“It seems you’re about to have a new business venture. You don’t act like a prince anymore; instead, you’re more like those profit-driven capitalists.” Queen Therese naturally saw through Otto’s intentions. She affectionately stroked Otto’s hair, “You’re still scheming even when giving me something.”
“To develop this lotion, I spent a lot of money and conducted countless experiments. I just succeeded recently, and you were the first person I thought of. You can’t possibly expect me to not even recover my costs, can you?”
Otto cooperatively put on a wronged expression, adopting the posture of a qualified capitalist.
As for the brand name of the cosmetics, as someone who struggles with naming, Otto thought for a long time before deciding on Venus's Secret.
By then, in addition to the lotion, there would be other product lines, which would surely empty the purses of those noble ladies. After all, people of later generations know that women’s money is the easiest to earn.
“Alright, I will certainly mention it to my friends.” Queen Therese, pleased, left with the lotion, asking before she left when the latest products could be delivered.
In fact, Queen Therese didn't even need to actively promote it. The noblewomen who constantly monitored the royal family were so eager that they would observe the Queen with magnifying glasses all day, noticing even the slightest changes.
After the noblewomen who frequently spent time with Queen Therese noticed the recent changes in her skin, they began to inquire about the reason.
Unexpectedly, these people did not ask directly but secretly paid for information, bribing Queen Therese’s maids and makeup artists, and eventually learned that the Queen had recently been using lotion made by Prince Otto.
Soon, the lotion made by Prince Otto and the name Venus's Secret spread among the noblewomen of Munich.
Next, they not only arranged for their stewards to inquire with Otto but also encouraged their husbands and lovers to seek information from Otto.
These people all expressed willingness to buy at high prices, but Otto stated that these products had just entered production, and the output was limited, so for now, they could only meet the needs of a portion of people. As for high prices, that was too much; since everyone was acquainted, he quoted an “extremely favorable” price.
After those who got what they wanted from Otto used the product, the excellent results quickly became apparent.
Soon, the young noblewomen of Munich became impatient, and even some who couldn't obtain it were willing to pay several times the price to acquire it.
Feeling the timing was right, Venus's Secret lotion was sold in limited quantities at Otto's department store for 1 pound. It was sold out in less than half a day.
For this first batch of trial sales, Otto “tearfully” earned hundreds of pounds, which made Otto decide to immediately begin large-scale production.
Returning to his study, Otto quickly wrote a new business plan. The previous lotion was divided into three grades: luxury edition, hardcover edition, and regular edition.
Differentiated by packaging and added fragrances, the market would be segmented to capture noblewomen with different spending capacities.
A membership system would also be implemented: Gold Card members, Silver Card members, and Regular Card members. The first two membership cards would be made of real gold and silver, maximizing the sense of ritual and emphasizing luxury, completely following the practices of luxury goods companies in later generations.
At the same time, Otto also issued a new product development task. Just looking at the frenzy of the noblewomen in Munich for beauty products, the foreseeable sales would definitely not be bad.
After writing the plan, Otto arranged for people to procure raw materials and customize bottles and outer packaging. As for sales, they would first be placed in department stores in various places; the two could complement each other.
Just like the prestige of large shopping malls in later generations depends on how many major brands are present, which attracts enough customer traffic with spending potential.
Otto directly created customer traffic for the department store, simultaneously driving the sales of other goods, and could even suppress competitors in other department stores to a certain extent.
Venus's Secret could even become one of the core competencies of the department store.
All the bottles and packaging used for cosmetics were at most refined; raw materials like glycerin and essential oils could be easily bought on the market, but the most crucial component, salicin, was firmly controlled by Otto.
Ensuring this, at least for a long time, Otto could have an exclusive business, enough for Otto to develop Venus's Secret into a best-selling luxury empire across Europe and even reaching the New World.
Speaking of which, salicin itself also possesses extremely high medicinal value. It was something Otto thought of after his long-unsuccessful attempts to develop penicillin.
Penicillin could cure many fatal diseases of this era, such as pneumonia, and its role in medicine and military goes without saying, but its manufacturing process and technology are very complex.
Otto only remembered the general principle; to succeed in experiments, a professional laboratory needed to constantly try, and it had not yet succeeded.
Even if a laboratory product was made, large-scale production would require a lot of effort.
However, he was more familiar with the principle of salicin, and its production was simpler, which is why he made it first, also leading to the emergence of the byproduct, lotion.
...
At Queen Therese's request, Otto attended several noble banquets that he found boring.
Of course, it wasn't without any gains; at least he got a good talent for managing industries from his mother.
Franka Kafka, an Austrian in his early forties, had previously been involved in managing some of the royal family's assets and had performed very well.
After Otto had an in-depth conversation with him, he initially recognized his abilities. He then persistently ‘borrowed’ him from his mother, asking him to try it out first. If he performed well, he could be arranged to manage the luxury goods company in another region in the future.
Establishing a luxury goods company was not difficult. Currently, the only product, lotion, could have its bottles and packaging customized by shops in the early stages, simply ensuring supply.
Raw materials like glycerin and essential oils could be easily bought on the market. The manufacturing plant was actually only responsible for the final steps of filling, packaging, and sales.
As for product research and promotion, those were handled by other people, and the core of the cosmetics remained in Otto's hands.
After all, unlike trusted confidantes cultivated over many years, he was not yet trustworthy enough with crucial things. Otto would gradually hand over more work to Franka and let him take charge independently once he had worked for a period and proven his trustworthiness.
The market economy of this era was not very developed, and information exchange was not so convenient. Family businesses were the mainstream, talent was hard to find, and mobility was not high.
The people around Otto now were either found by his parents or cultivated by him through years of sponsorship and training. However, because his industries were expanding too quickly, Otto felt that he still lacked talent around him.
As for talented people from outside, he could only pay more attention and then find ways to pick them up.
For example, there were thousands of students currently enrolled at the University of Munich, which seemed like a lot, but only over a thousand graduated each year, distributed among various majors, so the number was even smaller.
Among them, those who were noble or descendants of big merchants mostly had their own paths.
University students of this era were truly favored individuals; government departments and major consortia would even reserve them before they graduated, so there were very few who actually needed to find jobs.
As department stores within Bavaria gradually got on track, department stores in Germany also began to open. Otto selected some well-performing personnel from this period to go there.
Otto placed great importance on quickly capturing surrounding markets, especially the French region.
Paris was currently the cultural center of Europe, and its influence was self-evident. He had already decided to personally make a trip, accompanied by many financial personnel.
In this era, there were no computers, not even calculators; accounting relied entirely on manual calculation, which was complex work and also required high loyalty.
Especially since Otto was often beyond reach in France, each department store had to be equipped with reliable financial personnel.
Fortunately, in these years since his rebirth, Otto might not have sponsored and cultivated many university students, but there were some talented people who had graduated from middle school.
However, even so, the current talent reserve was barely enough to open department stores across Germany and France.
This was also Otto’s current dilemma; wanting to open department stores in major cities worldwide in the future was still a long and arduous task.