Friday, April 18, 2008

Too much yellow?

Yeah, ever since the redesign, I'm thinking no more yellow. Looking for a nice grass green one to go with the banner (which is also my trade show mock up - sorta like green grass when it's very young in the spring).
On to the current state of mind around here - still in the salesrep/distribution loop. For so many reasons. But here's the big one, and I really do want input this time:
1. Sales reps, while they don't stock your product, still continue a personal relationship with individual stores on your behalf and technically work as Smicko'z while they are representing. because you continue carrying all your own inventory, you retain certain amounts of control over the supply chain (which is also an argument against, I know)
2. Distribution. Clean, simple, cold? Drop ship x number to dist warehouse. Dist represents 10 lines, and presents you equally as one of them. They ship to and from retailers, so there's no personal relationship between you and retail outlets. They also maintain the relationship, so you can't step in anywhere as the manufacturer if you believe it's not represented well somehwere.. You have to sit back because of the agreement signed BUT:
-paperwork nightmare GONE
-spreadsheeds provided
-very tidy in/out box
-less mess to hand to the accountant at year end
-distributor on the line for deadlines - accountability to distribution group, not single retailers

So - if you're me, at a key stepping point, who looks better? What would you do and why?
ina.ornstein@smickoz.com or leave it in the comments section.

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