Ferdinand exhausted his powers of persuasion to finally send Princess Clementine away.
To be frank, Ferdinand was still somewhat afraid of Princess Clementine; after all, he was a squatter, and he always felt a bit guilty about it.
Ferdinand continued working on his supermarket business plan.
The most important and difficult task at the moment was personnel training.
Ferdinand planned to recruit one hundred people initially, all of whom must have at least a secondary school education, to undergo preliminary training.
As for training instructors, he would have to step up himself.
Oh, and he could also rope in the old butler to help out; he had managed the hundreds of people inside and outside the castle with ease, so his management skills were quite good.
Vienna in 1881 was fundamentally different from later eras, so copying later models completely wouldn’t work.
After all, this was still the world of the aristocracy, so the staff had to receive basic training in aristocratic etiquette, which would elevate the class of the supermarket.
The second step was the venue, which was the easiest to solve.
In the vast city of Vienna, there were at least a hundred or so suitable locations; he could just rent or buy them and do some simple renovations.
In any case, he couldn’t afford to open a multi-story supermarket right now, nor could he stock enough goods.
Many of the diverse snacks and branded daily necessities of later generations didn’t even exist yet.
It seemed he had discovered another path to wealth; developing low-tech snacks seemed to have good prospects.
Never mind, let’s just open the supermarket first, Ferdinand thought.
The third step was sourcing stock, which would be more troublesome in the beginning.
Never mind, he could start by getting goods from wholesale markets, and once the supermarket’s scale grew, he could deal directly with manufacturers.
The fourth step was handling the relevant paperwork, which was absolutely no problem.
He was, after all, a high-ranking noble, so he had at least that much influence.
Finally, there was the money.
Personnel training costs, venue fees, stock procurement, and other miscellaneous expenses added up.
Ferdinand roughly estimated that a 500-square-meter supermarket would cost about 1,000 pounds.
(Note: The currency of Austria-Hungary in 1881 was the gulden, which was changed to the krone after 1893.
Because there were multiple results due to currency fluctuations at the time, for convenience, pounds were used directly.
1 pound = 7.32238 grams of pure gold.)
Considering his actual situation, Ferdinand decided to open five department stores in Vienna first.
It wasn’t a funding issue; in fact, taking out a few thousand pounds at once was not a burden for him.
The main issue was that personnel could not keep up.
From market research to training personnel, selecting venues, renovating, and sourcing goods, it took a total of over three months.
Ferdinand’s department stores were finally ready.
He had been transmigrated for over half a year.
Looking at the supermarket about to open, a sense of pride welled up within him.
This was where his dreams would set sail; if this were in his past life, such a small supermarket would have been enough to keep him struggling for most of his life.
June 18, 1881, was the auspicious day Ferdinand had chosen, and his first department store opened.
He simply pirated the name Volvo.
As a transmigrator, he naturally wouldn’t forget about promotion.
Two days earlier, he had sent all his employees out with banners to walk the streets of Vienna and promote the opening of Volvo.
1881 was a year worth remembering, both in the East and the West.
On February 24, Zeng Jize and the Tsarist Russian representatives signed the “Sino-Russian Treaty of Ili” and the “Land Trade Regulations.”
Tsarist Russia returned Ili but seized a large swath of territory west of the Khorgos River and north of the Ili River, and China paid Russia nine million ruble in military indemnities.
The powerful elites of the Manchu Qing Dynasty were still living in a drunken stupor, while the country was sliding into the abyss.
Bismarck wanted to prevent an alliance between Russia and France, which would leave him facing enemies on two fronts; meanwhile, Russia also wanted to ally with Germany to contend with Britain in the Near East and the two straits.
On June 18, 1881, Bismarck signed the renewal of the Three Emperors League with the ambassadors of Russia and Austria-Hungary in Berlin.
It was for a term of three years.
On the same day, the world’s first supermarket, Volvo, was born.
Ferdinand firmly believed that June 18 was an auspicious day and would never admit that he chose it just to ride the coattails of the hype.
However, it was an indisputable fact that whenever the citizens of Vienna mentioned the Three Emperors League, they would also think of Volvo.
Volvo did not disappoint Ferdinand’s expectations.
On the day of its opening, two long lines formed on the street.
Because there were too many people, they had to restrict entry.
Just like the Chinese, many foreigners also loved to join in the excitement.
Some were there simply to shop for cheap goods; others were just curious.
People are herd animals; seeing others buying large bags full of goods, they couldn’t help but follow suit.
(Those born in the 80s can recall the shopping frenzy when supermarkets opened in county towns in the early 90s.)
This continued until evening, and they had to restock three times during the day.
The explosive scene shocked Vienna, and he believed tomorrow’s newspapers would certainly report on it.
The profits of the department store did not disappoint Ferdinand; they even exceeded expectations.
In just one day of operation, the turnover reached 1,500 pounds, with a gross profit margin as high as 30 percent.
However, this was normal.
It was the first time a department store had appeared, and on the first day of business, many people walked in out of curiosity and ended up buying a pile of things in a daze.
Such good times wouldn’t last long; it would gradually return to normal, and the turnover would certainly shrink significantly.
The profit margins in the retail industry have always been high.
Even in the highly competitive 21st century, many small supermarkets in good locations lived quite comfortably.
Striking while the iron was hot, in the following month, the other four department stores opened one after another.
Business remained booming, and the store managers were all outstanding talents selected from the trained employees.
In fact, such small supermarkets did not require exceptional management skills; as long as they could execute the systems that Oliver had formulated in advance, it was enough.
Competitors had not yet appeared, likely still observing and learning, but that would change soon.
In a few months, department stores in Vienna would likely spring up everywhere.
The top priority now was to recruit staff and seize the market.
No matter how fierce the future competition would be, gaining the upper hand now would be an advantage later.
Encouraged by his previous success, Ferdinand became more aggressive, planning to add thirty chain supermarkets within half a year, which involved massive personnel recruitment.
Each supermarket needed at least ten to twenty employees, and with logistics and administrative management, the total personnel would be no less than one thousand.
For Ferdinand, this was also a huge challenge.
Even Butler Karl had been pressed into service and was busy all day, having no time to manage the castle.
This made Princess Clementine very dissatisfied, and she caught Ferdinand just as he returned home.
“Ferdinand, what are you running for?
I’m not going to eat you!” Princess Clementine said with great dissatisfaction.
“Oh, my dear mother, what do you need me for?” Ferdinand said with a cheeky grin.
“Are you really that busy?
It’s just a small department store, is it worth it?
Don’t you know how to find someone to help you?
If you were left to manage the House of Koháry, you’d be worked to death!” Princess Clementine said with great dissatisfaction.