After being laid off, Mr. Zhang has always wanted to learn how to do business, always thinking of himself as a businessman. With limited funds, Mr. Zhang could only start with small businesses: he ran a fruit store, operated a clothing business, and managed a restaurant. However, Mr. Zhang's businesses were never successful. According to his own explanation, the reasons for failure were "doing business too small" and "market competition being too cruel." Although each business venture was not successful and did not accumulate wealth, Mr. Zhang had gained a different kind of wealth: a sense of the market and a unique understanding of risks.
At the age of forty, Mr. Zhang borrowed 80,000 yuan from his relatives and went to Zhengzhou to start another business. This time, he saw potential in the Buddhist jewelry market. He believed that opening a Buddhist jewelry shop had good business prospects. Therefore, he looked up a lot of information about Buddhist jewelry online and also conducted field investigations at the Hualin International Buddhist Goods Market in Guangzhou and the Buddhist bead processing plant in Putian. After spending several months researching online and communicating with people across the country, Mr. Zhang realized one thing: the prosperity of the Buddhist jewelry market is due to the fact that, compared to a market with relatively high demand, although there are many small-scale operators, they rarely engage in cutthroat competition. Everyone can find their own survival space in various niche markets.
Having identified the opportunity, Mr. Zhang decided to make a big move in the Buddhist jewelry market. Relying on the world's largest Hualin International Buddhist Goods Market in Guangzhou, he targeted the mid-to-low-end consumer group for Buddhist jewelry and opened a Buddhist jewelry shop on a bustling street in Zhengzhou. Two years of operation gave Mr. Zhang a great sense of accomplishment. His sales quadrupled in just one year, reaching more than 400,000 yuan in 2011, with a net profit of over 200,000 yuan. He never expected the Buddhist jewelry market to be so large, with consumers ranging from ninety-year-old seniors to teenagers in their teens.
Just like many successful small-scale operators who have effectively managed their businesses, these operators, due to their capital disadvantages, not only avoid actively seeking competition but also make every effort to prevent cutthroat competition. They then survive in spaces where they can leverage their respective advantages. Mr. Zhang said: The Buddhist jewelry market is the best space to avoid cutthroat competition.
Mr. Zhang rented a storefront in a street district in Zhengzhou with relatively good foot traffic. His goods were purchased from Shancai Buddhist Jewelry. Initially, he mainly bought items such as Buddhist bead bracelets and car-hanging Buddha statues, which were very popular among young people. Products like sandalwood and agarwood Buddhist bead bracelets became particularly favored by young people due to the influence of wearing by many big-name celebrities, and the profits were also quite substantial. In the first month alone, he made a pure profit of more than 3,000 yuan. Half a year later, based on the market feedback from the storefront, Mr. Zhang customized various types of Buddhist jewelry products from Shancai Buddhist Jewelry, expanding beyond just bead bracelets and other accessories to include Buddhist goods. This way, the consumer base was not just those interested in jewelry but also included Buddhist believers, making the business more flexible. Mr. Zhang said: There are so many Buddhists in Zhengzhou, and there's a lot of potential in the Buddhist jewelry market.