Chapter 3628 — The Hong Clan Trading Association
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
Naturally, after touring the entire Outer Street and Middle Street, Wei Zhao had still found a few items that caught his eye. The trouble was that none of them came cheap. Each required anywhere from several dozen to more than a hundred spirit jades. They would be of some use to Wei Zhao, but none was truly crucial or urgent; they were all things he could buy or do without. If he had thousands of spirit jades to spare, he might have picked them up without a second thought. But under the circumstances, he decided it was better to look around first.
After making a complete circuit of the Outer Street and Middle Street, Wei Zhao had already planned to leave. Yet something happening ahead made him stop in spite of himself.
It was the entrance to the Inner Street. Ordinarily, idlers were strictly forbidden from entering; only the most outstanding inner disciples of the Threefold Pavilion, those near the top of its rankings, were qualified to go in. The last time Wei Zhao had come, the place had been deserted and shrouded in an air of mystery. Today, however, people were streaming inside in a bustling tide. What surprised Wei Zhao was that many of them were merely experts in the early Foundation Establishment stage, while the guards responsible for maintaining order were not stopping them as they had last time.
What was going on? Wei Zhao stood there in a daze for a moment before finally spotting, above the entrance to the Inner Street, a special sign unlike the one that had been there before: Inner Street Open Day! Beneath it was a smaller line of text: Experts at the early Foundation Establishment stage or above may enter.
Wei Zhao had dealt with all sorts of commercial tactics back when he was in the mundane world. After pausing to think it over, he quickly understood the reason behind it.
As the marketplace's most mysterious and exclusive street, the Inner Street imposed an entry threshold mainly to emphasize the prestigious status of those allowed inside and thereby attract the Threefold Pavilion's most elite inner disciples. After all, those people possessed vast quantities of spirit jades and formed the core of the high-end consumer base. Once the Inner Street restricted entry so that everyone else was barred while they alone could enter, admission itself became a symbol of exalted status. Having their sense of superiority satisfied, they would naturally be even more willing to come here and spend.
In fact, any item worthy of being sold on the Inner Street was bound to be far more upscale than those on the Outer Street and Middle Street, and its price naturally much higher as well. Anyone who had not reached the requisite level simply could not afford such things. Rather than waste time displaying them on the Outer Street and Middle Street for the sake of low-level cultivators, it was better to gather them in the Inner Street, create the effect of exclusivity, and cater specifically to the Threefold Pavilion's most elite inner disciples.
From a purely commercial standpoint, then, the Inner Street was essentially the marketplace's top-tier VIP area. Its existence was both logical and effective. But every commercial strategy had its drawbacks, and the Inner Street was no exception.
Even as its exclusivity attracted the Threefold Pavilion's elite disciples, the Inner Street's disadvantage was equally obvious: its customer base was inherently small. There were only so many elite disciples in the Threefold Pavilion, which meant the Inner Street's market was naturally limited. For a commercial organization striving to grow, that was clearly no good.