I and some colleagues from newsXpress are back from another buying trip to Bali. Thanks to a new local agent relationship we have sources an even better range oif suppliers to visit with and consider.
This trip was unlike any other in that we got to meet with local makers and manufacturers who supply specialty retail businesses in the US and Europe. We were able to benefit from the work put in by these other retailers in honing in on quality makers.
By switching to a better established and full time local agent we have significantly expanded the range of products we can consider, thereby enabling an expansion of our local Aussie businesses.
In organising this buying trip, newsXpress does not commercially insert itself into the supply relationship. Rather, I encourage the participating retailers to buy direct from makers using the local agent. This maximises the margin for retailers as well as providing more control to them as to shipping timing.
It is interesting seeing Aussie realise that what is available in Bali in terms of range and product quality is nothing like they expected. We didn’t look at all at cheap shit you may find in a discount variety store. Rather, our focus was on high end ceramics, homewares and gifts you’d find in David Jones and similar, but without the price tag of such shops.
As we traveled to different suppliers we found the makers of some products we see in Australia from name brand furniture and homewares businesses. These name brand designers use Bali production for their products. The quality is excellent with a good attention to detail.
We also got to meet with makers who supply some local Aussie wholesalers to newsagents and similar businesses. It was fun calculating the wholesaler margin on some items.
Trips like this are also useful to take us outside of what is traditionally considered for our businesses, even those newsagencies that have transformed away from what has been traditional. We get to challenge ourselves as to what we could do rather than staying stuck in a world of what customers expect us to do.