I talked last week about the importance of MAP (minimum advertising policy) agreements. The truth is that they are very important; we at Cobblestone Trade really do not want to work with any companies that do not have (and enforce) MAP. On the flip side, like most areas of business, MAP is a legal issue […]
Author Archives: Greg Howlett
If you are a brand owner and are facing the scenario where your products are being discounted online, you probably have a serious problem. Think about market share like a pie. Distributors and retailers all take a slice of the pie; some slices are bigger than others, and we all know that is how it […]
I love business and at heart, I am a bootstrapping entrepreneur. If you are not familiar with the term, a bootstrapper is one that builds lean, while watching expenses carefully and avoiding debt and other leverage. Even now, I think so lean that I wear a lot of hats that might surprise many people. For […]
Last week, I started talking about the cash flow problems caused by inventory in growing businesses. I mentioned that I would return to the subject today and talk about inventory ROI (return on investment). If you invest in assets in your business, ROI should be one of the main factors you consider. Let’s look at […]
Cash is the oxygen of a business and is absolutely necessary for growth because cash-starved businesses will always have to make the tradeoff of short term solvency for long term growth. If you manage a business, you need to focus on cash just as much (and possibly more) than you focus on profit. I can […]
There is no “right” way to lay out a warehouse and workflow for ecommerce fulfillment. There are many options available that all vary in levels of efficiency. Your job is to find the most efficient use of your space, understanding that the space itself (and other factors) may limit your efficiency. To give you a […]
Over the past week, we have added quite a bit of content to the website covering topics related to protecting your brand. Rather than repeating it all here, let me just point you toward the content: https://cobblestonetrade.com/brand-protection/ Topics covered include MAP/discounting, counterfeiting, product diversion, copyright and trademark violations, and distributor misconduct. Hope you find this […]
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If you are in retail, especially online retail, it can be tempting to put all your eggs in the Amazon basket. Thousands of companies do just that and for some of them, it works pretty well. After all, Amazon brings a lot to the table: The largest retail reach in the United States and many […]
When you first start doing fulfillment and are doing maybe ten shipments a day, almost anything will work. You can use rudimentary tools provided by the postal service or UPS to buy and print postage. You can probably just stack your inventory in the corner and root through it to find what you need. You […]
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If you have a good product and can sell it online, one of the first decisions you have to make is regarding whether you are going to outsource fulfillment. I want to talk about that decision today and give you some thoughts from my years in that industry. Like any other similar business decision, it […]