"That’s why it’s been hard for anyone to know where they ca from, and it hasn’t helped with marketing our store. We have the store, but without a brand, it’s easy for our efforts to go unnoticed."
"If we create our own brand, every ti we sell a product, custors will see our logo and brand. Just like on Earth, it will make it easier for them to rember where they bought it. Even if other rchants purchase our products, they won’t be able to rebrand them as their own."
"At most, it will look like they’re collaborating with us, which ans they can help with proper distribution, but they won’t be able to raise the prices arbitrarily."
"I think there was a similar system on Earth. With our brand, custors can find our products across different stores and realms without feeling like they’re searching for a needle in a haystack. This will put those rchants in their place and encourage them to establish proper collaborations with us instead..." 008 explained.
"That’s actually a great idea. Why didn’t you ntion this earlier?" Kisha asked.
If 008 had a physical body, she would have been scrutinizing it with a sharp stare. She had been worrying about this issue for a long ti, and yet 008 had known about it all along, so why bring it up only now?
If it had ntioned it earlier, she could have saved herself days of unnecessary stress. Marketing her products would have been far easier, and by now she might have had a long queue of custors waiting.
Although her current custor base wasn’t bad, especially considering her limited stock, she couldn’t help but think of all the complications she could have avoided if she had known about the system’s brand application feature sooner.
"Host, it’s not that I was trying to hide this from you," 008 replied calmly. "It’s just that our store was still new and under probation during that period. While under probation, the features available to us were extrely limited."
"Now that we’ve passed the probation period, with excellent results, thanks to our sales data, many restrictions have been lifted. Although we did receive several fake negative reviews, I’ve already submitted appeals for them. They’re currently under review and won’t significantly affect our store’s standing."
"Because of our strong overall performance, like our review ratings, sales volu, custor traffic, retention rate, popularity, and product quality, the mother system has officially recognized us as a ’qualified store.’ And so, we’ve passed the assessnt." 008 paused deliberately, giving Kisha ti to absorb the information.
"Store assessnts are graded, similar to item rankings. They range from Grade F all the way up to Grade SSS. Our store is now officially part of that grading system."
After seeing that Kisha was following along, 008 continued, "And so, lower-grade stores technically pass because they et only the bare minimum requirents to operate. However, this also ans their product quality is low, and their presence is negligible."
"Even though they have a store, it’s unlikely to be promoted or noticed. They won’t be included in featured listings, and over ti, they’ll slowly fade into obscurity."
"On the other hand, stores with higher grades are prioritized for featured promotions. When custors search for specific products, items from high-grade stores are listed first. In fact, our store has already been featured several tis as part of a trial phase."
"Each ti our products appeared in those featured slots, they sold out, allowing us to gain more loyal custors and steadily increase our following."
"Because of this, the mother system conducted further comparisons and evaluations. After all the trials and assessnts, we were awarded a Grade S rating. For a newly opened store, this is virtually unprecedented."
"Most stores that start with such high grades are usually run by established rchants with massive inventories. They co fully prepared, invest heavily in promotions, and sotis even pay custors to artificially boost their statistics."
"anwhile, we managed to reach this Grade without paying for promotions or hiring paid custors to visit our store and generate transactions. This ans all of our statistics are genuine."
"Because of our high Grade assessnt, the Branding feature was unlocked much earlier than expected. Normally, this feature only becos available once a store is well-known across the entire Sales Channel."
"For most rchants, achieving this takes years, as they first need to establish their own distribution channels and build a solid custor base. Only then does branding beco a natural next step. For new stores, however, it is normal to sell unbranded products at the beginning, as custor trust and reputation take ti to develop." —008 explained.
Kisha didn’t answer right away. What 008 said made a lot of sense, and it wasn’t as if she had truly suffered any losses, so she couldn’t bla 008 for not informing her imdiately. Since no harm had been done, and considering how well 008 had been assisting her all this ti, there was really no issue at all.
Besides, it wasn’t as if 008 had made an oversight. She had rely jumped to the conclusion that 008 hadn’t inford her, when in fact the branding feature had only just beco available. In that sense, 008 hadn’t done anything wrong at all.
She even praised 008 for being so ticulous. Perhaps that was also the reason 008 had forgotten about the discount coupon, because it was constantly busy overseeing the Sales Channel store. Kisha didn’t always have the ti to check on it herself, so most of the responsibility naturally fell on 008.
"You did well," Kisha said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Now that we can brand our products, that’s a huge advantage. Like you said, it will greatly help with spreading awareness of our brand. Other rchants won’t be able to take advantage of our products anymore, because even if they buy in bulk and resell them, they won’t be able to rebrand them."
"That leaves them with only one option: to co to us and make a deal as official distributors. They’ll earn a share per bulk order, and if they can recruit more distributors, they can even earn a commission for every rchant they bring in."
At first, 008 felt as if it were blushing from the praise. But the more it listened to Kisha, the more it felt that it already knew what she was about to propose.
"Host... isn’t that called pyramiding?"
Kisha wanted to shot it a look if 008 only had a physical body. "Don’t make it sound like we’re scamming anyone. This is simply the most efficient way to boost our sales in a short period of ti. At the sa ti, we’ll save a huge amount on promotions and marketing. If we rely solely on featured promotions and system-driven marketing, it would take a long ti for our popularity to reach a respectable level, and even longer for more custors to discover us."
She continued calmly, laying out her logic. "Instead, we can leverage the existing popularity and reputation of high-ranking stores. These rchants already have loyal custor bases, strong Grade assessnts, and solid credibility. Partnering with them would give us the best exposure possible, far more effective than spending ti and resources building everything from scratch."
"That way, we’ll only have to pay a small commission," Kisha said lightly, "but in return, we’ll gain access to their custor base. Who knows, if we play our cards right, we might even win over so of their loyal custors."
A devilish grin spread across her face. Just seeing it sent a chill through 008, and it imdiately realized that Kisha was scheming again. Still, it couldn’t truly bla her. After all, those rchants had been the first to try and take advantage of them. Using the sa tactics in return didn’t seem excessive; it was only fair. In the end, both sides would profit from the arrangent.
In the end, 008 didn’t try to dissuade Kisha and simply agreed as it listened to her plan. Once she finished explaining, it spoke up.
"Then, Host, since the branding feature is already available, should we start designing our brand?"
Kisha paused, then asked thoughtfully, "We’ll need soone to help with the design. Should we print labels, or should we integrate the brand na and logo directly into the packaging?"
"Actually, Host, we don’t need to worry too much about the branding process," 008 said. "If you’d like, you can design the logo yourself. Once you’re done, I can copy it into the system. From then on, every ti you list a product, the brand will automatically be printed on the packaging as part of the branding feature."
It continued, sounding increasingly animated. "Once a product is branded, if other rchants purchase it and attempt to rebrand it, the system will imdiately detect the action and issue a warning. If they repeat the violation, they’ll be punished for breaking the rules. Depending on the severity, the punishnt could range from temporary store suspension, which could last for days or even years, to a complete ban."
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