Greetings from a sunny and warm Sheffield.
Hope you are able to enjoy the blue skies and warm weather. Perfect for celebrating St George's Day.
But George is not British.. Lot's of countries around the world celebrate it. There is actually a country named George, and a US State named George (or Georgia). Then there are chaps and some gals called George - all like to celebrate St George's Day. He might be the patron Saint of England, but he is absolutely not English. It's such a big day that Google has updated it's logo.. strange to me why St George is claimed by the British.. he never came to Britain, that dragon slaying stuff is probably fake news and he was certainly no saint.
Rodrigo just told me in Brazil.. they rather cruely call ugly girl friends Saint Georges.. why? He has no idea..
Haha, that's my thoughts..
Last week I was telling you about my lucid dreams and our dream AW offices... you can read about it here.
If you are new to this newsletter - I have been writing it every Friday, from wherever I happen to be.. for over nine years.. the first was from Thailand during Chinese New Year 2011.. You can scan a selection of old blogs here.Over 73,000 people subscribe to this newsletter, all customers and fellow giftware traders - Here I tell you the trade secrets, the gossips, the adventures and mishaps. You will meet Ringo our agent in Indonesia, Mr Chatterjee our man in India. Coco our agent in China.. and of course Tomas (product and marketing wizard), Raul (IT wizard), Katka, Rodrigo and the whole team from the UK. Join me as I travel and work.. and feel free to email me your ideas and suggestions, over the years the readers of this blog have really shaped the direction AW has taken.
By George it's back to basics time..
Back in the day.. in 2006 when we moved into our first decent sized warehouse in a bohemian part of Sheffield. It was actually called Lancelot Works and way back in Sheffield's industrial past it had been a silver works. There was something kind of poetic about Ancient Wisdom trading from Lancelot Works, and the landlord did have a beard and something of Merlin the wizard about him. Standing in this vast empty space with some big abandoned machine (we never knew what it did) plonked in the middle with the landlord trying to convince us to rent the place. "But it's huge" I protested, "much more than we need".
Sadly they changed the name, to a rather bland and unromantic Sheaf Bank Business Park, but it is full of vibrant start ups and artisan businesses..
I will never forget the wise words he came back with.. "But all you have to do is find out what your customers want.. fill this space with that." as he wafted his hand Merlin like across the space.
It was like Authur pulling the sword from the stone moment.. kind of blinking obvious and yet most businesses don't actually do this. Especially in those days.
Product is King. Forget everything else until you have products that your customers actually want.. so from that day I spent most of my time just finding out from customers what they want. then finding and developing products. Our mission was to have the best of everything that a gift retailer could ever want. Of course our heritage and origins are in aromatherapy products so we have gradually grown on top of that fertile base into all sorts of areas..
Now we have moved into Affinity Park, our 100,000 square foot warehouse. And with 6000 pallet racking spaces available.. we have lots of space again.. so time to find products..
Normally Tomas and I would be travelling in India, China, Indonesia etc finding and developing those products. Face to face this is the best way to get exactly the right product..also able to check that companies are ethical and treat their workers and subcontractors well. In the age of the pandemic this is practically impossible, so I have been rethinking the system. We still need your feedback and suggestions, your ideas have shaped AW since the early days..
and we still need you just as much.. If you or your customers are asking for something.. do just reply to this email and let me know.
So here is the plan.
My job is to reach out to all our existing Indian and Indonesian suppliers via Whatsapp to find what new products they can offer us. All night long from 1am my phone vibrates with hundreds of pictures arriving. It's disturbing my lucid dreams, and often I end up chatting with our Indian or Indonesian friends at some ungodly hour..
Once we get a product range that has potential, Bryant and Kristy (his new assistant) follow up requesting samples, organising labelling, packaging etc.
Radek, our Polish webmaster, spends some of his time researching Polish companies including candle companies.
Rodrigo, who is from Brazil is in touch with a couple of very promising gemstone companies who have some fabulous items..
Toni (our man in Spain) is doing a major deal with a local tea company for an upcoming magical range of herbal gift teas. He is also working with our Palo Santo guy who is currently in Mexico and it seems discovering a whole new world.
Tomas is spending every morning at the AW Aromatics factory developing new home grown and designed products.. with help and ideas from Dusan, Neil and Alan.
Tomas also has designed some fantastic products working with some real nice eastern European companies, Latvia especially.
And of course there is Coco in China (my wife) who is working incredibly hard, checking companies out, making visits, coming up with ideas..
So this is the AW product sourcing/designing/making crack team.. working hard to find you products that can boost your business and delight your customers.
But one key team member is missing.. and that is YOU!
Do send your ideas to me and the team..
Meanwhile.. we have some amazing magical deals :)
Take care and have a safe and lovely weekend.