America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 481 Takeout Food Shows Its Power

If online e-commerce is already surprising enough, then offline store delivery can only be described as a digital revolution.

It was nearly noon in an office building in Manhattan.

As lunch break approached, the workstations that were originally full of employees gradually became empty. Most people had packed up their computers and went to the restaurant or the convenience store downstairs in twos and threes to prepare for their short lunch break.

Bering, however, sat alone at his workstation, his brow furrowed as he stared at the computer screen, his face clouded with worry, a stark contrast to the relaxed atmosphere around him.

"What are you daydreaming about? Everyone's gone to lunch, why don't you hurry up and get ready?" A clear and energetic voice came from behind Beryl, breaking her reverie.

Without even turning around, Belin knew who it was just by the voice.

Pamela, her college classmate, and the two were inseparable best friends during college. After graduation, they joined the same company together because of their outstanding abilities. Not only did they work in the same department, but they also shared an apartment near the company. They went to and from get off work together every day, shared their daily lives, and their relationship was as good as sisters.

Bering slowly turned his head, the gloom on his face not dissipating, but instead revealing a mournful expression, his tone filled with helplessness and self-mockery, "Lunch? In my current state, I'm afraid I can only eat dirt."

Pamela was taken aback for a moment, then looked at her with a puzzled expression and leaned down to look at her, saying, "Eating dirt? What happened to you? Didn't you just get your quarterly bonus yesterday and say you were going to eat at that Spanish restaurant nearby? How come you've fallen to the point of eating dirt in just one day?"

Seeing Pamela's bewildered expression, Berlin could only sigh and explain, "Forget about the quarterly bonus. I couldn't resist this morning and bought a lot of things. My credit card is almost maxed out. After checking the bill, I think I'll probably have to fast for the next week."

"What? How much stuff did you buy?" Pamela exclaimed in surprise, her face full of disbelief.

The two of them saw the flash sale ads everywhere and were attracted by the limited-time discounts they were advertising.

This morning, as soon as the two sat down in the office, Pamela couldn't wait to turn on her computer, log onto the flash sale website, and get a new cat cage for her cat.

Pamela has an orange tabby cat that is now over a year old and has grown significantly larger than when she first adopted it.

The cat cage that the cat lives in now is the same small one she bought when she adopted the cat. As the cat has grown, the space in the cage has become very cramped, and the cat has some difficulty even turning around inside.

Pamela had long wanted to get her cat a spacious and comfortable new cat cage, but every time she saw the price tag, she was deterred by the exorbitant number.

In physical stores, medium-sized cat cages are generally priced above $150, and slightly better ones can even cost $300, which is undoubtedly a considerable expense for Pamela, who has only recently started working.

Until today, I saw GG's flash sale platform and saw the discounts, so I got interested.

The cat cage was chosen with Berlin's help, and naturally, they also saw the wide variety of items on the flash sale.

Unexpectedly, after returning to his workstation, Bering bought so much stuff that he couldn't even afford to eat.

"I didn't want to either, but it's just too cheap!" Berlin said, as he moved the mouse to open the flash sale platform page, found his order list, and turned to Pamela. "Look, these lipsticks usually cost more than $30 each at the counter, but on the flash sale, three are only $65."

"And this down jacket, it's so pretty and it's less than $100... I thought if I missed this opportunity, I might not know when I'd find such a good price again, so I couldn't resist buying a few more."

Pamela looked at the computer screen in the direction Belin pointed, and when she saw the 41 orders displayed on the order list, her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened.

It took her a while to recover, and she exclaimed, "My God, that's insane! 41 orders!"

After her initial reaction, Pamela quickly urged, "Take a look at these orders and cancel any items that aren't urgent or optional! You can't really go without food for the next week and survive on a hunger strike, can you?"

Upon hearing Pamela's persuasion, Beryl's face showed a conflicted expression. She shook her head helplessly. "Do you think I don't want to cancel them? These orders are already the result of my screening. I've been looking at the order list for more than half an hour, and now I really don't know what to cancel."

Just as Pamela was about to say something more and continue to persuade Belin to consume rationally, a light blue dialog box suddenly popped up on the flash sale website page on the computer screen.

"Dear user, the system has detected that you have been viewing this website continuously for more than three hours. Good viewing habits can help protect your eyesight. We suggest you take a short break."

Both Behring and Pamela were taken aback when they saw the dialog box.

Pamela reacted first, then laughed and said, "I didn't expect this flash sale platform to be so thoughtful, even reminding users to protect their eyesight. It's much better than those platforms that only care about getting users to spend money."

As soon as Pamela finished speaking, a new dialog box popped up on the computer screen.

Friendly reminder: It's lunchtime now! Good eating habits contribute to your health! If you haven't decided what to have for lunch yet, check out our hourly delivery service. New users can even enjoy a discount on their first use!

"Hourly delivery service? What's that?" Beryl looked at the contents of the chat box with a question mark on her face. She turned to Pamela, hoping to get an answer from her.

Pamela rolled her eyes in annoyance, then pointed at the computer screen. "You've been browsing this platform all morning, and you're asking me?"

Belin was a little embarrassed by Pamela's comment. She scratched her head and gave an awkward laugh. "I've been so busy looking at clothes and cosmetics this morning that I didn't even notice the platform had an hourly delivery service. But it's not too late to find out now, why don't you take a look?"

After saying that, Berlin scrolled to the very top of the flash sale platform's homepage, where, sure enough, there was a prominent hourly delivery option in the navigation bar at the top of the homepage.

After clicking, the page redirected, but instead of a product list, it immediately popped up with a form that required me to fill in my address, name, and phone number.

Looking at the form, Beryl became even more puzzled. She muttered to herself, "Strange, haven't I already filled in my address, name, and phone number? Why do I have to fill them in again?"

"This is the address for hourly delivery. Items purchased here will generally be delivered within an hour, so please fill in the address where you are currently receiving the package," Pamela's explanation came through in my ear.

"How did you know?" Berlin turned to look at her in surprise.

Pamela pointed at a spot on the computer screen, annoyed. "Isn't it written here?"

After the two figured out how to use the hourly delivery service and filled in the information, they were once again amazed by what was inside.

Although similar to Walmart's online store, both mainly selling everyday consumer goods, the products offered by the hourly delivery service are more geared towards immediate needs.

"They even have Wawa sandwiches?!" Just as Berlin was browsing the product list, Pamela suddenly exclaimed, her eyes fixed on a product image on the screen, her face full of disbelief.

Upon hearing Pamela's exclamation, Belin quickly went over to look. He saw that the screen displayed product information for a sandwich called "Wawa Homemade Specialty Sandwich," and the picture looked quite delicious.

Looking at the sandwich, Bering asked, somewhat puzzled, "Is it strange to have a sandwich?"

"It's not surprising to have sandwiches, but it's really strange that these are Wawa's homemade specialty sandwiches!" Pamela said excitedly, her voice filled with barely concealed excitement and nostalgia.

"You don't know, Wawa is a chain convenience store brand in my hometown of Pennsylvania. Their homemade sandwiches are super famous! Whether it's the toast or the sauce, it's all made by Wawa themselves. They are the best sandwiches I've ever eaten, bar none."

"But how is that possible? Wawa doesn't even have a store in New York." Pamela looked puzzled.

She just checked; the item was supposed to be delivered within an hour. Even by plane, it couldn't be delivered from Pennsylvania to New York.

Then Bering felt himself being pushed aside and asked, "What are you doing?"

Pamela had taken her place and said excitedly, "Never mind that, it's lunchtime for you! I'm going to show you what the best sandwich in the world is like!"

First, I logged out of Bering's flash sale account, then logged into my own account, quickly filled in my office address information, and then found Wawa's sandwiches in the product list.

After selecting the items, Pamela clicked the "Proceed to Checkout" button and was taken to the payment page.

The payment page clearly displayed the various costs of the goods, and the prices were the same as what she bought in the store in Pennsylvania: $14.99 for each sandwich, and $29.98 for two sandwiches.

However, an additional service fee of 10% of the product price will be charged for delivery and tip.

As long as she can taste the flavors of home, she would feel it's worth paying an extra $3, or even an extra $10.

To her surprise, just as she was about to click the confirm payment button, a new user discount popped up on the page, indicating that there was a discount available, and the amount was reduced by $8, which was cheaper than buying it in a physical store.

She couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow! There's such a big discount! All things considered, two sandwiches plus delivery and tip are cheaper than buying them in a physical store!"

After she entered her password and completed the payment with PayPal, another surprise occurred.

Surprisingly, an order tracking interface popped up, clearly displaying "The merchant has accepted the order and is preparing the goods; the rider has accepted the order and is expected to pick up the goods in 3 minutes."

"There's even an order tracking feature? And it even shows the time?" Berlin stared at the order tracking interface, his mouth agape in astonishment.

She's ordered takeout before, but as for the delivery time, she can only guess.

Pamela was also pleasantly surprised by the order tracking feature: "This design is so user-friendly! What if there's a delivery time reminder after the rider picks up the food in three minutes? For example, when is it expected to arrive at our office?"

"Really?" Bering hesitated. "They can't just deliver one order, can they? I'd be surprised if it took two hours, let alone an hour. You know, Walmart delivers all day, sometimes even the next day."

Deep down, they see hourly delivery as a platform similar to Walmart, rather than a restaurant takeout service.

This viewpoint was greatly surprised when the page changed, displaying a message that the rider had picked up the food and it was expected to be delivered in 40 minutes.

"My God, I can't believe it! What kind of delivery speed is this? Walmart is totally inferior to it."

Bering scratched his head. "Will we still need to go to the supermarket? It seems like all our daily needs can be met on this online shopping platform."

Not only were the two of them surprised, but everyone in North America who was immersed in flash sale websites received this notification.

Many people who chose to use it were amazed.