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Chapter 503 Kneeling Completely

At 10 p.m., Harrisburg, like every other city in America, was quiet and still.

At Wawa headquarters, Gallup locked himself in his room, staring blankly at the clock on the wall. Each tick felt like a hammer blow to his taut nerves.

His eyes were unfocused, as if his soul had left his body, and he was in a state of near-dullness, seemingly oblivious to everything around him.

If it weren't for the strong, pungent smell of cigars that lingered in the air throughout the office, and Gallup's occasional slow raising of his right hand holding the cigar to his lips, anyone who entered the room without knowing why would mistake Gallup sitting in his office chair for a lifeless corpse.

His face was deathly pale, like a blank sheet of paper. His expression was blank, his eyes were vacant, and his body was motionless, devoid of any life. He exuded a sense of oppression.

"Knock knock knock"

A soft yet clear knock broke the silence of the office, bringing Gallup, who was in a daze, to a slight reaction.

A faint glimmer of light finally returned to his empty eyes. He slowly adjusted his posture, cleared his throat, and said in a hoarse voice, "Come in."

The office door was slowly pushed open, and Elena, dressed in a business suit, walked in.

As soon as she opened the door, a strong smell of cigars hit her, causing her to instinctively frown and her delicate features to distort slightly due to the unpleasant odor.

Her gaze swept quickly across the office, and when she saw the ashtray next to the desk filled with cigar butts, her eyes showed no pity, but rather a barely perceptible hint of disdain.

At this critical moment when things are at their most urgent, Gallup is still hesitating and dreaming of getting something for nothing. Doesn't he think his behavior is ridiculous?

"How is it?" His tone was tinged with urgency.

Elena shook her head slightly, a helpless expression on her face, and replied in a flat tone, "Neither Cicero nor Affiliate are answering my calls anymore."

"Cicero said he was powerless to help, and Affili was not interested in your proposals."

In fact, Elena didn't call either of them at all; it was a complete waste of time and only made them more annoyed.

Gallup, that old guy, hasn't stepped forward to speak with Cicero and Afellow until now. Instead, he's made her keep making calls to explain and shift the blame onto different people.

There were also those bribes offered to Affil, including the practice of giving him half of the ill-gotten gains.

Elena thought it was utterly ridiculous.

For such a small gain, you're taking such a big risk, going against Ernst, and jeopardizing your own future?

Trying to solve the problem this way is just fooling yourself.

Upon hearing Elena's answer, Gallup's expression turned even more grim; his already pale face was now almost devoid of color.

He suddenly slammed his hand on the table, causing the documents and water glass on the table to shake slightly, and even spilling a few drops of water from the glass.

He erupted in fury like a wild beast, his voice sharp and shrill, "Then what are you doing in here? Are you here to remind me it's almost midnight?"

Then, as if making a vow, he said through gritted teeth, "I absolutely will not, absolutely will not, pay two million dollars to those ants!"

This old man, who always claimed to be a descendant of nobility, had a serious class consciousness. Although he disguised it well, the higher-ups at WAW who had worked with him for a long time had all noticed it.

He considered ordinary consumers as insignificant and lowly as ants, and didn't take them seriously at all.

In his view, there was an insurmountable gap between nobles and commoners. Nobles were inherently superior to commoners, and commoners should obey the nobles without question.

Elena was well aware that, for the company's other senior executives, this incident might simply be a matter of monetary compensation.

But for Gallup, this matter is far more than just money; it also involves what he calls his dignity.

Gallup could never accept the idea of ​​a self-important nobleman admitting his mistakes to commoners he considered lowly, and having to humble himself to apologize and beg for forgiveness.

His offer of $500,000 was already beyond her imagination.

However, Elena had a strange expectation; she really wanted to see Gallup finally have to bow to reality and kneel down to apologize to those he called ants.

Thinking of this, Elena's lips unconsciously curled up slightly, revealing a barely perceptible sneer, but she quickly composed herself and returned to her previous calm and serious state.

"The official website of Flash Sale just released an announcement that this nationwide subsidy event will continue for another three months."

"Impossible!" Gallup exclaimed almost immediately upon hearing the news. His first reaction was that the news was fake, a smokescreen deliberately released by Flash Sale to disrupt the market and confuse competitors.

"They simply don't have that much funding."

Even the most optimistic institutions and media outlets predicted that such a large-scale and heavily subsidized flash sale would last no more than a month.

Many people believe that the flash sale's high-intensity subsidies will only last for half a month, and there may be further subsidies afterward, but the level of subsidies will inevitably decrease.

The $6.8 million raised by Flashbuy was, according to outside predictions, far from enough to cover its expenses.

A month is already the limit.

Extending it for another three months—let alone whether Flash Sale actually has enough funds to support a three-month subsidy program, no fool would make such a decision, even if Ernst were the one making it.

This is one of the reasons why Gallup has consistently refused to pay the $200 million to compensate consumers.

He believes that as time goes on, once the flash sale subsidy program changes, the large number of hourly delivery orders currently generated by relying on flash sale subsidies will inevitably shrink significantly.

Seeing Gallup's incredulous expression, Elena calmly reiterated, "This is news released on the Flash Sale website, and the announcement clearly states that it's a continuation."

This is one of the reasons Gallup doesn't want to spend the $200 million, because he believes that as the subsidies decrease or stop, the current hourly delivery orders will definitely shrink significantly.

"This is news released on the official flash sale website, and it's a continuation of the previous announcement."

This word is used in a more intriguing way, leaving much to the imagination.

The fact that this program continues, rather than ends, suggests that such large-scale subsidies for flash sales may not last longer than three months, but are likely a long-term, ongoing strategic initiative.

Gallup calmed down, and after a moment picked up the phone on the table. "Check the flash sale website. I just need a detailed number."

Elena knew this call was for the finance department.

He needs the finance department to use professional financial models to calculate and assess how Wawa's sales will be affected if Flash Sale continues its large-scale subsidy activities as stated in the announcement over the next three months, by how much it will increase or decrease.

In fact, Elena found this data to be quite simple, even self-explanatory.

Based on previous flash sale orders, Wawa's daily sales were around $28.

Of the $28 in daily sales, gas station sales accounted for the majority, approximately $16, mainly due to Wawa's convenient locations, which attracted a large number of drivers to refuel.

Wawa's retail business, including the sale of convenience store goods and fast food, generates approximately $12 in sales per day.

Since Wawa integrated Flash Sale's hourly delivery service, about two-thirds of its daily retail sales of $12 have come from online orders on the Flash Sale platform. In terms of specific amounts, this translates to approximately $7.5 to $8 in daily retail sales generated through the Flash Sale platform.

If we extrapolate from this sales data, Wawa's monthly retail sales could exceed $200 million, and its three-month retail sales could exceed $700 million, solely from online orders generated by its flash sale platform.

However, Elena felt she was being a bit cautious, because the figure would definitely exceed $700 million, or even $1000 million.

The continued implementation of flash sale subsidies will not only stabilize existing online order volume, but also continuously attract new users to purchase Wawa products through the flash sale platform, so sales are bound to increase.

In the American retail market, the overall gross profit margin is very high.

According to industry statistics, the average gross profit margin of the US retail industry is around 27%, which is an industry benchmark.

For some retail enterprises with good operating conditions, strong product competitiveness, and strict cost control, the gross profit margin can even reach 35%.

The net profit margin is influenced by a variety of factors, such as the company's store expansion strategy, marketing investment, supply chain management efficiency, tax policies, and so on.

Wawa has been trying to solidify its home market and expand beyond Pennsylvania for years, so it has often been operating at a loss, let alone making a profit.

However, this cannot obscure the fact that Wawa's gross profit margin reaches 31%.

In other words, if we calculate based on a gross profit margin of 31%, then in the next three months, Wawa could earn more than $200 million or even $300 million in gross profit solely from the retail sales generated by its flash sale platform.

And it should be even higher, because the best-selling products are supplied by the central kitchen, and the decrease in costs is causing the profit margins of the products to soar, already exceeding 40%.

Many people choose hourly delivery to solve their breakfast and lunch problems.

As sales increase further, costs are expected to continue to decline.

"Half an hour. I'm only giving you half an hour. You must show me the result I want to see."

Gallup was still yelling into the phone when Elena glanced instinctively at the clock on the wall.

She knew that this self-proclaimed nobleman would surely kneel down.

After that, it's probably not her turn anymore.

He must have made that call.