Chapter Eighty-Eight: A Small Plan for the Future

If you want your product to sell well, you had better have some real influence in the distribution channels.

In this era, things are still fairly decent. The retail industry is comparatively orderly, without a pile of absurd demands. Manufacturers are only responsible for making the goods; as long as you deliver them on time, that is already considered good.

In the Celestial Empire, however, things have long since gone askew. The most典型 example is Carrefour.

Unless your product is truly excellent, you will face all manner of extortion: endless sponsorship fees under every imaginable pretext, every kind of so-called holiday and store anniversary, in short, a constant demand for money.

There is also private labeling, where retail giants launch their own brands. Do not be fooled by the limited variety; the margins on these products are actually very handsome.

In America, never try this. The risk is enormous. There is a fair trade commission here, and its job is to regulate precisely this kind of behavior.

Unless you can prove that your private brand does not affect similar products and has not received special treatment.

If you cannot prove that, it is best not to try lightly. Otherwise, you will be in for serious trouble.

There is a way around it, of course. You can take a minority stake. As long as you are not the sole shareholder, there is no problem. It is just like those Hollywood moguls: each of them has equity in theater chains, but none has reached the level of control.

William White was only laying the groundwork for now; it was not yet time to make a move. When Southern Group could no longer hold on, he would step in and acquire a stake in the Seven Eleven chain.

Back then, he never quite understood it. It was clearly called Seven Eleven, so how could it be open twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year? That obviously did not match the name. He had no idea how they came up with it.

Shopping in Europe and America could be terribly painful. Do not even think about wandering around after work. By the time you are off, the shops are closed too. The only places still open are usually owned by people of Chinese descent or by Koreans.

That is where the name Seven Eleven came from. They found that many customers had shopping needs, yet so many stores refused to stay open. To satisfy these consumers, they decided to extend their hours.

Japan was not that advanced at the time, so they decided to introduce this fine thing there. Once it arrived in Japan, Seven Eleven did not suffer from any cultural mismatch at all; on the contrary, it burst into spectacular growth. In contrast, in its place of origin it was not doing well. It was precarious for a time, and in the end simply went bankrupt outright.

A company that would later be worth hundreds of billions in market value was handed to Japan on a silver platter.

Of course, that would not happen now. William White could not possibly give up such a huge cake. At the very least, he needed twenty percent of the shares. This was not merely about money; it was closely tied to his broader economic布局.

Seven Eleven sold far more than drinks and boxed meals. Its newspapers and magazines sold exceptionally well. Many Japanese people relied on Seven Eleven for all three daily meals, and naturally bought their newspapers and magazines there as well.

Do not be surprised. Many books and magazines of the more risqué sort were sold in Seven Eleven too. To keep children from seeing them, they were wrapped only in a layer of plastic.

Mm, in America you absolutely cannot do that. Corrupting children is only a secondary issue; unfair competition is the real problem. That was especially obvious in this era, so forget about diversifying into all sorts of businesses. That was absolutely impossible.

For now, it was only a plan. There was no point in getting involved too early, and holding too much equity would not do either. The Japanese might simply build a whole new setup from scratch.

Those people were not fools. Take the current adapter cards, for example: Japanese companies were extremely displeased, but William White refused to sell no matter what, and those bastards could only seethe helplessly.

On the surface, they still did not dare offend him. New toys kept coming out of his hands, and if they dared to act recklessly, they would not only lose any future chance of cooperation, they would also have to face the wrath of America.

Because of automobiles and household appliances, many legislators were already calling for higher tariffs. If they were caught with any other weakness, they would be fined until they questioned the meaning of life.

That said, White Software was a pretty good partner. Unlike those arrogant cowboys, it would support reasonable requests.

A few giant turkeys still ended up in the pot, and the chicken breasts went to the fool dog. Watching the creature gnash its teeth and devour them with ferocious determination made William White laugh so hard he nearly spat out his food.

Aside from chicken legs, William White had no interest at all. He simply did not like that loose, flabby kind of meat. He truly could not understand why Americans liked it so much.

And not only Americans liked it. The Japanese did too. Chicken breast was considered the most nutritious part, and also the tastiest.

It was possible to accept the claim about nutrition, more or less. But calling it delicious was simply baffling. Beyond the flavor of the sauce, what other flavor was there?

The boss’s dog had been attacked. No more turkeys were to be kept here from now on; they had to be moved far away from this area.

The people on the farm were very fond of that fool dog. In their eyes, it was wonderfully entertaining. There was no need to watch comedies; the dog alone was enough to make them laugh.

As for that fool dog, William White was equally helpless. Taking it hunting would probably drive him mad. If nobody took special care of it, it might even bring back a wolf as a wife.

Its range of activity could only remain near the villa. There was nothing else to be done. Its looks were simply too hard to put into words, and in order to distinguish it from wolves, they could only dress it in clothing.

There really were wolves in Texas. If some cowboy had poor eyesight, the fool dog could very well be killed.

In fact, many children genuinely thought the boss was raising a wolf, only this wolf happened to be rather stupid and adorable.

Didn’t they hear it howling like a wolf?

It was the very definition of courting death without limit.

White Farm was close to the city, so wild wolves were not common here, but in more remote places it would be different. Even wearing clothes would not necessarily save the fool dog.

After planning the retail layout, William White burned the draft paper on the table. His memory was excellent now, so there was no need to keep these things.

As a transmigrator, caution was the way to survive. He had no desire to be sliced up and studied.

His caution did not end there. Even if these papers were burned, ordinary people would still not be able to make sense of them. He had his own writing habits, and to anyone who did not know better, it would look no different from doodling.

If possible, even this behavior needed to be reduced. He was training himself to compose full arguments in his head first, so that he could avoid any trouble at all.

Never doubt the integrity of certain forces. They simply do not possess such a thing. Watergate was more than enough to make that clear.

On the surface, it did not seem like much. Wasn’t it just subordinates acting on their own?

A few wiretaps, and nothing really serious had happened.

But that way of looking at it was wrong. In truth, it challenged the public’s bottom line. If they could do that to competitors, then they would be even more reckless with ordinary citizens.

In fact, Americans had always done things this way. Never speak carelessly over the phone; the risk is greater than you can imagine.

If you are American, things are a little better. If you have no bad record, it will probably just be brushed aside.

For other ethnic groups, however, it is much harder. Unless they have thoroughly investigated you, they will never let it go.

They do not care whether you are speaking nonsense or not. As long as you have a bad record, they will absolutely go to great lengths to make your life miserable.

Some people would call that overreaction, but there really are such people in America. Before they do something bad, they like to boast about it, and many have been caught that way.