specially invited him to dinner and gave him two duvets.
However, Brother Yang at that time could not have imagined that 15 years later, 28W was not enough for him to purchase a fraction of the fireworks.
Before this year's popularity, the fireworks factory also experienced a 4-year bleakness, under the influence of the ban on burning and the epidemic, fireworks could not be sold, the inventory backlog was serious, and the annual accounting, excluding the inventory, Yang Ge and his friends could hardly share the money.
This year, not only has the backlog of inventory in previous years been cleared, but it is simply not enough to sell, and orders need to be continuously increased.
In the wholesale business, Brother Yang and they will prepare the goods in the factory every year, and then when they are not enough to sell, they will contact the manufacturer to add orders and send them by cart. The big trucks that could not be used in previous years have been busy this year.
Brother Yang calculated that a total of 34 cars of fireworks were sent this year, from skewers to gifts, the cheapest car is hundreds of thousands, and the most expensive is as high as 430,000, so calculated, Brother Yang and their additional orders this year alone are as high as nearly 10 million.
The transport vehicles parked at the entrance of the Yangge fireworks factory carry up to three or four truckloads of goods a day from the manufacturer
Orders are hot, Yang Ge and the employees are too tired to raise the stall - in the past, doing fireworks business, whether it was a stall or a wholesale, the length of busy time depended on the number of customers, this year, it depends on the limits of human physiology.
"This year, more than 30 people in our factory are busy, unloading, invoicing, delivery (orders above 5W in nearby counties and districts are delivered for free), open at 6 a.m. every day, the busiest day, everyone works until 4 a.m., mainly because people are too tired to unload the goods." Brother Yang said.
"Gold and Silver Treasure" and "Mountain Tiger Fireworks" are the best-selling combination sets of Yang Ge Factory this year
Opening the door to do business, there is never a reason to "close the door and rush customers", but many times this year, Brother Yang and they are also forced to helplessly - when the employees are so tired that they can't even move a box of fireworks, they have to manage the factory gate early, although there are still customers queuing outside.
Therefore, in order to buy goods smoothly and as soon as possible, many dealers come around two o'clock in the evening and wait in the car.
Market insight is the basic skill of every businessman. But why is the fireworks business so hot this year, the 19-year-old fireworks veteran is also at a loss.
Of course, when the market comes, you don't need to figure out the "so", just seize the opportunity to make money.
"This year, we only care about purchasing and batching goods, and we don't have time to think about why, originally we only started batching goods in early December of previous years, but since November this year, manufacturers have come to our door one after another." Compared with previous years, the situation of needing to call customers one by one and deliver to their doors, this year, it is obvious that Yang Ge, a wholesaler, has taken the initiative.
This year, a corner of the product display area of Yangge Fireworks Wholesale Factory
Not only that, fireworks are in short supply, and customers from other places come to Brother Yang to batch goods.
"Initially, I just wanted to do business near us, but this year, merchants in Jinzhong, Hebei and Tianjin have merchants, and the highest unit price is a dealer in Langfang, Hebei, who came with a loading and unloading team, a 170W list, and they were busy for a whole week to finish shipping."
This year, Brother Yang was so busy that he didn't have time to sit down and settle the account. How much net profit this year will be learned after the account is settled.
But the volume of tens of millions of orders is placed here, and the profit will naturally not be less.
Fireworks are easy to cold, and business opportunities are eternal
Fireworks have always made people "love and hate".
From the Tang Dynasty's exorcism of evil spirits and beasts, to the later greeting of the God of Wealth, the opening of the door cannon diagram... China's fireworks culture has been around for a long time, and as the taste of the year fades, more and more people miss the festive atmosphere of the fireworks and firecrackers of their childhood. But at the same time, fireworks also mean noise and pollution.
This New Year, the slightly loosened ban on burning makes us reminisce about the happiness of the past, and when the left hand Gatling and the right hand fairy stick, watching the fire rush into the sky, it is indeed unparalleled happiness and happiness.
In this chaotic New Year's fireworks carnival, ordinary people reaped joy and joy, and fireworks vendors reaped unexpected wealth gift packs.
There will always be people who can take advantage of the chaos.
In the present moment, there is really nothing better than festive fireworks to end a difficult and painful time and start a new chapter.