"Congratulations, David, on joining the Shadow Cabinet. This is really a happy thing."
"Thank you for your congratulations, Your Highness,"
Barron meets Cameron once or twice almost every month. This time the meeting was mainly to congratulate him on joining the Shadow Cabinet and becoming the Director of the Privy Council Office of the Shadow Cabinet.
The so-called "shadow cabinet" was first proposed by the then Conservative Party leader Austin Chamberlain in 1907, and later such a system was implemented in many Commonwealth countries.
It refers to a "preparatory cabinet" formed by the leader of the largest opposition party in accordance with the cabinet structure, in preparation for overthrowing the current ruling party and taking office to form a cabinet.
Precisely because of this purpose, members of the shadow cabinet often confront the current cabinet very fiercely in order to achieve the goal of "replacing it".
Often when the opposition party comes to power, its cabinet members are basically members of the "shadow cabinet". At most, there will be only slight adjustments, and there will not be much change.
Therefore, entering the "Shadow Cabinet" is a great advancement for Cameron in his career.
It is worth mentioning that the Camerons have also joined the investment in the Mars Fund, of course, the investment is made in the name of Mrs. Cameron.
As a private equity fund, the threshold for the Mars Fund is relatively high. From the very beginning, its minimum investment amount was stipulated to be 1 million pounds.
There is no need to worry that Cameron and his family cannot come up with the money. You have to know that both Cameron and his wife are from aristocratic families. Cameron's great-grandfather Sir Ewan Cameron was once the chief executive of HSBC's London headquarters. His grandfather went to Chicago, USA to do grain trading business and made a fortune. He left America and returned to Scotland in 1880.
And when Cameron was young, he was not without some absurdities...
Given their financial resources, it was not difficult for them to invest 1 million pounds.
They were also among the first to invest in the Mars Fund, and now their £1 million investment is worth more than £5 million.
Barron certainly knows that the strongest alliance must have common interests, and the Mars Fund itself is the bond that maintains him with certain partnerships.
By now, Barron has been in this world for more than a year.
His influence at this time is naturally incomparable to that of the same year.
His status, coupled with the resources he controls, makes him a presence that cannot be ignored in Britain.
For this reason, Cameron, who has great political ambitions, has increasingly attached importance to his "friendship" with him.
"I want to congratulate you too, Your Highness. I often go shopping at Argos, and I never thought that this item would belong to you now."
Cameron said with some admiration.
Yes, after DS Capital raised its bid for Argos to £700 million, Home Retail Group, the owner of the chain retailer, held a shareholders' meeting in early June and voted overwhelmingly in favor of selling Argos.
In this way, Barron took over the chain retailer with more than 400 stores in Britain and Ireland.
The reason why Baron decided to acquire Argos was that it had a unique sales approach.
Argos' store operations are completely different from traditional stores. There are no products on display in the store lobby. All products are stored in warehouses behind the store or upstairs.
Consumers can choose products by browsing the shopping catalogues displayed in the store. These catalogues are readily available in all stores, and customers can also take them home and choose slowly.
All products sold are fully described in these written materials, and are accompanied by product codes and color pictures for easy query and comparison, ensuring that the most authentic and complete information is provided to consumers.
According to statistics, currently about 2/3 of households in the UK own Argos catalogs. The company focuses on household consumption and has a clustering effect on product categories. Every spring and autumn, Argos will launch new shopping-oriented catalogs based on the situation and will launch promotional product catalogs from time to time.
Another important reason why Argos can attract customers is that it has a complete range of products, covering high, medium and low price points. No matter men, women, old or young, everyone can find the products they like here. Except for not selling food, the products it sells are almost all-inclusive, with a total of 17,000 varieties and specifications.
Especially in the sales of toys, small appliances and home electronics, as well as furniture, gold and silver jewelry and sports and leisure products, Argos' sales performance is considered to be unmatched by other sellers.
There are also various ways to place orders at Argos. You can go to the store to buy, or you can place an order via mobile phone text messages and 24-hour phone calls.
Does this sales method look familiar to you?
Yes, this sales method is very similar to the B2C and O2O local services of e-commerce companies.
Therefore, after purchasing Argos, the first change Barron made was to develop and launch Argos' online website, allowing consumers to view goods and place orders in real time on the Argos website in addition to ordering by phone. They can also get the latest discount information from Argos stores near their homes in a timely manner.
Another thing that Barron is more concerned about is Argos' logistics and warehousing system.
Argos has 1 DC (distribution centre) and 4 RDCs (regional distribution centres), which are mainly responsible for delivery to Argos stores in England and Wales.
There are also 2 transshipment points, one in the Republic of Ireland and the other in Scotland, which are responsible for the delivery of Argos stores in the Republic of Ireland and Scotland respectively.
This "three-dimensional" logistics network structure is an essential resource for Argos to develop O2O services in the future.
Next, Argos will continue to improve its logistics and warehousing system, and will provide home delivery services for busy customers like Duke's Select Supermarket. Of course, this additional service will require a certain fee.
The biggest move after the acquisition of Argos is the huge private brand construction project.
In order to prevent price wars among different merchants selling similar products, Argos focuses on operating its own brand products.
By adopting a strict supplier evaluation system, we select product agents or manufacturers and require them to produce and package products according to market demand. The assessment indicators include specifications, styles, colors, shapes, packaging, etc., and the use of the Argos trademark.
As a result, many of the products sold at Argos are not available elsewhere, making it difficult for customers to make direct price comparisons.
This technique achieves three goals at once.
First, because suppliers can produce and design products according to Argos' requirements, they can provide a variety of styles to meet market demand, and the prices set can also satisfy customers.
Second, because Argos has set this strategy of long-term development with suppliers, their cooperative relationship has become closer, and while Argos has become the largest retailer, it has also increased the market share of these suppliers' products.
Third, it is precisely this strategic relationship that enables suppliers to fully guarantee both the price competitiveness of the goods they supply and the gross profit of Argos goods.
Argos' 2002 annual report showed that 59.3% of Argos' value was created by these private label products.
Afterwards, Barron will form a full-category inspection team in Argos, go to China to conduct OEM inspections, select suitable partners who can manufacture products that meet their quality requirements, and thus begin to transfer their supply chain to China.
The advantage of doing this is that it can significantly reduce the cost of the product, lower the overall price, make Argos' products more competitive, and even increase their profits...