Hello ,
Greetings from Spain
Last week I was telling you about how to get started with a good list for 2018 (you can read about it here), hope 2018 is going good so far:)
My plan.. next week I will be in HQ in sunny Sheffield, then late January off to Yiwu, China for a quick check on our candle production and current projects, then to Bali (we have a warehouse and agent there) for two weeks after that to India (including a trade show).
I have a window of about ten days before I have to be back in China for early April. I may visit Nepal, or possibley Punjab area of Pakistan, see how it goes. Then at some point later in April back to Slovakia - our EU base, and then UK. So the first four months are all go, I hope you will join along for the ride. Every Friday I write this little update, always seeking ideas and advise from our amazing customers, which many of you freely give (THANK YOU!) and this shapes the direction of the products we ultimately source and import.
Make sure you actually get these updates by ensuring this email is in your address book, or if using gmail, drag it to the Primary Folder, do it now to ensure you grab those money spinning deals and don't miss out on the best new products.
One major task on my list is to secure another Salt Lamp supplier or even two. You might have noticed we are out of stock more often than in stock. A container comes and sells usually within a few days.
Heads up... A container just came guys.
They come from the salt lands of Pakistan, part of the Himalayan mountain range. A genuine Ancient Wisdom product as the first records of salt being mined in this area was in the time of Alexandra the Great. The salt is as pure and clean and ancient a product as you can find on earth, and has many uses - not least beautiful salt lamps. The problem is threefold.. 1. securing adequate, timely supplies 2. from a reputable ethical company (not just a middleman/marketing co) 3. being secure that our order will actually arrive.
How to do this? Well the answer is to meet the boss of the company, do independent background checks and build a good working relationship. Ideally visit the factory or HQ of the business and see for sure how workers are treated.
There are thousands of Himalayan Salt companies in Pakistan, mostly middleman traders buying what stock they can get, a few big organised companies and the family business we like to deal with is actually quite hard to find. Even when you find the right company, infrastructure and supply lines are so poor in that part of the world, that with the best will in the world they cannot meet our orders, we have standing orders of a container a month with two factories, the reality is a very intermittent supply. So hence we need more suppliers.
So that ten day window might be spent on this project. Do come for the ride..
Meanwhile, apart from the Salt Lamp container, a Bali container came, and two China containers, one last week and one as you read this (our Saturday team) is unloading.
So absolutely heaps of hard to get stock is now coming back on line. Grab it whist you can.
See below.
My other projects include securing supplies of more esoteric gemstone products. Hoping to meet with a couple of very promising companies in India.. it's another area where supplies are hard to get, so retail demand often outstrips supply.
Esoteric gemstones (not just tumble-stones) are a very profitable retailing area if you can break into it in your markets, again like salt lamps supplies are patchy, but profits high.
You can find these kind of products at AW.. and just a reminder.. we will never sell retail. Let me repeat that pledge... at Ancient Wisdom we never compete with our own customers.
As always thank you for supporting us - we always appreciate your trade - and look forward to an adventurous and exciting year ahead.
All the best
David
PS: And very soon it's Valentines Day.. we have fresh stocks of perfect Valentine's gifts just arriving now.