Greetings from Spain
Happy Mother's Day weekend! It might not be a usual Mother's day, but at least we have Zoom and Whatsapp. So all the best to Mum's everywhere.
Hope you guys are well and thinking positive thoughts.
Last week I was telling you about beating the bully - and I told you a shocking story about how some people try to control markets.. you can read it here.
That story really touched a nerve and hundreds of people wrote in support of our actions, some with long (and interesting) stories of similar abuses. I'm sorry guys I can't answer you all..
I also told you I would explain my plan this week on how you (and AW) can fight back and make the world a fairer place.
But first an update on the backflow trademark issue.. I have been in contact with some fellow importers/wholesalers who are also upset that anyone could try to hijack a market like this, and so we got legal advice. The lawyer is very confident that the trademark is not legal so is taking the action needed to block it, meanwhile we will reach out to this black marketing company to try and resolve things amicably. The massive moral support we have received from all corners of the gift trade will definitely add weight to the case.. so hopefully this thing can be sorted. Thank you everyone for your help and support.
But in a way I can see the problem this guy has.. he was, after all just trying to protect his market.
Here is a sad but common story..
Say you trade from a gift shop in a small market town, and build up a good trade in (for example) dinner candles.. a nice range of colours and accessories and you have amazing candle gift packs and your display is super attractive.. you put a lot of work in and over the years sales creep up nicely. Then the shop at the other end of town see's your success and basically copies everything.. and a tiny bit cheaper. Sales drop off the cliff.. That's so annoying, what can you do? Well it's annoying but normal.. the good way to respond is to do the job better, go upmarket, stock better colours and designs, be more friendly. Or just look for other products to develop.. The bad way is to send your cousin Vinny to threaten to smash in this guy's windows if he doesn't stop selling them.. Because this is against the law. More sneaky but not nice or moral would be to bad mouth your competitor, lobby the council/landlord/supplier to change the rules somehow.. or I guess get a dodgy lawyer to send him a fake scary legal letter.. but this just leads to bad blood, and bad karma.
But it could be even worse than this..
Imagine how annoying it would be if that competitor had access to all your customers details, and all your different product sales performance. They could really take full advantage of all your hard work.
Yikes!! That would be bad.. but this my friend is happening already, right now, right under your nose in broad daylight.. if you trade on any of the major retail trading platforms (you already know the worst offender I'm sure). This is exactly what happens.
If you find a great niche market on Amazon (for example), don't be surprised if the competitor who steals your trade, undercuts you and has better visibility is... actually Amazon.. a few years back Amazon made a huge effort to buy directly from AW.. We said but we don't do retailing and compete with our customers, their argument was in this case it would be Amazon buying just like any other retailer. But it didn't feel good. In the end I stopped the project, before it really got going.
There is an answer.. and it involves a little hard work and investment.. but the upside can be huge and almost limitless.. It's called Branding.. Own your own Brand and you have a lot more control over the market. If you can develop trust and goodwill in your brand, if your brand has some unique properties, if your brand is pretty cool or quirky.. maybe you can even charge a premium.
As long as you control the Brand that you develop (not just appropriate it like our blackflow friend) then you have control.. and who knows if it is very successful the brand will have a value of it's own - you can possibly sell the brand in the future.
So the question is are you CREATIVE? This is the question? Everything else can be subcontracted out.. design (to a degree), manufacturing / importing, distribution even marketing and sales.
But the creative spark is what creates something new, and that ultimately is what creates (good, honest and ethical) wealth.
So if you are a creative person, listen up. Things are changing at AW, and we might be part of your plan.
After the fire last July.. we moved the distribution part of AW to Affinity Park, a big 100,000 square foot distribution warehouse just across town. The aromatics factory of AW we left in our remaining warehouse, and have been working hard to expand it using all the 15,000 square feet we have left there.. As a customer of AW you will know how hard it is to keep up with production of our own items, but now we are investing a lot in expanding..and going hell for leather. Soon we will even out grow that space..
Well the good news is the 35,000 square foot warehouse that burned down is in the process of being rebuilt (even bigger), our amazing landlord Keith has been doing a valiant job and expects to finish rebuilding it a few months ahead of schedule. So we have the opportunity to expand exponentially when that space becomes available.
Check out: AW-Aromatics.com it's new and not yet fully functional. But it will be the portal for Branded products. Soon any products you develop with us with your own brand will appear here (for your eyes only when you log in) - and you can order just the same as at AW. Alternatively we will have a range of "White Label" products that you can order and brand up yourself, if you enjoy that kind of work.
I wanted to give you the heads up - basically our capacity has to be shared fairley. We already have a few branding partners we trade with and the factory supplies AW UK and AW in Europe. Because of capacity issues, for a while we can expand but eventually we will need to limit the number of branding partners. We are open now for registration, if you register we can keep you updated as the plan comes together.
Then.. I hear you ask.. so I make a product, with my own brand.. How do I distribute it? Especially if I don't have a chain of shops..
So check out: AW-Dropship.com - from our distribution warehouse of course. Soon you will be also able to add your own products to our dropshipping platform. Also in the future you will be able to ship your products to our EU distribution warehouses and using Dropshipping there: AW-Dropship.eu (Eastern & Central Europe) and AW-Dropship.es (Spain, Portugal & France)
Here is a graphic that kind of explains the possibilities.
Anyway that's enough excitement for one newsletter..
Hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day.
Take care