Earth Day @ AW
Fri Apr 22 2022 20:57:00 GMT+0800 (Malaysia Time)
Greetings from Spain
Hope you are well and enjoying Springtime.
Tomas is here in Spain, yesterday we had our first proper AGM of the Spanish co.. AW-Artisan.eu .. Mario the Administrator and Toni the manager produced the accounts to show Tomas and I, we told them well done, pretty amazing.. then as is the way in Spain.. we went for lunch on the beach. A business lunch I might add, since I'm sure Adam the chief accountant and financial controller is reading this..
Actually we had a major brainstorming session, where I brought up my main point (again): OK guys we can revamp marketing, we can improve customer service, we can implement better warehouse systems.. BUT.. only one thing really matters.. and that is our PRODUCTS.. we have to give our customers what they need to keep their customers happy. Last week I was telling you about the search for dream stones, you can read this here.
Recently we asked all our customers to give us feedback, we asked a bunch of questions...
Thank you so much to everyone that responded, because you gave us plenty to chew on over lunch..
Lots of suggestions and feedback.. Basically we have to get even better at the things we do best. Gemstones, Incense, Aromatherapy, Esoteric things.. We are always looking for new interesting lines, but somehow we have to find the best and make sure we are competitive. Lots and lots of people asked for even more gemstones and more crystals.. it was the number one request.
Also of course many people are interested in Vegan products and Eco products.. to protect the earth.. Since today is Earth Day 2022 this seems appropriate..
We have put some of our best selling Earth products below..
I'm quite excited because tomorrow - Raul arrives in Spain. Raul is our IT wizard. He is the brains behind all the software that runs AW, from the websites to the stock control to the marketing. Last time that I have seen him in the flesh was before the pandemic. Raul lives in Kuala Lumpur and in the old days I would often stop over in KL on the way to China or Indonesia and spend a few days there working on some aspect of our IT. Raul is originally from Mexico, he is married to a Malaysian Chinese girl who works in investment banking and they have two cute kids. While I know he will miss his family he is excited to see the changes at AW since he last came to Europe.
Coco update.. Regular readers will know that Coco is my wife and our China agent. I haven't seen her since before the pandemic either.
Yiwu, where our warehouse, candle factory and offices are.. is two hours from Shanghai and so far escaped most of the madness that we have all seen on TV and social media. But this morning she told me that one covid case had been found in the neighbouring area. We know it well because until last year that's where we had an apartment. Within an hour of finding the case the whole place was locked down and testing started working through the night. No-one allowed to sleep, loud speakers blaring, an army of hazmat suits descended. Kind of obsessive.
This is Yiwu yesterday.. from social media.
The soy wax candle factory will close today, we have run out of wax and it seems that there is none available in China right now. Maybe a consequence of the war in Ukraine.
We are still managing to load containers, and one slight positive is that because many factories are closed in Shanghai there are plenty of spare containers available.. so we are loading while we can.
The ports are being kept open to try and support economic activity, but drivers arriving from the port are not allowed to leave their cab.
This medical robe guy's job is to simply watch the cab driver to make sure he never leaves the cab. He came in the yellow taxi all the way from the port, Coco gave him a cup of tea. When he went to the loo, Coco managed to pass some food to the poor driver who was complaining he needed a toilet. All a bit obsessive.
Today she was warned that if anyone leaves or enters the warehouse not actually wearing a mask she will get an order to close immediately. It's only a matter of time before Coco and family are locked down and the warehouse closed.
Here in Spain as in many places the need to wear a mask in shops and transport was scrapped. It is almost back to normal, we are living with covid these days.
In China it's another world, I really don't know how China will get out of the zero covid mindset and open the borders again. I will see Raul tomorrow, but I have no idea when I will see Coco.
On a more positive note we have new stock a container from Indonesia just arrived today.. some new products and I know the guys are working hard to get them online.
Plus check our special deals for Earth Day.
Take care, have a lovely weekend.
David
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