On the first day, New York turned red.
On the second day, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston...
Across the entire U.S. map, dense red dots lit up, each one representing a consumer holding cash but unable to buy the product.
The Umbrella Corporation official website's server crashed three times due to excessive traffic.
The tens of thousands of units of inventory that Sarah had originally worried would not sell were snapped up instantly within six hours of the direct sales page going live, with pre-orders backed up to next month.
On the fourth day, the dominoes finally fell.
The turning point appeared, but it was not Walmart; it was its arch-rival, Target, that made the move.
As a retail giant that always branded itself as understanding young people better, being more trendy, and having a better sense of design, Target's buying team had a sharper sense of smell than Walmart's.
When they saw that heat map filled with red dots, as well as the terrifying influence of Taylor Swift among the younger generation, they realized this was not just a hand cream, but potentially a phenomenal product.
At 3:00 PM, an urgent fax was sent directly to Sarah's office.
The Target headquarters purchasing director personally authorized it: agreeing to a one-month pop-up launch in 100 trendy flagship stores across the United States.
The conditions were: cash on delivery, no listing fees, and no billing cycle.
The only requirement: grant Target a two-week exclusive offline sales period.
This was exactly the card Alice had been waiting for.
On the fifth day, at 10:00 AM.
Sarah's office received a call from the Senior Vice President of Purchasing for Walmart North America.
This time, the other party's voice was no longer arrogant; that sense of high-and-mighty superiority had vanished, replaced by anxiety caused by a competitor getting a head start, as well as a barely suppressed urgency.
"Ms. Wilson, I think we can renegotiate the contract details. Regarding that $500,000 listing fee, I have already applied to the board for a full waiver. Also, I heard Target is launching next week? You know, Walmart's logistics coverage is three times theirs; we can help you distribute the goods to every small town."
Sarah glanced at Alice, who was sitting on the sofa, leisurely drinking coffee.
Alice did not speak; she just smiled and made a palm-down cutting gesture.
Sarah understood immediately, and her voice had never been so firm and confident: "I'm sorry, Mr. President, I would love to help you, but due to production capacity limits, our current inventory has been prioritized for Target. If you need the goods, the earliest you'll have to wait is the end of next month."
The other end of the phone was silent for a full five seconds.
There was only heavy breathing.
This was FOMO (fear of missing out).
For these retail giants who made their living this way, watching their arch-rival make money was ten thousand times more painful than losing money themselves.
If they did not follow up, it would mean admitting that Target was more fashionable and understood consumers better than Walmart, which was something they absolutely could not accept.
"No, Ms. Wilson. Please listen to me." The other party's tone was almost pleading; all reserve had been thrown to the wind. "Not just next month's stock, we are willing to pay a 30% deposit, in cash, to lock in 40% of your production capacity for the next three months. We can even add a clause to the contract: Walmart will list the Generation I Repair Cream as a Q3 core recommended product, placing it in the most prominent position right next to the checkout counter."
"Please don't let Target monopolize this market; we are the largest retailer in the United States, and Umbrella Corporation needs Walmart."
Hanged up the phone.
"Beep—beep—"
The busy signal echoed in the office, followed by an exhale so long it seemed to empty the air from her lungs.
Sarah felt like she had just finished a full marathon; her muscles were aching from the tension of the moment.
She leaned back in her chair, exhausted, and turned to look at Alice, her eyes filled with incredulous ecstasy: "A 30% cash deposit—this will completely solve all our capital chain issues for production expansion. Should we agree?"
"Agree to them." Alice put down her coffee cup and walked to the window.
At this moment, the rain outside the window had finally stopped, and a blinding ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds, illuminating the streets of Queens.
"But tell them that an exclusivity period is impossible; that's a different price. Umbrella Corporation products must be available everywhere."
Alice looked at the busy traffic below and said calmly.
"Aunt Sarah, look, in the business World, there are no true enemies and no eternal rejections. When you prove that you can create hunger, those giants who originally wanted to starve you to death will scramble to serve you a feast."
------------------------
There are already 70+ chapters available on my Patreon!
The story will continue to update 1 chapter per day on Webnovel,
while early access chapters are posted on Patreon.
Maybe it's not worth it today but it could be later
[email protected]/Kazenova223
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"