Editing The Pen Addict 227/transcript (section)

== Retailer Sales ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' So far it is the least ordered. Item by retailers. You know, I'm not sharing any like top secret information. This is, this is the lowest.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It is all over again.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. It is. I told Jeff. So like I'm auditing all these cases. Me and Jeffrey like going through, you know, we're hand inspecting every single case. Do you want to make sure they're up to our quality?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Every time I open up one of those brown cases and that purple hits me, I just smile. I tell Jeff, I just keep smiling at this case. It's going to kill. And so far it's been the lowest ordered. It's been the lowest order case. That's what happens to our stuff. Right. It happens all the time. Yep. We talk about how different we sell cases like in person than online. Like we could never sell sky blue and pink online. We couldn't carry enough of it in person once people saw sky blue and pink. Right. So it's this purple coffee amethyst is I keep calling it. It's the hot fire case. That's what I just call it. It's just so good. And I love every, I told Jeff that Peacock and Cole is going to be the top seller. And I think I'm going to be wrong. I think it's going to be the coffee and brown black will sell the most probably just because it's black and that's, and it plus the blue came off really, really good with that. So, but something about this brown and purple really is really cool. So, but this, this is a start. We're starting slow. You know, I've contacted maybe like seven retailers, you know, it's, we're not going full bore wide open yet. We're still having to manage inventories at first and things like that. So it's going to be a process for us. It's going to be a process for the retailer. It's going to be a process for the retailers working with us. We appreciate their patience. They've been wonderful to work with so far. They understand everything we're doing and we're trying to do right by them. And I think we are. And I hope the products do really well for them. You know, I hope.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, of course. As always, I have a million questions. Sure. So these colors, are they only available through external retailers, not from you?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, they will eventually be through us. We just don't know when we're definitely. So that's a hard thing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's basically an exclusivity period because of, because of the amount you can make effectively. Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Right. Right. But it's, it's not a hard, fast line. Right. It's just kind of depends. We don't want to. Take away from our retailers. So we don't want, there's no reason for us to launch the product ahead or at the same time of a retailer. You know, we want them to, we want to manufacture cases. We want them to sell our cases. At some point, we will have them up on our site in the same colors, but we're basically giving the retailers a head start. If you will, I want them to be able to sell the cases first. I think that's a good business practice. There's no, they wouldn't enjoy it. If we launched before them, it's kind of defeats the purpose of doing that. So, you know, that's, that's kind of how I see that there's no hard, fast rule because all retailers go at different paces, right? I don't know when they're going to put them up. I can't wait forever. You know, at some point I'm going to put them up for sale on my side. It's just not going to be before or at the same time.

'''Myke Hurley:''' All right. Hot seat question for you.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Sure.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Any outside of us retail?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Discussions. There's discussions happening. It is extremely difficult. Yep. With our price point to make it worth everybody's while. We're trying hard. We've had conversations. We've had phone calls. It's not there yet. It's, we're really trying. So. I mean, I don't have any more details than that. Cost.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So. I mean, cost of goods, cost of shipping, cost of, you know, what, you know, the retailer will have to sell it for. The prices can be higher. Conversion, conversion rates. Yeah. The price would definitely be higher because you wouldn't have to pay the shipping. So there's that. It's, it's definitely like a math problem. And that's what we're going through right now.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because, you know, if you charge like 35 us, you could just charge 35 local currency. And typically that's going to be more. I mean, you know this. Yes. No, these are the conversation.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. These are the conversations that we're having. It's just not straightforward. It's a difficult thing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' it's not. It's not, which is why it's a hot seat question because there's no good answer for it for anyone. Right. Because everybody wants it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We're trying. We really want that to happen. That's one of the questions we get. Will you have, you know, a retailer in Europe? Will you have a retailer in Asia? So that's the things we're working on.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The reason I ask you this is because there's people asking in the chat room. I didn't come up with that question.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's one of the most common questions we get. Right now. And all I can say is it's a work in progress. Nothing's a done deal. Nothing's set in stone. And it's not easy. It's, it's a difficult proposition. We hope to make it work. That's, that's the plan.

'''Myke Hurley:''' When are these expected to start going on sale?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh gosh, probably as soon as next week.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because the sun's way, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And these are the ones that are being made by the vetted third party.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yep. All of these are made with our contract manufacturer here in the U S and they look really, really good. I love that. You're perfect.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's like you can't, you can't help yourself. Let's say like here in the U S I know how important it is. I mean, well, it's part of the brand. It's massively important. You guys have built the fact that you're made in the U S company. Like your labels have said that,

'''Brad Dowdy:''' like it's important. No, for us, it's a big deal for me on the pen addict. And talking about other brands, I don't care where they're made. I just want them to be upfront and honest. I, what I want a company to do is say, my product is made in Bangladesh. And here's why it is awesome. And I'm proud of that fact.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't think that's too much to ask for.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, no.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Obfuscating, obfuscating.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Makes it looks like you're hiding.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It makes it look like you're hiding. This notebook is made in China. We work with this killer factory. They made these products to the perfect spec that we made. The paper's awesome. I love how the binding come out. These notebooks are great.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't understand. If you don't believe enough in your product to do that, then that's where our questions come in. So yes, it's a big deal for us to be made in the U S. That's what our company is going to be built around. It's a pillar of knock.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because it's the way you started.