How are you doing?
Another week has flown by, it seems at another level of stress, but maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel..
Last week I was telling you about how very often the "Devil is in the Detail" and how quite clearly our leaders are not quite getting those details..
With monumental consequences we all have to deal with later.. anyway if you missed it you can read about it here.
With international trade between GB and the rest of Europe (including NI) in a state of turmoil, details as I mentioned in the last newsletter are getting more and more complicated.
It's looking like the only solution for businesses like AW to become almost two.. one in the EU and one out.. I know one of the other UK wholesalers has just signed up for a warehouse in Poland and others are in the process.
In this turmoil there are bad actors who seek to take advantage.
There is a big story that has to break at sometime about trademarks and copyright. Before Brexit you could easily register a trademark across Europe, now of course you need to do it in the UK and the EU, double the cost and effort. And expiring trademarks are vulnerable to be exploited.. be warned.
A few weeks back I was telling you about "Whales" - this was before the news about the GameStop share squeeze.. but it amounts to the same type of bad behavior. Customers often complain that products go out of stock too quickly, and sometimes this is because some annoying Whale is buying up all the stock of a particular product type. Think about it with the niche like products that the giftware trade sells, some products might only be imported by a handful of companies into Europe, and supply lines are really slow right now.. so if you are an online retailer with good exposure.. If you can buy up all the available stock you can squeeze out the competition and ease up prices.. evil no? I can't name names but one very big online company (you can hazardian a guess) has been accused of such dodgy behavior.
Another annoying Whale like company took it to a whole new level recently.. I'm probably going to get sued but I will tell you the story anyway because it makes me very angry (like we don't have enough things to deal with right now).
This company managed to take out an EU trademark for the term "Backflow" (it's a generic word so probably challengeable at some cost and time) while at the same time buying up all the stock of backflow incense and burners they could find. They then started via a high power (but lowlife) lawyer to send nasty cease and desist letters to everyone they could find selling "Backflow" products with a demand for €5000 or more as settlement. The letter even warns about changing the name not being an option to avoid paying them. Of course if you are just a small business owner already struggling to survive with just online trade this is scary.
Tomas talked to the boss there long and intense conversations, explaining that we didn't think it was a nice thing to do. Pointed out we and others have been selling backflow incense burners for years before them. But no joy.. the guy just said he would stop it only if we gave him exclusivity in his country. He pointed out how much business he was doing with us and how much more he could do..
Tomas sent him a nice whats app asking him to cease and desist sending cease and desist notices out to poor defenceless retailers. He asked for an email confirming this so we could put the minds of retailers at ease.
Now I'm always happy and proud to be a giftware trader.. giving a gift (you have heard me say) is nothing less than an act of love.. so we folk in the gift business should and are humbled and honoured to be part of this process. We sell beautiful things to lovely people who help their customers to bring more love into this world.
This guy finally responded by telling us to get lost. And then changed his profile picture of (I assume him) pointing a massive gun, wearing shades,looking like a mafia boss.
So I told Tomas that means.. we cannot supply his company anymore. It's very rare we sack customers.. but this is one of those times.
Of course he was pretty mad.. and arrogant.. he can buy elsewhere, he will import from China and India himself.. etc. well I say..good luck to him..
Please tell me if you think we did the right thing or not? If you have received such a letter please forward it to us.. as far as I know they are not targeting GB customers.
I know most of the other gift wholesalers in Europe will not like this and I have had offers already to share the legal costs of challenging the trademark.. but this is another problem we don't need right now.
But meanwhile things are looking up.. those 29 pallets I told you about last week trapped in Madrid because of some bottles of aromatherapy grade olive oil - base oil. Finally Spanish customs saw the irony of trying to block an import of their own nations product.. That shipment arrived in our warehouse in Malaga today.. Hopefully the next shipment will be easier, we are applying for a food distributor licence and a cosmetic license to ease the way further.
Another 32 pallets destined for our Slovakia warehouse left on Tuesday and with minimal fuss arrived on Thursday, still with considerable extra expenses but we are finding ways to gradually smooth those Brexit bumps a bit.
And I was telling you last week that heaps of stock was arriving.. including some new products see below.
It's all go! - very soon it will be Mother's Day.. then Easter.. shops opening hopefully on 12th April, and holidays will be the Great British holiday.. which means not so many people travelling abroad. So maybe good for UK trade.
Next week I will be explaining to you our crafty plan to help you (the independent retailer) fight back against the big retailers like Amazon and those nasty whales..
Until then, stay safe and be happy.
Peace & Love.