Greetings from Spain
I hope you are well and managing to navigate the problems that seem to beset us all one way or another these days.
Last week I was telling you there is always light.. and that resilience can overcome almost anything.
We had just had an Indian shipment arrive that had taken more than a year from order to market.. you can read about Mahul and the Orgonite here.
Meanwhile talking about resilience and overcoming barriers.. we finally overcame the Brexit barrier, more info below.
A customer who reads this newsletter emailed me with the news that small tables that can be used as plant pot stands are selling well as people focus on bringing more greenery into their homes. He was even kind enough to tell me the best selling dimensions and designs. Some companies just copy what's good, but at AW we always like to take a good idea and develop it further. I forwarded pictures and dimensions to Ringo, our man in Indonesia and then called him up on Whatsapp. I had an idea who could make the product for us. The lady who makes display stands, in Ubud, opposite her factory are two guys that do metal fabrications (they could work together). The guy we call the letterman way up in the mountain, him and his village made small furniture before. And then there is a guy in Mas not far from our warehouse who buys scrapped fishing boats and his team of artisans upcycle them into furniture and display stands. (see here).
Ringo was off to see them all and yesterday we had virtual meetings, this is the new way to do business. It was amazing to chat to my old friends in Bali, and they were of course delighted to get the chance to develop some extra business. But it struck me this kind of product development is only possible because of those personal relationships and that a good level of trust has already been established. At AW we have a lot of relationship capital in the bank, but how long that lasts.. who knows.
It's a strange world we live in, I think the consequences of how Brexit and covid issues unwind in the coming months could be lots of things we don't expect.
We ordered racking for the new warehouse in Sheffield.. it's a hell of an investment. 8000 pallet spaces, of course we got quotes from several companies. The best quote was from a Czech company, which before brexit would have been no issue. But now the delivery came (five truck loads) and of course there was a whole host of covid issues, and then Brexit issues. Why has life got so complicated..?
Open for business.. finally. Finally the AW hero's.. this includes Katka and Bryant in the UK, Tomas and his team in Slovakia, Raul (IT wizard) in KL, James (warehouse manager), Adam and the Slolvak accountants and a host of customs clearance experts. They made it happen.. our EU customers orders finally got delivered without our customers having to pay duty or vat. How? Good question.. this plan is down to Tomas.
We picked and packed that first batch of orders after Christmas.. using specially written software linking DPD Slovakia to the label printer in the UK.. then all the orders were put on ten pallets and one special consolidated invoice for all those orders made.. selling them to our AW Slovaka company.. then after a huge effort managed to find an agent to customs clear that invoice.. which had 99 different tariff codes, each with different duty and regulations. Then a company to ship it, and because it needed to go through other EU countries we needed a T1 (transit form), the UK system to produce these was temporarily broken.. delays.. then we needed a Slovaka customs agent to clear the goods.. 99 tariff codes, pay duty and vat and deliver to the AW Slovak warehouse..
They dragged up 25 questions, checking CE documents, cosmetic licences, labeling, country of origin etc etc. Tomas spent two days supplying everything asked for..(fortunately we know how to import to the EU, so all this work had been done before) and finally they cleared the shipment. They wanted actual pictures of the products in his hands, so really hard work. Anyway in the end.. we did it and 225 boxes were handed over to DPD and are now on the way to different points within the 27 EU nations.
Now we made it happen, we have to streamline it, learn how to scale it, and make it more efficient. And we have to do this whole job once or twice every week.
But at the end of the we made it happen, so we can say.. we are open for EU business once more.
Of course this friction trade is not ideal.. even though we are happy to help our customer order in the UK.. many have already started ordering in our Spain and Slovak websites. Tomas in Slovakia was today looking for a bigger warehouse.
The pictures he showed me look surprisingly like Affinity Park in Sheffield.
Meanwhile it's almost Valentine's Day..
We have lots of offers and ideas, see below. Plus I'm sure you don't need reminding but this is the "Season of Love" - V-Day followed by Mothering Sunday, by Easter, by Father's Day.. by the Wedding season.. so many reasons why your customers need to buy a gift.
Don't forget you can also trade via the AW dropshipping websites: AW-Dropship.com (in UK) and there is nothing to stop you leaping over the Brexit barrier and simply trading in the EU with our Spain Dropshipping site: AW-Dropship.es or Slovakia: AW-Dropship.eu.
Now you can make it happen also.
Take care, stay safe, be resilient.
Happy trading..