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Chapter 499 The Conspiracy of Flash Sales

9 month 19 number.

The morning sun had just begun to rise, and the entire city was still immersed in a tranquil slumber.

Gallup was sound asleep in a detached villa in an upscale residential area.

However, this peace did not last long. The phone by the bed suddenly rang, its sharp ringing sounding particularly jarring in the quiet room, instantly waking Gallup from his sleep.

He jolted awake, his eyes still slightly groggy from just waking up. After a couple of seconds, he reached for the phone and groggily asked, "This is Gallup, who is this?"

The voice coming from the other end of the phone was that of Tim Hank, the COO of Wawa. His tone was urgent and serious. In just a few seconds, it was like a thunderclap, making Gallup sit up in bed instantly, looking like he had come back from the dead. His sleepiness vanished without a trace, and his mind became clear instantly.

"Call all senior executives for a meeting. I'll be there right away."

After hanging up the phone, Gallup got up and got out of bed without hesitation.

He shivered as soon as his feet touched the cold floor, but he had no time to care. He walked quickly to the wardrobe, grabbed a dark suit and a white shirt, put them on, and hurriedly left the room.

Inside the restaurant, his wife Chloe was preparing breakfast for him. When she saw his current attire, she was clearly taken aback.

Seeing Gallup walk straight towards the door, she realized what was happening, quickly put down the kitchen utensils she was holding, and hurried after him.

Before the person even reached Gallup, his voice came over first: "Aren't you going to have breakfast? I specially made your favorite fried eggs and bacon, and hot milk."

Gallup continued walking, reaching for his briefcase on the shoe rack by the door, and replied without turning his head, "Something urgent at the company, I need to go take care of it right away, I'll skip breakfast."

As soon as he finished speaking, he bent down to put on his shoes and was about to reach out to open the door.

"You're not wearing a tie," Chloe pointed out.

However, she was met with the sound of the door slamming shut.

Looking at the tightly closed door, Chloe frowned deeply, a sense of foreboding rising in her heart.

She knew Gallup; he always placed great importance on his appearance and etiquette, which, in his own words, was a gene passed down from nobility, a symbol of status and taste.

Gallup's ancestors were British immigrants, and he said that his Wood family was once a British noble family with a long and illustrious history.

Therefore, Gallup has extremely high standards for his words, actions, and outward appearance; in his words, this is called aristocratic demeanor.

But today, he was in such a hurry that he even forgot to tie his tie, which made Chloe worry about what urgent matter had happened to make Gallup so flustered.

When Gallup drove to Wawa's headquarters, it was already broad daylight.

He strode into the office building and took the elevator directly to the conference room on the top floor.

When he pushed open the conference room door, there were already two figures inside.

One of them was Tim Hank, the COO who had just called him. He was sitting on one side of the conference table, his hands clasped on the table, his brow furrowed, and his face full of anxiety.

The other person was Elena, the public relations director of the Wawa Group, dressed in a smart business suit and sitting elegantly.

Gallup, however, lacked the possessiveness he usually displayed towards her. He walked directly to the conference table, sat down, and eagerly asked, "Tell me the details. What exactly happened?"

Tim Hank and Elena exchanged a glance, both seeing helplessness and anxiety in each other's eyes.

Tim Hank then took a deep breath and slowly said, "Since last night, the number of flash sale orders at all of our Wawa stores has shown a significant downward trend."

"At first, we thought it was just a normal fluctuation and didn't pay much attention. But from this morning until now, the situation has become more serious. All the flash sale orders at all 61 stores have been reduced to zero, and we haven't received a single order yet."

Upon hearing this, Gallup's expression instantly turned serious.

Wawa operates on a model that combines convenience stores and gas stations. In areas with high foot traffic and strong demand, the stores operate 24 hours a day.

These stores' flash sale orders are open 24 hours a day.

It's not surprising that there are no orders late at night; delivery services don't allow orders to be placed at all late at night. But if there are still no orders at this time, then there's a problem.

It's currently rush hour, a peak time for flash sale orders. Many office workers place their orders in advance from home and then have lunch at the office.

Tim Hank continued, "I specifically looked at the time distribution data of flash sale orders from various stores over the past ten days. Under normal circumstances, flash sale orders start arriving around 5 a.m. every day. Although the time of order arrival varies and the number fluctuates, the overall trend is upward."

"At this time, we should be receiving a surge of orders, but today we haven't received a single one. This has never happened before."

"Have you contacted WShop yet?" Gallup asked.

Tim Hank handed over the documents. "We were just about to contact them when we received this email in our corporate inbox. It's a freeze notification from the flash sale platform."

Gallup took the document and quickly opened it.

The document contains a copy of the cooperation agreement signed between WShop Group and the flash sale platform, as well as an order freeze notice issued by the flash sale platform.

His gaze swept quickly across the terms of the cooperation agreement, and when he saw clause 5.3, his eyes narrowed sharply.

The terms clearly state that if the product complaint rate of a partner's stores exceeds 5%, the flash sale platform has the right to freeze flash sale orders from those stores until the investigation is completed and the freeze is lifted.

"Shit!" Gallup couldn't help but curse after reading the terms, his emotions running high as he slammed the document on the conference table.

"This cooperation agreement was signed between WShop Group and the flash sale platform. What does it have to do with Wawa? On what grounds are they freezing flash sale orders for our Wawa stores?"

He looked up sharply at Tim Hank and Elena. "Where's Nathan? Why isn't Nathan here yet? This kind of matter involving contracts and legal rights must be handled by him."

Elena immediately responded, "I have already informed Nathan. He is on his way and should arrive soon. However, I have explained the current situation to him in detail."

As the legal counsel for the Wawa Group, Nathan is the expert on whether the terms of the cooperation agreement signed between WShop Group and the flash sale platform are binding on the Wawa Group, or whether there are any loopholes in the contract that can be exploited.

Just as Elena finished speaking, the conference room door was pushed open again.

A tall, thin man walked in. He had curly hair, wore a dark wool overcoat, and had gold-rimmed glasses. His sharp eyes gave him an air of mystery and wisdom, much like Sherlock Holmes.

When Elena saw Nathan walk in, her eyes lit up instantly, a burning light flashing in them.

She had been lusting after this man for a long time; his charm captivated her, leaving her deeply infatuated and unable to extricate herself.

I heard that Gallup chose Nathan as the company's legal counsel from among many candidates largely because of Nathan's British demeanor.

This old man, who always considered himself a descendant of British nobility, found Nathan's temperament to be a perfect match for him.

"You've come at the right time. First, take a look at this contract and the freeze notice from the flash sale platform. Analyze whether this contract is binding on our Wawa Group, and whether we have any ways to deal with our current predicament..."

However, before Gallup could finish speaking, Nathan gently shook his head, interrupting him, and said, "From a legal perspective, this contract is binding on our Wawa Group. However, we are not without ways to deal with it; we can still find some loopholes to circumvent the contract's constraints."

Just as Gallup's eyes lit up, Nathan said again, "But what's the point of bypassing it?"

Nathan's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over the three of them, instantly bringing them to their senses.

Yes, even if they can bypass this contract and not acknowledge its binding force on the Wawa Group, so what?

Flash sales aren't the Ministry of Justice; they're not here to lecture you on the law.

It seems they got stuck in a dead end from the very beginning, only thinking about how to refute the behavior of flash sale platforms from a legal perspective, while ignoring the most fundamental issue.

You can bypass the contract and deny its validity; similarly, the flash sale platform can use this as an excuse to continue refusing to send orders to Wawa's stores.

This is not a legal case at all; it's not that having a legal advantage will solve the problem.

The most important issue now is how to lift the blockade on flash sale orders from Wawa stores by the flash sale platform and restore normal order supply, rather than getting bogged down in the legal binding force of the contract.

Does this mean we'll stop doing business with flash sale platforms from now on?

The idea flashed through Gallup, Tim Hank, and Elena's minds, but they quickly dismissed it.

No one dared to come up with this idea, because they all knew very well how important the flash sale platform was to Wawa.

Since the launch of the flash sale platform, Wawa has achieved significant performance growth by leveraging the platform's massive traffic, with average daily sales increasing by 113%, a truly astonishing growth rate.

More importantly, online flash sale orders account for 67% of Wawa's total retail revenue.

Moreover, the substantial subsidies offered by flash sales not only brought in more traffic but also caused many users who originally purchased products offline to switch to online shopping.

Consumers discovered that buying Wawa products through the flash sale platform not only offered the convenience of home delivery but also resulted in lower prices compared to purchasing from physical stores.

So apart from those consumers who come to the gas station to refuel and buy some urgently needed items at the convenience store, there are basically no customers who come to Wawa's offline stores specifically to buy consumer goods now.

If the flash sale platform stops assigning orders to Wawa, Wawa's retail business will be devastated.

Let alone restoring the sales volume to the level before the flash sale was launched, it's not even certain that we can maintain half of the original sales volume.

Moreover, Wawa's star products, namely its signature sandwiches and coffee, have attracted a large number of consumers with their unique flavors and quality, becoming Wawa's signature products.

However, these two products are now also available in other WShop stores.

Gallup felt a chill run down his spine as he thought about this.

In that instant, he suddenly realized that he seemed to have been tricked from the very beginning and had fallen into a carefully designed trap.

Through its platform and central kitchen, Flash Sale seems to have subtly and firmly grasped the core of all store operations.

In the past, these stores were able to attract consumers by their unique traffic-driving products and excellent offline service experience.

But now, flash sales enhance the service experience through delivery and bring together all the stores' star products. The products that were once the pride of attracting customers are no longer the key factors in attracting consumers.

And as for the entry channels, they are now firmly controlled by flash sales.

"This is a conspiracy, an absolutely meticulously planned conspiracy!" Gallup slammed his hand on the conference table, his face ashen, his voice filled with anger and resentment.

The others seemed to have thought of this as well, and their expressions were rather unpleasant.

However, unlike Gallup's anger, some people showed a hint of admiration on their faces.

A conspiracy, but what good is it?

The initiative is now entirely in the hands of Flash Sale; they have a lot of leverage.

Meanwhile, Wawa was so poor that she didn't even have a pair of underwear left.

Then look at those convenience stores that haven't joined the food delivery system; if things continue like this, all they'll face is closure and bankruptcy.

It's less of a conspiracy and more of an open scheme.

Even if you know it's a trap, you have no choice but to jump in.

Jumping in might allow you to survive, and you might even live a very comfortable life.

If they don't jump in, death is all that awaits them.

As long as flash sales continue to be subsidized, and as more and more consumers choose to shop online, this strategy has already been successfully implemented.

"Call WShop. As the largest shareholder of Wawa, they have to solve this problem for Wawa. Get Cicero and Massim to contact Ernst."

"We have always acted in accordance with standards and regulations. This is someone deliberately targeting Wawa. Flash Sale must give us an explanation."

The other three exchanged glances, each seeing disdain in the other's eyes.

They knew better than anyone what really happened.

I advised Gallup back then, but he was blinded by huge profits.

Now that you've run into trouble and are going to them for help, do you think they'll take care of you?

Even if they did manage it, would the flash sale company agree?

Previously, Wawa had not been touched, but now all orders have been blocked.

What does this mean?

They already have the evidence.