Hello ,
Greetings and welcome to December 2017.
We are in the final stretch to Christmas 2017 is in sight.
This week I have been in Slovakia, with the team of AWGifts, our European base. Last week I was telling you about the what to do when things go Pear-shaped.. You can read about it here.
Regular readers will know about our European venture. AWGifts is distribution warehouse in Slovakia, in the pretty town of Trnava close to Bratislava.
It started out as our survival insurance policy, in the event of a hard Brexit. But now it's taken on a life of it's own, the young team are extremely dedicated and I can see us moving in unexpected directions. Who knows what can happen.
And although it's early days, and they are still getting to grips with the business, the sales are roughly doubling each month. More importantly the customers really love us, it's like a revelation to find us... so very enthusiastic. The only problem we have is that the regular Google AdWords advertising route is not very effective, we are struggling to reach potential customers this way. I don't want to start employing sales people, because that's not our business model.
Quick aside...
You will know that at AW we don't have sales people or give credit - so no bad debts or large accounts team, and thus can offer extra keen prices and super strong customer service instead.. I'm proud to say we invented this business model back in the early days of that there tint'ernet (as we call it in Yorkshire) and now much copied but never equalled :)
So.. as I was saying before been interrupted by that public message.. Eastern Europeans just don't seem to find wholesalers online... it's strange, given that Slovakia is more connected to the faster internet than the UK. Anyway, we will find a way.
Meanwhile, it's been snowing on the British Isles. Which is the best possible advertisement for an up and coming White Christmas.
In the Indonesian Isles, there maybe another type of white Christmas.. the volcano is really on the verge of a major eruption. You will recall that we have a warehouse in Ubud, a town not so far from the volcano, but outside the exclusion zone. Of course, I hope and pray that no-one is hurt and that people come through this safely. The media seems to focus on winging tourists, put out that flights have been delayed or cancelled. Well I'm sorry but what about the locals, mostly farmers that have been disrupted. Ringo (our agent), tells me that the price of a cow fallen by 80%, as farmers are forced to sell their stock because there is no where to move livestock to. He told me some ash has been falling over Lombok the next door island. Here are some pictures taken by Ringo..