Wholesale David's AW News: A New Age - Ancient Wisdom - Giftware and Aromatherapy Supplier

Greetings once again from Spain

Last week I was telling you how hot it is.. well now it's not, it's distinctly cool and overcast for the time of year. I was also spilling Raul's (our IT wizard) rather smart travel hack If you missed it you can catch up here.catch up here. Hope you was busy in the Father's Day run up.. Imagine if you opened your store and in one day working single handed sold millions of pounds of stock.. Believe it or not.. It could actually happen, see below.

In the UK it's Father's Day on Sunday.. so best wishes to every Dad wishing you all a lovely Sunday!

Tomas (is not a father yet) but returned to Slovakia after a really hectic and hard work period in the UK. So naturally he wanted a little rest and relaxation and escaped to the High Tatra Mountains area of Slovakia. He and his friends wanted to find the most remote and undiscovered place and get lost in the beauty of nature. Wandering up a mountainside they happened upon a small farm in the middle of nowhere.

And within.. was surprised to find the world's most remote gift shop.

So naturally they took a look.

And found it full of Agnes & Cat products.. our Iconic British Brand.. inspired by the Lake District, made in our Yorkshire factory.. now available in Slovakia up a mountain in the middle of nowhere.. Tomas was flabbergasted - he sent me these pictures.

Container Crunch

Meanwhile in China.. Coco is mad busy. It's so lucky we were forced to move to a bigger warehouse, because this coming week she has 6 containers to load.. that's kind of a record I think. The warehouse is crammed full right now. The other problem is that the shipping rates have gone crazy.. like in the late pandemic times. We have been quoted $10,000 (normal rates are about a quarter that). There are various rumours why, some say it's because a lot of stuff is being shipped to Russia and the containers are just not finding their way back, so there is shortage of containers. They are saying it's a perfect storm in global trade and is creating a shipping container crunch. The only good news is that Coco, using her local contacts, is managing to get a little better rates at her end than our agents in Europe can get, and more importantly actually securing the booking. I fear it will affect prices of all imported goods in the months ahead.

The New Age is coming

Meanwhile in the UK.. TikToc is the new market trader.. I have been amazed by the creativity of some of our customers who are running TikToc shops. I have been saying to Tomas and the guys in marketing that this will be a major trend for years now. Because I have seen it in China - years back - it actually got out of hand there with some influencers able to make sales of colossal amounts. One guy who was skilled at selling lipstick to ladies - Li Jiaqi (English name, Austin Li) almost broke the internet when he sold $145 Million worth of lipstick in one day!

They call him the king of lipstick.

Controversially the Chinese government took him off air, and made him tone down his (they thought) outrageous methods.. but I believe he is back in action now.

How does it work? If you are an Influencer and know how (or have some cool ideas) to sell trending products (like Crystals for example) we are here to help you.

There are three ways to become the king or queen of (insert a product you love)..

1. Buy your products wholesale - then sell (via your TikToc shop) and ship yourself. Pro's: Good margins. Con's: hard work packing and shipping costs could be high without a good volume.

2. Use the AW dropshipping website. You will need to do a little work to process your orders and we can ship directly to your customers. Pro's: Access To a huge range of products. Befit from keen shipping rates and we do the hard work bit. Con's: You will still need to buy samples to work with. There are some very successful and creative sellers using the AW and doing just this.. you know who you are!

3. Coming soon - connect to the AW (hidden backend) tiktok shop, when you sell AW products they will pop up in your stream and every time your followers click and buy (they will have the feeling it's your shop - which it actually is) and you get a healthy commision. Pro's: you can focus on creativity and let AW do everything else. Con's: setting it up - but we can teach you how.. see below.

If you are interested in becoming the king or queen of something from AW.. why not make an appointment in our Sheffield Showroom.. add in the notes that you want to be part of the new age of retailing..

We are learning as we go along.. We have just set up a backend store for the aforementioned Agnes & Cat products. Ask for Rodrigo on our Whatsapp link in the AW website for more details if you'd like to get involved.

Meanwhile

There are new products coming online from our AW Aromatics factory.. and we are still socking it to you.. with Free Hop Hare sock samples with every order.

Have a lovely Father's Day weekend..

David

Before I forget.. we are recruiting a new position at AW in Sheffield. Working from our beautiful showroom and offices: The job entails onboarding influencers and helping them work with AW dropshipping. Interested? Drop us a line on our website Whatsapp to schedule an interview.