America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 485 Internal Strife

While industry giants Walmart and Amazon were gripped by strategic anxiety due to the sudden emergence of flash sales, Massim, far away in Boston, was also gripped by an uncontrollable sense of frustration.

He had never been so humiliated in his life, being scolded like a dog by a stranger.

Inside the conference room at WShop headquarters, Massim and Cicero sat solemnly in their seats, looking at the company's directors in the office with unpredictable expressions.

Less than a day after its launch, WShop encountered a variety of problems.

Even well-known chains like ShopRite and Wawa have encountered problems, and quite a few at that.

Ernst relayed all the problems to him in a very serious and sharp tone, just like scolding a subordinate. He gave WShop a good dressing down while also taking him into consideration.

"Don't you have anything to say?" Massim asked in a deep voice, looking at Gallup Wood, a board member of Wawa, and Mick Garcia, a board member of ShopRite.

"Goods are delayed due to issues with order fulfillment, or the delivered items don't match the orders, and some customers have even reported receiving near-expiry food. Don't you have anything to say about these issues?"

Gallup Wood, however, remained uncomfortably calm. Leaning back in his chair, a disdainful smile played on his lips. "The issue of product allocation has nothing to do with Wawa. In fact, we are the victims of this chaos."

His tone was nonchalant, as if Wawa bore no responsibility for the crisis and was instead the one who was implicated.

"Victim?" Massim couldn't help but let out a cold laugh upon hearing this word. "So, the customer ordered two boxes of instant noodles on a flash sale platform, but only received one box, and the packaging was damaged?"

Faced with Massim's questioning, Gallup's composure finally cracked slightly, but he quickly found an excuse: "It was just a mistake caused by employee negligence. As you know, that area experienced an order surge, with a large number of orders flooding in in a short period of time, leaving employees no time to adapt to this new operating model. It's normal to take the wrong item, isn't it?"

"Furthermore, we contacted the customer immediately to explain the situation, and subsequently sent him the missing item. The customer expressed his understanding."

Massim wasn't buying it at all. He leaned forward slightly, staring at the other man with sharp, piercing eyes. "Don't think you can fool me with a few words. Flash Sale has already investigated. It's not that you sent the wrong item. It's that your store's inventory is simply insufficient to support customer order demand."

Seeing that his scheme had been exposed, Gallup simply gave up, abandoning all pretense and revealing a roguish, scoundrel-like demeanor. His tone was defiant: "So what? Don't forget, they broke the rules first! We're just trying to recoup our losses!"

Massim suppressed his anger, took a deep breath, shifted his posture, and continued to press, "Okay, even if your so-called 'making up for losses' is a valid reason, how do you explain the customer feedback about receiving near-expiry food?"

Gallup clicked his tongue, his dismissive tone infuriating. "These are all trivial matters. Maybe the clerk accidentally picked up the wrong item while sorting, or maybe the customer misread the expiration date. After all, not everyone is that careful."

"Furthermore, we at Wawa have always strictly adhered to relevant US retail standards. A three-month shelf life fully complies with sales requirements and there are absolutely no issues."

"A trivial matter?" Massim's voice suddenly rose several decibels, his tone filled with incredulous anger. "Gallup, you actually think this is a trivial matter?"

"Have you considered that if customers question the quality of our flash sale delivery service because of these issues, it will ultimately directly impact the overall operation of WShop? As shareholders of WShop, I hope you can clearly recognize the seriousness of this matter."

"Once consumer trust is lost, it takes ten times, even a hundred times, more effort to regain it!"

"This is a one-time thing, and I don't want to see anything like this happen again. If any store has this problem again, don't blame me for being ruthless and firing all the employees involved."

"Wawa is not for you to decide." Gallup slammed his hand on the table. "If something goes wrong, it's our problem. Flash Sale says what it is. I could say it's their problem."

"Of the delivery riders hired by Flash Sale, how many are Chinese? How many are Black? How many are Mexican? Why is it always our store's fault when something goes wrong? I could say these riders switched the delivery riders during the delivery process."

In 1998 America, the shadow of racial discrimination had not yet completely dissipated.

Many orthodox white people who adhere to white supremacy principles have always viewed non-white groups as representatives of crime.

They believe that these immigrant groups are taking away jobs from white people, driving down the wages of native-born white people in the United States, and even blaming these groups for social security problems.

"Anyway, I stand by my point of view: all Wawa stores are operating in a reasonable and compliant manner, and there are no problems whatsoever!" With that, Gallup got up and left.

Seeing Massim's gloomy and uncertain expression, and with their chests heaving, the others knew that the meeting was basically over, and they all left.

The meeting room door was gently closed, and silence finally returned to the room.

Massim remained seated, his hands clenched into fists, his eyes fixed on the list of questions on the table.

Just then, Cicero, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up, "Massim, I think we should communicate with Flash Sale about this."

"You think I can't handle this?" Massim turned to him with a furious look in his eyes.

"I know you can handle it, but it's not convenient for us to handle it," Cicero said earnestly.

Massim can definitely resolve this issue, but if he does, it will inevitably create a rift with Gallup, which is not a good thing for the internal unity of WShop.

WShop is just starting out, and if internal strife begins at this time, the consequences are predictable.

"Moreover, this model was conceived by Flash Sale, and we have no experience with it, but Ernst couldn't possibly have been unaware of this happening. I think he must have had a better solution."

Massim glanced at him, then lowered his head and pondered for a moment before taking out his own phone.

There's nothing shameful about calling Ernst for help; the most important thing is your own interests.