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Hello and welcome to another 
episode of Winning with Shopify 

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Podcast. 
If anyone's watching it before, 

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my name is Nick and I've been 
hosting the show for a number of

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years now. 
If you've been listening for a 

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while, then welcome back. 
It's great to have you listening

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to the show. 
Today I caught up with the. 

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Amazing EJ from Sage who run 
that thing called Inventory 

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planner. 
They're one of our partners. 

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You probably heard them in some 
of our pre roll or ads in the 

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middle of our episodes recently 
anyway, but an amazing piece of 

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software and we're specifically 
talking about the holiday 

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season. 
Before we dive into that, and 

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I'll tell you what EJ and I 
caught up on and some of the 

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funny topics we started talking 
about, which are written on this

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piece of paper. 
And before that, please do check

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out the growth hub. 
We've relaunched it. 

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I've never had so many people in
my inbox in one go. 

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So check out the growth hub. 
It's for brands only, which 

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means if you're working on 
Shopify or actually any other 

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platforms, we call it Shopify 
anyway. 

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And but if you're a Shopify 
brand or another type of 

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merchant running an e-commerce 
store and you want to get 

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involved and talk to other 
brands about what's going on and

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join some roundtable 
discussions, everything else, 

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it's completely free. 
You go to WWS. 

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Podcast forward slash growth hub
or go to WWS. 

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Podcast.com and click Growth 
Hub. 

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I think there's a dash between 
growth and hub in the URL if 

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you've done our SEO properly. 
There will be. 

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Anyway, today today's show we 
spoke about optimizing your 

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purchasing. 
Stop guessing and start using 

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data, talking to your vendors, 
which is something not enough 

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brands do and it costs them way 
too much money when increased 

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profit. 
Definitely talk to your vendors.

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We spoke about inventory 
metrics, which is something new 

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to me as somebody who works in 
digital marketing and and have 

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been using gig lads and, and 
platforms like that for years. 

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But metrics to measure your 
inventory and a strategy for 

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peak and what that looks like, 
store performance, and that's 

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performance across different 
stores. 

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How you manage those vendors, 
not just talking to them, but 

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actually managing a whole stream
of vendors to make you a little 

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bit less susceptible to a vendor
causing a problem. 

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Getting sales without actually 
having any stock. 

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Guess what? 
January's around the corner, so 

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they will focus on peak. 
At some point you're going to 

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run out of stock if you don't 
start reordering. 

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But all you need money to do 
that. 

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So we spoke about that whole 
process and how to plan now for 

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post peak, even though we're in 
the middle of peak and 

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everyone's going crazy for sales
and how to put your plan into 

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motion and how to make your plan
more advanced as well. 

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So it's quite a big episode 
today. 

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And although it's called 
inventory management and stock 

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management, that doesn't sound 
like profit to me or to you, but

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actually it is. 
And we've spoken about this 

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topic quite a few times before. 
So you want to increase your 

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profits, listen to today's 
episode. 

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I hope you enjoy it. 
And one final little plug from 

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me. 
I've now shaved off my 

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moustache, but the team and I 
ran 1/2 marathon only probably 

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about a week ago when this 
episode will go out. 

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And we ran 1/2 marathon in 
native. 

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Remember, you might have seen a 
link in one of our emails coming

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out. 
If you want the link, then reach

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out to us. 
We'd love some donations is for 

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a number of men's related 
charities here in the UK and 

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across the world. 
I hope you enjoy today's 

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episode. 
Thanks for tuning in. 

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So EJ, welcome to the show. 
How are you? 

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I'm doing great, Nick. 
Thank you for having me. 

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This is going to be a great 
time. 

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It's going to be so much fun. 
Awesome. 

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Well, I'm so excited to have you
and it's it's great to meet you 

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as well. 
I've met quite a few people from

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the the Sage team over the 
years, but you are obviously 

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from one of our partners, 
Inventory Planner. 

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And we're delighted to have you 
back on the show and talking 

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about such a hot topic, such a 
missed opportunity in every 

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e-commerce business. 
So before we dive in, just tell 

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us a little bit. 
If people don't know what 

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Inventory Planner is, they've 
not been listening to any of our

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ads recently. 
Tell us a bit about Inventory 

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Planner and also what your role 
in Inventory Planner at Sage is.

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Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 
So if you think about inventory 

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planner as a tool, as a software
system, it's meant to optimize 

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the purchasing process for your 
business. 

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So obviously when you're 
replenishing, you need to know 

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what inventory to buy. 
A lot of people do it finger the

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wind style. 
Inventory planner is meant to be

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the science to the arts of 
replenishment. 

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It gives you the forecasted 
inventory, what you should be 

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expecting to purchase, and then 
you can do whatever tweaks you 

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finally want. 
If you want to like pare it down

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to what you think you 
realistically want to have for 

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the near future. 
We have a lot of folks just 

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listen to the recommendations. 
We also have a lot of folks that

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listen to it, make some tweaks 
because things would happen in 

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the future. 
And they say, hey, yeah, this is

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great, let's run with this. 
Amazing, amazing. 

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And it's such a missed 
opportunity. 

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And we're going to come on to 
that a little bit as as we go 

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through. 
And, but obviously one of the 

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biggest things that is around 
the corner and some people 

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listening to the show have 
actually emailed me and been 

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like, Nick, are you living in a 
bubble like Black Friday Peak? 

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It's all around the corner. 
Like the holiday season's coming

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and you've not you've not really
mentioned it this year because 

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you mentioned it so much the 
last few years. 

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The one of the reasons guys is 
because the last few years we've

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mentioned it a lot and no one 
spoke to us about it. 

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Like we didn't get any emails. 
So then the year we don't 

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mention it, you're all reaching 
out that we should talk about 

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it. 
And which coincided actually 

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really nicely with with 
yourself, EJ and Jill as well, 

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who we've had on them a few 
months ago saying why don't we 

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do an episode actually talking 
about inventory, because imagine

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running out of stock through the
peak season. 

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And So what are some of the 
things that businesses, 

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especially Shopify merchants 
should be thinking about with 

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their stock, their inventory, 
how full the warehouse is, when 

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they should be ordering, 
etcetera. 

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Like what are some of the key 
steps they should be taking 

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right now? 
Yeah, yeah, it's a really good 

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question. 
I'm a huge proponent in starting

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as early as possible and using 
as much data as you can to make 

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intelligent decisions. 
As I said, a lot of folks finger

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to the wind when they do 
forecasting. 

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It just gets worse over peak 
season, the Black Friday where 

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it's like, hey, yeah, I know 
that I have this gigantic sail 

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coming up. 
I know I have this period it 

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should be getting inventory, but
I've been so focused on other 

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things in the past that maybe I 
haven't gotten around to it. 

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So we're talking about things 
that I think like first steps 

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that folks should be doing when 
it comes around peak season, 

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early, early, early planning and
have a plan right. 

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Get an understanding with your 
vendors how much inventory you 

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can realistically get from them 
over a period of time. 

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Figure out what time frames you 
need to actually run your 

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purchases for as you get closer 
up to Black Friday, as you get 

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closer up to the holiday season.
Harder to do if you don't have a

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software system, but something 
like Inventory Planner, you can 

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look at it. 
It'll tell you what your lead 

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time, what your days of stock 
are. 

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And as you get closer to a 
period in which you're going to 

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sell gangbusters, it'll tell you
to order more and more and more 

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to ensure that you don't run out
of stock. 

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Because we know that obviously 
if you lose inventory for a 

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period of time, it's really hard
to keep those customers happy 

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because they're likely going 
somewhere else because you 

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already marketed to them saying,
hey, come and buy stuff that I 

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have. 
It's kind of embarrassing when 

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you don't have it. 
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, 

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absolutely. 
And I love the way you 

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specifically you as well. 
And it was great having Joe on. 

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But the way you describe some of
this about the art of keeping 

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it, you know, keeping inventory 
on the shelf ready to sell. 

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We'll we'll talk a little bit as
well as as we go through as well

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about what to do with dead stock
or how to avoid dead stock. 

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Saying it's a, it's a 2, you 
know, sort of it's a two way St.

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isn't it? 
Like you don't want to have too 

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much dead stock lying around, 
but you want to make sure you've

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got stock in stock. 
And I, I love what you say as 

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well about actually you tell 
customers like come by my stuff 

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like holiday seasons coming or 
we had one client who said, say 

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you get early access to Black 
Friday sold out of everything. 

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And it was like, Oh my gosh, it 
was like, what a great thing to 

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do. 
But now what are you going Like 

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it's going to create, it's going
to be a, you know, tidal wave 

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effect now of people not being 
able to find stuff. 

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How often do you guys find that 
actually something you've just 

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reminded me of merchants don't 
talk enough to their vendors. 

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Like how much do you how often 
do you find that? 

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They're like, I don't know what 
my times are. 

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I don't know what number to put 
in that box on inventory plan 

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the system because I never talk 
to them. 

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I order it. 
Sometimes it's a week, sometimes

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it's six weeks, sometimes it's 
six months. 

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It's unfortunately more common 
than you would think. 

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I can't put a number on it, but 
I know that whenever I speak 

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with businesses because I'm a 
solutions consultant, the sales 

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engineer, so I'm one of the 
first faces that any business 

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sees when they're looking to buy
something like an inventory 

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planner or a retail analytics or
Bright Pearl. 

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It's more frequent that they 
just have the buying 

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relationship with the vendor, 
but they haven't actually built 

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a working relationship over 
time. 

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You know, getting some 
distribution across all the 

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vendors that you have is always 
great, right? 

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You should diversify the sources
that you get your inventory 

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from, but don't ignore the power
of building a good relationship 

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with those vendors because your 
emergency is not anybody else's 

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priority. 
And the best times to make it 

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their priority is when you have 
a personal relationship, you 

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have a Group, A good working 
relationship with somebody, 

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they'll, they'll move heaven and
earth for you if they like you, 

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right? 
So it's something that I think 

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more businesses should focus on,
but for good reason. 

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It's kind of gets overlooked 
sometimes. 

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Yeah, yeah. 
And I guess that having that 

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relationship as well, I mean, we
half our businesses lead Gen. 

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for B2B companies, like say 
ecommerce is only half what we 

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do. 
And we always use the phrase 

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that people by people. 
And we've seen the power of just

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putting a face in an advert 
saying this is John, one of our 

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account managers. 
Talk to John about your IT 

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solutions or whatever the 
product is, or John's an 

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insurance expert. 
And John can tell you exactly 

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what we need to know about 
insurance, what you need to 

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ensure, how to ensure it, how to
save money on it, how to make it

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easier. 
And going down some of those, 

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you know, there's some kind of 
customer challenges, those 

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customer frustrations that we 
can solve. 

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And it's exactly the same. 
Your vendors build that 

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relationship. 
And I guess if you build the 

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relationship, you could actually
start to agree some things with 

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them rather than and then just 
going, yeah, when you order just

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joins the back of the queue. 
And we're just like, oh, we're 

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busy this week, so it's going to
take longer or actually we got 

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nothing on. 
So we'll send it out tomorrow. 

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We can manufacture everything 
today and it will be, you know, 

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we'll be in a shipping container
tomorrow heading to heading to 

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your office or to your 
warehouse. 

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Was actually you could agree in 
that conversation in that 

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relationship, couldn't you 
saying like whenever we order, 

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we don't mind if you like sit 
around doing nothing for two 

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00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:16,400
weeks, but we just always want 
it to be 4 weeks. 

228
00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:18,800
If it's always 4 weeks, we stick
to that. 

229
00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:21,320
We agree that and there's some 
sort of fine. 

230
00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:23,000
If you don't stick to it, you 
know, like you can agree, you 

231
00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,080
can agree some sort of 
partnership, say like we need 

232
00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:27,720
stuff when we need stuff. 
And you give us a heads up going

233
00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:29,800
this this season over holiday 
season. 

234
00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:31,920
It's going to be 6 weeks. 
I'm guessing they can then put 

235
00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:33,120
that into inventory planner, 
can't they? 

236
00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:35,680
To go, actually, we're going to 
have to order earlier on this 

237
00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:37,960
stuff. 
And we know, we know we're gonna

238
00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:38,760
have to. 
Do that. 

239
00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:40,160
Yep, Yep. 
I think that's the magic of 

240
00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:41,680
something like an inventory 
planner, right? 

241
00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:45,200
It it looks at a window of time 
in the future of when you should

242
00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:47,880
be replenishing. 
So for for those of you that 

243
00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:50,520
don't know, actually, let me try
to probably explain this from 

244
00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:52,600
the ground up. 
There's a couple different 

245
00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:54,920
metrics that are important when 
you're going and doing the 

246
00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:56,880
replenishment run, when you're 
going to buy new inventory. 

247
00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,920
And the basic things that you 
can imagine as a business is 

248
00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:02,960
your sales velocity, how quickly
you sell through things in a 

249
00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:06,400
period of time, your lead time, 
how long it takes to get to you 

250
00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:09,680
from your vendor, your days of 
supply, how long you want the 

251
00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:12,640
inventory for until you're 
forced to purchase it again. 

252
00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:18,240
How much stock you currently 
have and the stock that you have

253
00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:20,320
already purchased but haven't 
yet received. 

254
00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:24,640
Those are all kind of moving 
targets, but the most probably 

255
00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:26,960
important moving target and all 
that is a lead time of days of 

256
00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,600
stock because as each day shuts 
off and moves to the next day, 

257
00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:34,840
that window slides forward. 
So maybe, you know, January 1st,

258
00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:38,600
you didn't expect to have any 
inventory, but your sales 

259
00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:41,240
actually didn't do too great 
towards the end of December. 

260
00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:44,160
Inventory Planner is smart 
enough to see, oh, January 1st. 

261
00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:47,000
Well, we actually do have 
inventory we didn't plan on 

262
00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:49,760
originally, but now that the 
windows move forward, we do OK. 

263
00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:52,880
Well, we know how much not to 
purchase now because we have 

264
00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:56,280
stock leftover came with a vice 
versa, right, We don't have any 

265
00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:57,840
inventory. 
We planned on an inventory 

266
00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:00,560
planner smarter to say, hey, in 
the future we're not going to 

267
00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:02,200
have inventory. 
You should be focused on 

268
00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:06,240
replenishing now because you're 
going to run out in this period 

269
00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:08,520
of time. 
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 

270
00:11:08,560 --> 00:11:11,440
And I love the fact that you're 
talking so much commercially. 

271
00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:14,360
Like I, I do find sometimes we 
like warehousing and stuff. 

272
00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:18,200
There's this massive fence 
between the guys who actually 

273
00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:20,600
like look after the products 
and, you know, the people that 

274
00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:22,960
send products out and run the 
warehousing side of things. 

275
00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:25,280
Sometimes the finance teams over
there as well. 

276
00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:28,120
Then there's this big fence and 
then there's the sales and 

277
00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:30,720
marketing and the kind of front 
end of the company And they 

278
00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:33,360
don't talk, they don't connect. 
But you've just spoken about 

279
00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:36,720
actually predicting what is 
going to sell and when and I 

280
00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:39,320
spoke to Jill briefly about this
months ago as well and it'd be 

281
00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:41,640
worth talking about a bit more 
now, especially coming into peak

282
00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:45,840
I think is how valuable the 
brands find that data is of 

283
00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:47,800
going. 
We know we sell this product out

284
00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:50,400
really quickly. 
So actually we can use that to 

285
00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:52,600
our advantage in sales and 
marketing and go, we're not 

286
00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:55,400
going to discount that on Black 
Friday because we just sell it 

287
00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:57,240
really well. 
And actually you guys have the 

288
00:11:57,240 --> 00:11:59,520
data, don't you, of what is 
actually being shipped from the 

289
00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:01,320
warehouse? 
We do, yeah. 

290
00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:02,600
Yeah. 
And again, that's one of the 

291
00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:05,560
great things about the tool. 
I always call it again, 

292
00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:08,520
optimization of buying. 
In order to be really optimized 

293
00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:10,880
in the purchase process, you 
have to have a really good and 

294
00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:13,040
lock step understanding of 
what's happening on the selling 

295
00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:15,680
side, right? 
You can't hope to know what to 

296
00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:17,840
buy if you don't know what you 
already have and you don't know 

297
00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:20,360
how quickly you sell through 
what you have. 

298
00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:23,400
The disconnect a lot of times 
between those different parts of

299
00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,040
the business is always, hey, we 
have our software that we look 

300
00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:28,040
at, we have our sales channels 
that we look at. 

301
00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:29,680
You guys just worry about the 
inventory. 

302
00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:33,160
Well, if we don't have a login 
to the software that you use, if

303
00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:36,000
we don't know the software that 
you use to tell sales, how are 

304
00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:37,960
we getting information? 
Inventory planner just 

305
00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:41,160
integrates to everything, right?
So if you're using Shopify, if 

306
00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:44,880
you're using, you know, any 
e-commerce channel, the ideal is

307
00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:47,640
that you don't have to ask the 
sales team. 

308
00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:51,040
It just gets sucked into the 
tool that you're using to 

309
00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:53,360
replenish. 
So yeah, that's that's the 

310
00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:54,680
point. 
And that's what we're hoping 

311
00:12:54,680 --> 00:12:56,840
people recognize as time goes 
on. 

312
00:12:56,840 --> 00:13:00,000
And that's what our customers so
far have recognized as there's a

313
00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:02,880
lot of power and a lot of 
efficiency and just pulling 

314
00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:04,760
information and and then just 
running with it. 

315
00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:08,640
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. 
And we had a situation, I 

316
00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:10,840
probably mentioned this on the 
show with Jill as well a few 

317
00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:13,760
months ago, but we had a 
situation with a client where 

318
00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:16,920
like we finally, finally on 
Google Ads got them above that 

319
00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:18,720
magic dotted line called break 
even. 

320
00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:21,000
It was like, great, we're making
profit. 

321
00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:22,960
It's taken a few months, but 
we're there. 

322
00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:25,840
We're making profit. 
And I sent an e-mail, like quite

323
00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:28,520
a cocky e-mail going like, guys,
we're making profit. 

324
00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:30,360
We've done it. 
You know, like I'll pick up my 

325
00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:33,520
Ferrari tomorrow, shall I? 
And the finance director replied

326
00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:36,840
and said, I'm really sorry, but 
the product you're selling, the 

327
00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:39,320
delivery cost more than our 
margin on it. 

328
00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:41,160
Say if you sell that product, 
you've got to sell it with 

329
00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:42,960
something else. 
Can't be on its own. 

330
00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:45,840
I was like, don't do this to me.
I was like you, that's you. 

331
00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:47,640
Probably you fix the delivery 
for me. 

332
00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:51,200
And, but actually, I think it's 
that whole profile, isn't it of,

333
00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:54,200
of tying together like what's 
selling today, what's not 

334
00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:56,480
selling? 
And I, I think brands do make, 

335
00:13:56,800 --> 00:13:59,560
you said it earlier on just kind
of like guesswork, just finger 

336
00:13:59,560 --> 00:14:02,360
in the air and go, okay, people 
love this product. 

337
00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:04,480
So let's discount that. 
Imagine how many sales would 

338
00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:06,040
make. 
Actually, I think there's a 

339
00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:09,520
science in discounting the stuff
that is end of line or I think 

340
00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:11,320
it's Lululemon have an amazing 
their sights. 

341
00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:13,960
Like we made too much. 
I love that it's like we made 

342
00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:15,400
too much. 
I've seen it. 

343
00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:17,800
People have gone almost like for
the sustainability angle as 

344
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,800
well, saying we don't want to 
send this to landfill, like help

345
00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:23,480
us avoid landfill by buying 
these half price products. 

346
00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:26,200
Or or you can just really simply
call it outlet, you know, to get

347
00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:28,600
rid of stock and how you know, I
mentioned it earlier. 

348
00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:31,840
How important is it for brands 
to not be sitting on dead stock?

349
00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:34,320
Like what does that do to 
obviously to cash flow and see 

350
00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:37,000
the marketing opportunity if 
you've got dead stock lying 

351
00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:38,640
around that you've paid for and 
haven't sold? 

352
00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:45,560
It's it is probably one of the 
leading issues for e-commerce 

353
00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:47,840
wholesale retail businesses is 
dead stock. 

354
00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:48,840
Honestly, I think of it this 
way. 

355
00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:54,160
Imagine you bought a car and you
know it just it doesn't drive 

356
00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:55,560
anymore. 
The engine's seized. 

357
00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:58,640
You got to get rid of it somehow
because you need to get another 

358
00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:01,640
vehicle to get into work. 
Well, if your engine sees and 

359
00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:04,880
you're not driving it, that's 
all that money tied up and it's 

360
00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:08,600
actively keeping you from making
more money in certain ways. 

361
00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:10,840
It's the same exact thing for 
having dead stock in your 

362
00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:12,840
inventory. 
So again, telemetry, 

363
00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:15,680
understanding when that dead 
stock's going to be there ahead 

364
00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:19,360
of time, so you can develop a 
plan to get rid of it when it 

365
00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:22,960
happens, right? 
Look at what you did in the past

366
00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:25,640
with certain dead stock items. 
Maybe you did sell to a 

367
00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:27,880
reseller. 
Maybe you did have a markdown 

368
00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:30,760
plan, a discount plan that went 
for a period of time. 

369
00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:34,280
Maybe you did give it, as AI 
don't know, a free gift to some 

370
00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:36,400
businesses or to some people who
are buying from you. 

371
00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:38,880
Because quite frankly, even 
though you're giving some of 

372
00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:42,840
that product away for free, it 
does build goodwill with 

373
00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:45,120
customers. 
So the likelihood of them coming

374
00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:47,920
back is higher, as you said, 
cost of acquisitions high, 

375
00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:50,520
trying to attain customers right
now, especially with the change 

376
00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:54,560
in prices for all of online 
marketing and e-mail campaigns. 

377
00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:57,320
So if you can find a way to 
circumvent that in any little 

378
00:15:57,320 --> 00:16:02,000
way, all those small changes add
up to big dollars at the end of 

379
00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,120
a period or at the end of a 
couple different periods. 

380
00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:06,200
It's all about consistency and 
time. 

381
00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:08,320
Yeah, Yeah, you're absolutely 
right. 

382
00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:10,600
And I love that example as well 
of like giving customers a free 

383
00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:12,920
product. 
And I saw one campaign that one 

384
00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:15,440
of our clients did a few months 
ago where they said free gift 

385
00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:19,040
with every product this weekend.
Only they didn't say what the 

386
00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:21,000
gift was. 
They didn't say how many, what 

387
00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,800
it was worth, whatever. 
And it was just like it was, it 

388
00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:26,720
was a supplement based business.
And they had this range of like,

389
00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,760
I think they were like sports 
gels, which I, I actually tried 

390
00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:31,160
on a run last night and they're 
pretty good. 

391
00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:33,720
You know, you take the glucose 
supplement and I was like, and 

392
00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:36,760
you can see my, my time like 
went up or went down, sorry, as 

393
00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:39,880
in I got faster for the next 
kilometre or T and then went 

394
00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:41,400
back down. 
And then it's quite good. 

395
00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:43,120
And, but they had a lot of these
things lying around. 

396
00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:45,720
So when people were ordering 
anything, they just said, oh, 

397
00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:49,120
here's 4 gels, which is enough 
for two half marathons or a 

398
00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:51,680
marathon, go run a marathon. 
And they just put one little 

399
00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:53,560
business card in that cost them 
next to nothing to print. 

400
00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:56,080
They printed it themselves and, 
and it got rid of all of those 

401
00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:58,040
gels. 
And then they suddenly found 

402
00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:00,280
that which your software would 
have gone berserk with this. 

403
00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:03,280
They found people within 
contacts them going, wow, these 

404
00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:06,200
gels are 40% off and you send me
something for free, I'm buying 

405
00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:07,319
loads. 
And they were like, oh, now 

406
00:17:07,319 --> 00:17:09,839
we've sold out and it's like, 
wow, the power. 

407
00:17:09,839 --> 00:17:11,720
And I say it's really 
sarcastically like the power of 

408
00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:14,359
marketing, you know, like it's. 
There will be. 

409
00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:16,440
Someone who wants almost any 
product. 

410
00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:18,920
It's just, Are you marketing to 
write people in the right way 

411
00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:22,079
with the right proposition? 
And when they then they then 

412
00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:24,000
bought loads more of these 
things, put them at full price 

413
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:26,200
and sales dropped again. 
And it was like, I think we've 

414
00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:28,560
learned our lesson guys. 
Like you can't make a margin on 

415
00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:30,960
this product, but you can give 
it away as a freebie and people 

416
00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:32,560
love it. 
So actually it's only costing 

417
00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:36,280
you like $0.30 to buy each, each
one to give to each customer. 

418
00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,360
Could we drop every order by 
$0.30 but increase lifetime 

419
00:17:39,360 --> 00:17:42,080
value, increase the sentiment 
we're going to get on reviews, 

420
00:17:42,080 --> 00:17:44,720
which helps with marketing. 
And that was a KPI for them at 

421
00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:48,520
the time was like, we've got 4 
or 500 reviews and Trustpilot, 

422
00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:50,840
we need to get thousands. 
So we start coming out with some

423
00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:54,000
of these KPIs and it becomes so 
much more fun than just like SE 

424
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,440
OS doing well, PP CS doing well,
emails doing well. 

425
00:17:57,640 --> 00:17:59,800
And it's all getting a little 
bit worse every year, but no one

426
00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:01,080
really cares. 
It's still profitable. 

427
00:18:01,360 --> 00:18:04,040
It's such a such a more exciting
business for that. 

428
00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:08,920
But I mean, in terms of both 
dead stock and keeping stock 

429
00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:12,280
through through peak, obviously 
suppliers are really, really 

430
00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:14,400
important. 
Like you talk about the 

431
00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,360
relationship, is there anything 
else in there? 

432
00:18:16,360 --> 00:18:18,800
Like, is there a strategy people
should be adopting through 

433
00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,920
holiday season to not hit 
January with a ton of dead stock

434
00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:24,400
that didn't sell, but coupled 
with making sure that they 

435
00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:27,880
haven't landed on, you know, 
having too much, having too 

436
00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:29,320
little? 
Like what's a good strategy to 

437
00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:30,760
to deploy with that? 
Yeah. 

438
00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:32,120
No, that's a, that's a really 
good question. 

439
00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:35,680
I think the strategies change 
depending on the size of 

440
00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:38,240
organization or the number of 
inventory sites you have. 

441
00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:41,240
So there's a, there's a 
business, Astrid and Mayo that 

442
00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:43,920
uses inventory planner. 
I think they have north of 20 

443
00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:46,880
different locations. 
Obviously, they use it for 

444
00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:50,200
replenishment, but they also use
it for inventory balancing 

445
00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:53,960
between locations because during
peak season, some products do 

446
00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:57,680
really well in some locations. 
Those same products don't do 

447
00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:01,280
very well in other locations. 
Because again, if you have 

448
00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:03,600
different inventory sites, if 
you have different storefronts, 

449
00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:06,640
it's very much dependent on the 
demographic of where that 

450
00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:08,800
storefront is, right? 
So they'll look at inventory 

451
00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:10,120
plans. 
We'll find, hey, these eight 

452
00:19:10,120 --> 00:19:14,120
products not really selling very
well in store A store C doesn't 

453
00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:15,720
have any left. 
Let's go ahead and transfer 

454
00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:17,640
inventory. 
So a strategy is obviously 

455
00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:20,520
inventory balancement. 
Inventory balancing makes a lot 

456
00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:24,720
of sense from the top down, 
right, for replenishment, for 

457
00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:29,120
buying from new suppliers. 
Obviously timeline, the further 

458
00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:31,360
out that you can think about it,
the better you get to plan for 

459
00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:34,760
shipping methods, right? 
There's a anecdote you said 

460
00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:38,680
about, hey, this item that we're
using, it costs too much to 

461
00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:40,600
deliver. 
So yes, we're getting 

462
00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,840
profitable, but at the same time
we can't sell this item anymore 

463
00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:47,400
because it's too expensive. 
Thinking about that further out 

464
00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:50,200
than, you know, a month before 
Black Friday or three months 

465
00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:52,800
before Black Friday, getting an 
understanding that you're going 

466
00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:55,760
to probably want to sell this 
item because last year this item

467
00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:58,120
did very well. 
If you think about it for a 

468
00:19:58,120 --> 00:20:00,960
little bit longer, you get more 
of a chance to negotiate with 

469
00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,600
that particular supplier how you
get that inventory shipped to 

470
00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:07,360
you and the costs for it. 
Some businesses, they have 

471
00:20:07,360 --> 00:20:09,840
freight on board, some 
businesses they have to buy 

472
00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:11,280
their shipping themselves, 
right? 

473
00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:14,680
So it all it all depends beyond 
that. 

474
00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:18,600
You know, I'd say it's, it's a 
hard thing to think about 

475
00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:21,840
because it's also very specific 
for the individual business that

476
00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:23,320
you are. 
But if I were to think off the 

477
00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:26,680
top of my head, definitely 
diversity of vendors, extended 

478
00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,240
timeline of purchasing for 
further negotiation. 

479
00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:33,560
Volume discounts also I think 
are a really big deal. 

480
00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:36,400
If you can convince your 
supplier that you will buy from 

481
00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:39,560
them consistently for a period 
of time, building up to peak 

482
00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:42,720
season, that you'll always get a
certain number of items like 

483
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:46,600
minimum order quantities, for 
instance, having that in a 

484
00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:49,200
purchase plan is always a great 
idea. 

485
00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:51,440
Working with different vendors 
because what they're seeing is, 

486
00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:54,560
hey, you're guaranteed to order 
at least 1000 units every time. 

487
00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:56,840
That's cash in our pocket 
immediately. 

488
00:20:56,920 --> 00:20:59,840
We have a lot of smaller 
partners that we work with that 

489
00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:03,240
buy 15 or 20 at a time. 
We want to work with you more 

490
00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:05,800
frequently because you're a 
larger buyer regularly. 

491
00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:08,440
So, yeah, it depends on cash 
flow, it depends on the kinds of

492
00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:10,880
business that you are, depends 
on the size and longevity, your 

493
00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:12,520
business overall. 
But those are the first things 

494
00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:14,680
that I would think about. 
Yeah, no, I love that. 

495
00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:16,560
It's some really good examples 
in there, like really, really 

496
00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:18,080
good. 
And I think just that whole it 

497
00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:21,280
does come back to relationship 
like you say or like you said 

498
00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:24,440
earlier, sorry, but I think it's
it does go quite deep into a 

499
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:49,720
business's DNA, doesn't it? 
Go and install the app, start 

500
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:52,240
the 30 day trial and give it a 
go yourself and see how you get 

501
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:54,800
on. 
We we've all we've all seen 

502
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,760
merchants, certainly you and I 
probably have, I definitely have

503
00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:00,200
where merchants have just gone 
like, oh, we've got no stock or 

504
00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,840
our suppliers gone bust and 
we've now got an issue and it's 

505
00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:04,880
like, what do you mean my 
supplier? 

506
00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:08,760
Don't you mean like one of my 
suppliers, not the supplier, the

507
00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:11,200
singular 1? 
And I think that whole 

508
00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:14,280
diversification of suppliers, as
you say, is so important. 

509
00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:16,520
And I think the, the only other 
thing I would add to your list, 

510
00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:18,400
the only one that I was like, I 
wonder if you're going to 

511
00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:20,680
mention this or not, is just 
agreeing payment terms. 

512
00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,080
I think payment terms are so 
important. 

513
00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:26,160
And we've got, we've got a 
client who they pay nearly 

514
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:31,800
double per unit that they buy if
they only pay when it sells and 

515
00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:34,520
they have an agreement that they
will send the product back in 

516
00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:37,320
six months if it hasn't sold. 
So it's almost like reverse. 

517
00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:39,440
It's always like drop shipping 
where you stock it yourselves. 

518
00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:40,920
And that's a lot of 
consignments. 

519
00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:44,000
We're doing it. 
There's some good strategies 

520
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:45,960
around that for cash flow, 
because what you don't want to 

521
00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:47,760
do is spend all your money on 
products and then go, hey, 

522
00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:50,360
marketing team, off you go. 
And they're like, now we need a 

523
00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:51,960
budget. 
We need some, we need some money

524
00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:54,120
to spend on Meta and Google and 
other stuff here. 

525
00:22:54,120 --> 00:22:56,120
And, and you know that 
influencer over there, they 

526
00:22:56,120 --> 00:22:58,560
don't work for free, but oh, 
you've spent all the money on 

527
00:22:58,560 --> 00:22:59,760
products. 
So actually, if you can agree 

528
00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:03,000
like a right, we're going to buy
enough stock for the next six 

529
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:04,360
months. 
We've got the warehouse for it, 

530
00:23:04,360 --> 00:23:07,240
but actually we're going to pay 
a third today, 1/3 at three 

531
00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:10,440
months and 1/3 at six months. 
That gives us some longevity to 

532
00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:12,080
sell. 
We can actually add way more 

533
00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:14,720
lines to, to our, to our product
range as well. 

534
00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:17,160
See what works. 
And actually supplier might give

535
00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:20,280
us even more favourable terms if
three months in, we say here's 

536
00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:21,920
your here's your second of three
payments. 

537
00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:24,640
And we actually want to order a 
ton more of this, this and this 

538
00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:26,240
because they're selling really, 
really well. 

539
00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:29,080
Now the vendor, as you went back
to your point earlier, like 

540
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:30,800
anything you want, you guys got 
it. 

541
00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:33,640
We can, you know, we can 
absolutely get get that stock 

542
00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:35,440
for you sooner rather than 
later. 

543
00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:38,120
And do you find a lot of 
merchants like when they're 

544
00:23:38,120 --> 00:23:40,720
working with vendors, do you 
find the vendors have a range of

545
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:45,000
restocking times as well? 
It's, it's all across the board.

546
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:46,760
There can be a range of 
restocking times. 

547
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:49,840
There can be quantities that 
they will never look at unless 

548
00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:52,960
it gets to a certain threshold. 
It could be a dollar value for 

549
00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:56,560
the overall purchase order. 
It could be, you know, the size 

550
00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:58,560
of the shipping container. 
They might even say, and this 

551
00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:00,400
happens rarely. 
It's usually the customer that 

552
00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:02,960
the, the merchant that we're 
working with that says this 

553
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:05,280
like, hey, we have a shipping 
container that needs to be 

554
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:06,960
filled to a certain size. 
We're not going to run a 

555
00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:09,800
purchase order and so we can 
fill that shipping container at 

556
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:13,320
least 90% of the way, right. 
So yeah, there's there's a lot 

557
00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:18,200
of different requirements that 
sometimes pop up during the 

558
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:20,880
replenishment process. 
But I think to your point, one 

559
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:23,280
of the most fundamental things 
to recognize and understand is 

560
00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:26,640
that these suppliers you're 
working with are in business to 

561
00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:29,320
sell inventory just like you 
are. 

562
00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:34,480
The benefit of being a 
wholesaler is that the more 

563
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:39,560
wholesale customers you collect,
the wider your footprint is. 

564
00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,000
Obviously same thing for 
e-commerce, same thing for 

565
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,800
retail. 
But because wholesale businesses

566
00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:49,120
buy more inventory than everyday
average consumer, there is a 

567
00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:52,280
longevity to the relationship 
that you can leverage and you 

568
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:56,000
get to manipulate things like 
pricing and payment terms and 

569
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,640
shipment dates and so on. 
And so again, I cannot stress 

570
00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:02,040
enough that as a merchant 
selling online, selling in 

571
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:04,680
store, when you're working with 
your suppliers, remember that 

572
00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:07,680
they want to sell inventory. 
And the easier that you can make

573
00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:11,480
it to get cash in their pocket, 
the better they will treat you 

574
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:15,520
across the board for when you 
need inventory And those payment

575
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:17,600
terms are exact. 
That's that's a perfect 

576
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:19,520
situation for that. 
Yeah, yeah. 

577
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:21,960
And I think one thing to be 
really wary of as well when 

578
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:23,680
you're trying to get more 
favourable terms. 

579
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:26,560
We've seen it with suppliers 
before, some of our clients 

580
00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:29,320
where they've said like if you 
give us exclusivity, we'll give 

581
00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:31,600
you a discount. 
And it's, I think it's a double 

582
00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:33,440
edged sword, isn't it? 
You get that discount and it's 

583
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:35,680
almost like taking short term 
cash for long term pain. 

584
00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:40,080
And I, I, I advise businesses 
all the time, like I, I rarely 

585
00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:41,800
think of a scenario where you 
should take the short term 

586
00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:43,040
option, not the long term 
option. 

587
00:25:43,360 --> 00:25:45,960
And the long term option is to 
go, no, no, that's fine. 

588
00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,120
We just, yeah, we want to work 
with lots of suppliers and have 

589
00:25:48,120 --> 00:25:51,000
that security because you might 
find that supplier then has got 

590
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:52,920
this exclusivity with a, a load 
of brands. 

591
00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:55,800
If they then say like actually, 
we're not going to ship product 

592
00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:58,560
to you or manufacture for you 
because you're not doing an 

593
00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:01,560
exclusivity, the answer should 
always be, well, fine. 

594
00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:03,880
You know, there's nearly 8 
billion people in the world. 

595
00:26:04,120 --> 00:26:06,760
There are other suppliers out 
there and I can go and do that. 

596
00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:09,200
How much do you guys work with 
though, when we're talking a lot

597
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:11,720
about vendors that like you, you
pay a price, you fill out a 

598
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:14,040
form, have a conversation where 
something arrives in a shipping 

599
00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:16,640
container at your office. 
How much do you work with 

600
00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:19,480
companies or does inventory 
planner service stores that 

601
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:21,520
manufacture their own stuffs? 
They're actually bringing in 

602
00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:25,480
resources rather than product. 
Yeah, yeah, it happens every so 

603
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:28,280
often. 
It's it's an area that gets kind

604
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:32,440
of touchy because when you talk 
about billing materials, when 

605
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:36,920
you talk about manufacturing, 
there's always specifics that 

606
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,000
end up rearing their heads later
down the line. 

607
00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:42,960
Generally speaking, when we 
think about billing materials 

608
00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:45,880
and assembly processes, it's 
finished good units being put 

609
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:48,480
together to make a different 
finished good. 

610
00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:52,080
There's always, it's some 
situations where a manufacturer 

611
00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:55,320
or a business that we're working
with is like, hey, yeah, we get 

612
00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:58,040
our, we get our stuff done by a 
contract manufacturer, but we 

613
00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:00,520
need to order the raw materials.
OK. 

614
00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:03,240
Are you cutting things? 
Are they, you know, getting 

615
00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:06,360
different volumes like 
milliliters to liters? 

616
00:27:06,360 --> 00:27:08,880
Are, you know, they mixing 
chemicals together? 

617
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,840
How deep are we going here? 
Because the deeper we get, the 

618
00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:14,640
hairier this gets. 
Overall, we should be looking at

619
00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:16,160
a full blown. 
Yeah, yeah. 

620
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:19,520
Is this a Google Sheet solution?
Exactly, exactly. 

621
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,440
Now, that being said, we do have
businesses that were doing the 

622
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:25,320
Google Sheet solution for that, 
and Inventory Planner very much 

623
00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:28,920
brought them towards modernity, 
which was great. 

624
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,080
And we're very happy with that, 
right? 

625
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:33,320
It's a phenomenal thing. 
But yeah, once they start 

626
00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:35,640
getting more complicated, they 
start doing things like, yeah, 

627
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:39,520
mixing chemicals, they start 
doing things like wastage and 

628
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:41,480
labor. 
Then we start saying, OK, this 

629
00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:43,600
is you should probably look at 
an MRP. 

630
00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:46,760
We can still help you with the 
forecasting, but the material 

631
00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:48,720
requirements, planning, it's 
probably an important thing if 

632
00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:50,800
you start looking at now that 
you've gotten to scale. 

633
00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:54,360
But yeah, it's definitely, 
definitely a piece of the 

634
00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,760
ecosystem overall that we see. 
Yeah, yeah, No, it is 

635
00:27:57,760 --> 00:27:59,720
interesting because I think a 
lot of brands almost kind of 

636
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:01,880
start with drop shipping, then 
they order in their own 

637
00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:04,280
products, then they have multi 
vendor ordering in lots of 

638
00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:06,280
different products in different 
places and it all gets a bit 

639
00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:07,520
complicated. 
And then the ones that are 

640
00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:10,800
really successful will often 
like open their own warehouse 

641
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:12,840
where they actually manufacture 
things, open their own factory. 

642
00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:14,440
So it's interesting seeing that 
journey. 

643
00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:16,600
But obviously your software is 
looking at what's in the 

644
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:18,200
warehouse and what are people 
buying. 

645
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,880
So it still applies I think 
across the board to ask a really

646
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:25,240
difficult question and it was on
our list, I'm pleased to say. 

647
00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:27,760
But it's, I think it's a really 
difficult question and something

648
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:30,320
that brands would be delighted 
to be in this situation. 

649
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:34,600
What happens if they get halfway
through peak and they run out of

650
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,960
stock so the demand exceeds 
exceeds the supply? 

651
00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:39,320
What? 
Do they what do? 

652
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:41,440
What happens next? 
Yeah, yeah. 

653
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:44,680
So obviously the hope is always 
that we've planned enough that 

654
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,000
that doesn't happen. 
But you know, life is life. 

655
00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:51,240
Things go sideways. 
The two things that I really 

656
00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:58,200
like seeing for businesses is 
allowing for back orders and 

657
00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:01,840
pre-orders to happen. 
So acknowledging with the 

658
00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:06,040
customer that you ran out of 
inventory and that you're 

659
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:09,840
getting more inventory in, and 
as long as you can be as 

660
00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:12,680
transparent as possible, like, 
hey, this item is going to come 

661
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:16,760
in in a month, Get your place in
line right now. 

662
00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:20,240
Don't charge the customer until 
the item ships, right? 

663
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:23,080
But let them know that they've 
secured their place in line. 

664
00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:26,080
There are going to be situations
in which you find that people 

665
00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:30,240
are very OK waiting for a period
of time to get their inventory, 

666
00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:34,080
as long as they know how long 
they're waiting for. 

667
00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:38,240
That's the key. 
I have a friend who ordered a 

668
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:43,280
handmade rug from Etsy. 
She didn't know that it was a 

669
00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:46,640
handmade rug because there 
wasn't a date of delivery on it.

670
00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:48,240
She was expecting to get the rug
in a week. 

671
00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:53,560
Two weeks went by. 
She emails the the designer and 

672
00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:56,400
the person emails back, hey, I 
am hand making this right now. 

673
00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:59,280
Sends her a picture. 
She's like, oh, oh, actually 

674
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:01,480
this is yeah, this is great. 
I didn't realize that I bought a

675
00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:03,360
handmade rug, but yeah, this is 
fantastic. 

676
00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:04,800
All right. 
She's like, yeah, I'll get it 

677
00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:07,960
out in like 3 more weeks. 
A few more weeks came by, she 

678
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,040
had it at her door. 
It was very much a hey, if you 

679
00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:12,000
told me in the 1st place, 
perfectly fine. 

680
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:14,520
I still would have ordered the 
product, but knowing at least is

681
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:16,760
what's important. 
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 

682
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:20,200
And we, we did a CRO test 
recently with one of our 

683
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:21,280
clients. 
They had a load of stuff that 

684
00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:24,560
was pre-order and it's stuff 
they they get, they always like 

685
00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:26,480
get them in stock, they come in 
regularly. 

686
00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:28,640
But you're absolutely right, it 
was that communication. 

687
00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:31,600
So they put pre-order on loads 
of things and a Microsoft 

688
00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:33,520
Clarity, which for anyone who's 
not used, they'd be like a hot 

689
00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:35,320
jar, but it's free. 
It's one of the few times I 

690
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,800
shout out Microsoft and say 
they've done a really good job 

691
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:40,400
here, use Microsoft Clarity, 
it's free, don't leave it on the

692
00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:42,520
site all the time because it is 
a code, it can slide on page 

693
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:44,760
speed and I'm an SEO person so 
it's important to us. 

694
00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:47,800
But Microsoft Clarity was 
showing us that if anyone landed

695
00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:49,880
on a pre-order page, they 
bounced quite often. 

696
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:51,840
If that was the first page they 
hit on the site, they would 

697
00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:54,160
leave. 
And a lot of our Google Shopping

698
00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:56,680
was targeting pre-order pages. 
So it's a quick test. 

699
00:30:57,320 --> 00:31:00,600
We took pre-order out of Google 
Shopping conversion almost, 

700
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:04,000
sorry, not conversion rate, but 
revenue almost doubled, same 

701
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:06,120
spend. 
So like our ROI has doubled and 

702
00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:07,880
it was like great. 
And the client's like, how did 

703
00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:09,880
you do that? 
And we said we don't targeting 

704
00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:12,600
pre-order anymore. 
And I know you guys actually 

705
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:14,480
listen to the podcast. 
I won't say the company name, 

706
00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:16,080
but I know we're having this 
with you guys. 

707
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:19,760
Remember we're hitting like 
33.23.3 to one at the moment 

708
00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:22,680
over the last few weeks and it's
a record revenue. 

709
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:24,480
And part of it was that 
equation. 

710
00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:27,440
And but we've done exactly as 
you explained that we've started

711
00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:31,640
adding estimated arrival dates, 
some of them, which I thought 

712
00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:33,920
was fascinating. 
It says pre-order because when 

713
00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:36,360
you order it, then they order it
and then it arrives. 

714
00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:39,960
Instead of that, we just put in 
stock, arrives in one week. 

715
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:44,000
You know, it's a sofa, it's a 
bed in stock arrives in one week

716
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:48,960
and it's not in our stock. 
It's in the suppliers stock, but

717
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:50,720
it's in stock. 
We can see the item is there 

718
00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:53,680
right now and if not, we can 
refund, have a quick 

719
00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:55,080
conversation, whatever if we 
need to. 

720
00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:57,560
But generally speaking, it is 
there and it the item is 

721
00:31:57,560 --> 00:31:59,720
available. 
And it was actually just finding

722
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:01,600
out like what was one of the 
pressure and pain points here 

723
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:04,040
that we can change And it was 
exactly that was that pre-order?

724
00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:07,680
But you're absolutely right. 
I think, yeah, if you if you can

725
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:09,880
get that ETA on there, you're 
going to get going to get a 

726
00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:11,480
better response. 
But the other thing I've written

727
00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:13,960
down that I want to flag because
I think this is such a golden 

728
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,800
point you made. 
When somethings out of stock and

729
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:19,040
people join the e-mail list and 
it's like we'll let you know 

730
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:22,120
when it's back. 
I think people are so bored and 

731
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:24,960
do not trust back in stock. 
e-mail me when in stock. 

732
00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:28,840
People are impatient. 
So I think the phrasing used, I 

733
00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:30,240
love it. 
And it's again, putting 

734
00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:32,600
marketing on top of it rather 
than just being functional and 

735
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:34,840
factual. 
But then secure your, your space

736
00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:36,840
in the line. 
Say like there are 22 people 

737
00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,320
waiting for this. 
You can be the 23rd and we have 

738
00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:41,920
500 of them on order, or we have
100 on order or something. 

739
00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:45,760
Say you can secure your place. 
Suddenly the whole psychological

740
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,880
side of gamification comes in 
and it's like, oh, I could join 

741
00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:50,280
the queue. 
I could just put my e-mail in. 

742
00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:51,000
It's free. 
I don't know. 

743
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:53,000
They're not going to charge me. 
Now I join the queue and I've 

744
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:56,160
secured my place in line. 
And then I think to your point, 

745
00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:58,000
like obviously you can do 
something with that, send them 

746
00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,200
emails going like you still 
secured your place in line. 

747
00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:01,440
But we do actually have these in
stock. 

748
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:04,000
So you can order one of these 
now and then we'll ask you, 

749
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:05,960
we'll send you another e-mail 
saying do you still want to be 

750
00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:08,160
in the line or do you want to 
drop out the line, let someone 

751
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:09,400
else have it. 
Now you've bought something else

752
00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:11,640
and it's like, wow, what a set 
of communication. 

753
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:13,040
You're building relationship 
with the customer. 

754
00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:15,400
Lifetime value is going to go 
out and they go, these guys have

755
00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:17,080
nailed it. 
They know how to look after 

756
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:19,360
their customers. 
And going going back to the old 

757
00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:22,320
days, it's exactly as you would 
if you walked into a store and 

758
00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:24,840
said, you don't have my size. 
I'm getting one on Wednesday. 

759
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:25,960
Why don't you give, give us your
number. 

760
00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:27,720
I'll give you a ring on 
Wednesday once the the truck 

761
00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:29,680
arrives. 
You can pay for it now or you 

762
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:30,960
can come in and try it on, 
etcetera. 

763
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:33,640
Make sure it fits with a, that's
a bespoke service. 

764
00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:37,680
It takes 20 seconds and anyone 
would do that, but I think it's 

765
00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:39,120
it's really powerful. 
But you can't do that without 

766
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:40,680
the data that you guys have got,
can you? 

767
00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:42,440
When's it going to arrive? 
How long is it going to take? 

768
00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:43,640
Exactly. 
Yep. 

769
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:47,640
Awesome, awesome. 
All right, let's talk about the 

770
00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:50,320
final thing then we got, we got 
a little bit of time to talk 

771
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:53,480
about this. 
I think Peak will finish and it 

772
00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,760
finishes every year and everyone
just kind of then let's say 

773
00:33:56,760 --> 00:33:59,000
everyone. 
A lot of brands, like more often

774
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:01,640
than I'd like to admit, they go 
into panic mode in January. 

775
00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:03,680
It's like, oh, Christmas was 
lovely. 

776
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:05,440
I drank too much, I ate too 
much. 

777
00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:08,000
Like we've had a lovely time and
Oh my gosh, the warehouse is 

778
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:09,360
empty. 
We've got no revenue. 

779
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:11,000
Like it's just kind of panic 
stations. 

780
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:13,040
There's an opportunity to avoid 
that, isn't there? 

781
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:14,960
And there's some obvious things 
and there's also some less 

782
00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:17,199
obvious things. 
What should brands be doing 

783
00:34:17,679 --> 00:34:20,480
getting ready for Post Peek? 
Oh, yeah. 

784
00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:25,120
So the we don't have any 
inventory left is so easily 

785
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:27,600
avoidable with something like an
inventory planner because again,

786
00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:29,719
it's looking at a window of 
time. 

787
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:33,199
As history moves forward, that 
window shifts forward. 

788
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:35,520
So you'll start seeing an 
inventory planner. 

789
00:34:35,679 --> 00:34:38,320
Hey, these A&B Class products 
that we have that have been 

790
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:41,800
making us the most money, well, 
they're going to start kind of 

791
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:44,400
petering out. 
We should probably focus on 

792
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:47,920
replenishing for the January 
through March period because 

793
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:50,560
last year, these products are 
the ones that sold, right? 

794
00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:52,800
Or we know that peak is winding 
down. 

795
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:55,040
The system's recognizing that 
peak is winding down. 

796
00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:59,320
We should be replenishing 
towards the end of the season. 

797
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:02,000
Let's focus on buying new 
product because we're flush with

798
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,200
cash now that we've been selling
through in December, right? 

799
00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:07,320
So that's number one. 
Again, using software, using 

800
00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:09,960
technology to recognize the 
period that's coming up and what

801
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:14,160
inventory is necessary around 
that time, optimization of the 

802
00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:18,040
inventory that is left around. 
If you're sitting there and you 

803
00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:21,080
have no inventory of the items 
that sell the most, you have a 

804
00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:22,960
lot of stuff that doesn't sell 
very well. 

805
00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:25,240
This is less of an inventory 
thing. 

806
00:35:25,240 --> 00:35:27,760
This is more of a marketing 
thing. 

807
00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:31,440
You might start thinking about 
pivoting your marketing plan a 

808
00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:35,440
little bit at the end of peak 
season to start talking about 

809
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:39,240
the items that are going to be 
in stock that haven't been 

810
00:35:39,240 --> 00:35:42,400
touted for the past, you know, 
couple weeks past month or so. 

811
00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:45,920
It's let's see what else is 
there. 

812
00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:49,760
There's there's so many like 
little things that are that are 

813
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:52,760
avoidable and so many little 
things that can be done in the 

814
00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:56,200
warehouse to assure yourself 
that you will continue selling 

815
00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:58,160
through a period of time. 
Those first two things I think 

816
00:35:58,160 --> 00:35:59,680
about. 
And then obviously as we said, 

817
00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:03,120
the pre-order, the the back 
order function, allowing 

818
00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:05,840
yourself that still in January 
and February and March coming 

819
00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:08,520
out of peak season, you left 
with too much inventory 

820
00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:11,240
discounting marking down for a 
period of time and working with 

821
00:36:11,240 --> 00:36:13,960
resellers to get rid of products
that you know you don't 

822
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:16,360
necessarily need in this 
upcoming period. 

823
00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:19,880
So many things that can be done.
Absolutely, absolutely. 

824
00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:22,720
And I mean, what are some 
examples would you say of like 

825
00:36:22,720 --> 00:36:25,240
how brands continue trading in 
January as well? 

826
00:36:25,240 --> 00:36:28,040
Because for some brands it is 
really tough, like peaks 

827
00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:30,800
obviously massive and you, 
you've made a really good point.

828
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:33,160
They're cash rich. 
What are some of the things that

829
00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:34,840
they can be doing? 
You know, let's assume they've 

830
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:38,560
got the inventory in now without
discounting is going to be my 

831
00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:40,520
only caveat and it's really a 
tough question, but what do you 

832
00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:41,560
see? 
What do you guys see brands 

833
00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:44,480
doing to keep that inventory 
being shifted to customers 

834
00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:46,200
through January and products 
being sold? 

835
00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:48,080
Yeah, yeah. 
The optimization is selling 

836
00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:51,000
piece. 
As you said before, it's really 

837
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:52,680
important to reach the right 
customers. 

838
00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:56,400
The customers that you got over 
peak season are not the same 

839
00:36:56,400 --> 00:36:59,720
customer profile that you get 
during, you know, off peak. 

840
00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:04,560
So it's important for you to 
have a marketing plan and have a

841
00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:07,080
yeah, have a marketing plan for 
that upcoming period. 

842
00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:09,440
Recognize that your customer 
profile is changing. 

843
00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:12,200
Use this opportunity as a time 
to experiment a little bit. 

844
00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:15,360
Again, you're cash rich right 
now, assuming you had a great 

845
00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:17,800
peak season. 
So take a little bit of time to 

846
00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:21,080
start, you know, thinking about 
getting new products that you 

847
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:23,840
didn't necessarily have before. 
Expand your product line a 

848
00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:25,600
little bit. 
Maybe rather than expanding your

849
00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:28,120
product line, start looking at 
selling the items that you don't

850
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:30,880
typically carry very often, but 
have been kind of, you know, 

851
00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:34,040
collecting dust on the shelf. 
Use this time to practice 

852
00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:36,800
different things since you do 
have the free time. 

853
00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:40,000
Now, since things have slowed 
down a little bit, you know, 

854
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:42,840
maybe work with different 
vendors, start looking at 

855
00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:46,760
collecting different, different 
suppliers for the inventory that

856
00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:49,640
you generally sell. 
Opening up new supplier doors a 

857
00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:52,760
lot of times opens up new 
products that you can bring in 

858
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:56,280
and opens up new relationships 
with customers in different 

859
00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:59,440
regions. 
Because again, those vendors 

860
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:01,480
that you're working with 
probably sell the same products 

861
00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:05,240
to other kinds of businesses. 
A little bit of extra research 

862
00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:08,200
might be a good way of 
understanding how they actually 

863
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:11,160
reach customers in those 
specific time frames off peak 

864
00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:12,480
season. 
Yeah. 

865
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:14,240
So I'm not sure. 
Go ahead. 

866
00:38:14,240 --> 00:38:15,880
Yeah, I was going to say, I'm 
not sure if that answered the 

867
00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:18,280
question directly. 
It's kind of like dancing around

868
00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:20,680
something. 
Very specific, isn't it? 

869
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:23,160
So yeah, yeah, you know, I think
it's a really good answer and I 

870
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:25,680
mean 2, two things I would add 
to it quickly. 1 is that you're 

871
00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:27,920
absolutely right. 
We, we see it year in, year out 

872
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:30,640
where brands get overexcited 
going, wow, look at these new 

873
00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:32,720
customers and then they're 
emailing them in January and 

874
00:38:32,720 --> 00:38:34,320
they're like, they'll buy, 
they're buying Feb, they're 

875
00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:35,800
buying Feb and they get to Feb 
and they don't buy and they 

876
00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:37,360
don't buy them. 
And then you get to next Black 

877
00:38:37,360 --> 00:38:39,800
Friday and peak and it's like, 
oh, look, they're all buying 

878
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:41,200
again. 
That's fine. 

879
00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:43,320
Just take the money once a year.
Just go for it. 

880
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:46,360
But segment them out from your 
normal customers because you 

881
00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:48,600
don't want people receiving 
emails, not clicking on them, 

882
00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:51,520
receiving emails, deleting them,
receiving emails, unsubscribing 

883
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:53,480
from them. 
So just send them an e-mail 

884
00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:55,800
every now and then and just keep
that kind of like little 

885
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,680
relationship going. 
And the second thing I would 

886
00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:01,080
massively advise, and, and we do
this a lot with our send it with

887
00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:04,800
our SEO customers and with our 
PPC customers as well that work 

888
00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:07,600
with us. 
We we start planning peak in 

889
00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:09,440
January. 
And I know like we're talking 

890
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:11,760
about planning ahead and to you 
and I, it's like, yeah, that's a

891
00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:13,920
great idea. 
In reality, it's hard because 

892
00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:16,640
you always have 50 other plates 
spinning at any one moment. 

893
00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:19,560
But actually January is such a 
unique time to go. 

894
00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:22,080
It's fresh in our heads. 
There's going to be personnel 

895
00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:24,000
changes, whether it's in my 
team, whether it's in the 

896
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:25,440
client. 
So people are going to forget. 

897
00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:29,600
So actually if we plan peak now 
and go, it's just happened. 

898
00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:32,280
If we could do it again right 
now, which we will be next year 

899
00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:35,480
or this current coming year in 
January, what would we do 

900
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:37,800
differently and start actually 
build it, build out your 

901
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:40,400
timeline, your marketing plan, 
what we're going to do of 

902
00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:42,400
inventory. 
If there's a product that 

903
00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:45,840
surprised you and find, as you 
say, find some vendors offer 

904
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:48,920
five of those five variations of
that product this coming Black 

905
00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:51,640
Friday and see what happens with
all the other things we've 

906
00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:54,080
spoken about of how quickly can 
you replenish it, that sort of 

907
00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:57,400
thing. 
But I do find that like, yeah, 

908
00:39:57,720 --> 00:39:59,520
there is a bit of a lull coming 
into January. 

909
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:00,760
Everyone's like, wow, we've kind
of done it. 

910
00:40:00,760 --> 00:40:02,240
We sit back and they forget 
about it. 

911
00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:05,640
And then you get to like 
November 17th and it's like. 

912
00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:07,480
Oh my gosh, Pete. 
What are we going? 

913
00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:10,760
To do panic. 
The the whole message today is 

914
00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:13,480
plan ahead. 
I mean it just just out of 

915
00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:15,520
interest and and we'll kind of 
finish on this question. 

916
00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:18,800
I think how it probably varies 
so much on my business side, 

917
00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:22,440
number of SKUs, number of staff.
Is it how far in advance 

918
00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:25,440
generally that window you 
mentioned, how far in advance 

919
00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:27,560
are brands generally planning 
and preparing? 

920
00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:30,840
Like is it years, is it weeks? 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

921
00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:34,720
So apparel fashion companies 
that I talk to, they're always 

922
00:40:34,720 --> 00:40:39,600
planning in six month increments
a year in advance because 

923
00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:44,160
obviously fashion trends change 
pretty quickly and typically 

924
00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:46,680
people get telemetry on what the
fashion trends going to be in 

925
00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:50,400
about a year. 
So it's always spring, summer, 

926
00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:53,760
fall, winter is usually the the 
breakdown I see happening. 

927
00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:57,080
So seasonal products absolutely 
make sense to do it that way for

928
00:40:57,080 --> 00:40:59,720
like everyday consumer items 
that aren't seasonal things that

929
00:40:59,720 --> 00:41:02,560
are just like they kind of sell 
through the time frame with no 

930
00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:07,440
rhyme or reason. 
Usually I want to say it's about

931
00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:12,000
6 months to a year in advance. 
However, I know, I know some of 

932
00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:15,000
the businesses that I've spoken 
to in the past three months and 

933
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:17,440
they probably laugh at hearing 
that saying now we're planning 

934
00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:19,840
the three months in advance 
right now. 

935
00:41:19,960 --> 00:41:21,360
And I think that's the reason 
why they're looking for 

936
00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:22,960
software, right? 
To make things a little bit 

937
00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:27,160
faster and easier for them. 
But yeah, I I would like to say 

938
00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:30,680
for everyone listening, the 
average that I feel comfortable 

939
00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:33,760
stating from what I've 
experienced is about 6 to 8 

940
00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:37,160
months of planning ahead, extend
that. 

941
00:41:37,240 --> 00:41:40,840
Obviously doing that post mortem
after peak season to recognize 

942
00:41:40,840 --> 00:41:45,040
what worked and what didn't work
is incredibly important for 

943
00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:48,240
getting a successful peak season
this upcoming time frame. 

944
00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:52,320
And no one's ever going to be 
angry or upset at being more 

945
00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:55,240
prepared than being under 
prepared. 

946
00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:57,640
So I always err on the side of 
caution. 

947
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:01,960
That means April, May 2025. 
You should know you should a 

948
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:04,440
little, you can change the plan.
It's just the plan. 

949
00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:06,680
But you should have a plan in 
place for the whole of peak. 

950
00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:09,240
And I think, yeah, really good 
point to finish. 

951
00:42:09,240 --> 00:42:11,600
And I think, and yeah, no, I 
really appreciate all your 

952
00:42:11,600 --> 00:42:12,880
insights. 
I've written a whole page of 

953
00:42:12,880 --> 00:42:14,720
notes. 
I hope all my listeners at home 

954
00:42:14,720 --> 00:42:15,680
have as well. 
But yeah, EJ, I really 

955
00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:17,400
appreciate your time. 
Thank you so much for joining us

956
00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:19,240
and thanks for sharing such 
amazing insights. 

957
00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:20,960
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 
Thanks for having me here. 

958
00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:22,120
As I said, this is going to be a
lot of fun. 

959
00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:24,280
It was a lot of fun. 
Awesome. 

960
00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:26,280
And for anyone watching on video
as well, it looks like it's 

961
00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:27,720
nearly morning where you are as 
well. 

962
00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:30,360
The sun's going to come up soon.
Yeah, yeah. 

963
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:33,760
What time is it 644? 
There we go it's lunchtime where

964
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:35,760
I am right now, so I'm heading 
I'm heading out for lunch with 

965
00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:37,720
the team. 
But yeah, as a thank you so much

966
00:42:37,720 --> 00:42:39,560
and for everyone listening at 
home, thanks so much for tuning 

967
00:42:39,560 --> 00:42:42,080
in again, hit subscribe, leave 
us a review and make sure you 

968
00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:43,920
come join the growth hub. 
The growth hub is absolutely 

969
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:45,440
incredible. 
The new platform is incredible 

970
00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:47,880
and it's great to be meeting so 
many of you guys, hearing your 

971
00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:49,120
problems and helping you out 
with stuff. 

972
00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:51,120
And most importantly, it's 
completely. 

973
00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:52,600
Free. 
So TuneIn again. 

974
00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:54,600
Next Friday, check out the Great
Growth Hub and thanks again for 

975
00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:55,240
joining us today.