How To Get Better COGS By Actually Going To China – Lara Guevara's Sourcing Strategy transcript

Laura Gavara is back on the show. She is live on tape from Hong Kong. She was just in China. She lives in the Philippines. She was visiting [music] vendors. 28 vendors visited in one trip to China. Went to Canton Fair. Just did the whole thing. It's one of the things I talk about with Lara on the show so often, which is just her ease of ability to get in and around China because she lives in the Philippines. And so today we're talking supply chain with Lara.

You've heard me uh have Laura on the show before. She's the founder and the CEO of Move Supply Chain and just like my favorite person to talk to about supply chain. She's building my brand supply chain which we're going to give a little update on at some point here as well. We finally placed our first PO. A little fun thing there. Uh and uh and and talk also about negotiations on the ground in China and what she's able to do for for some folks there and what she's seeing as she does that.

Some really interesting stuff. Dispatches from the ground in China with vendors with Lara Gavara from Move Supply Chain. Let's get into it right now. Hi everyone. >> Hello Laurara. Great to see you as always. How's Hong Kong? >> Yes, it's cold, which is hard for me. >> Everything is cold for you. You're You live in the Philippines. >> Nobody will believe you that Hong Kong is cold, but yes, it's cold for me. >> Yeah.

Every time I talk to my Filipino friends about being like basically anywhere else, they're just like, "Oh, it's so it's cold." It's like, [laughter] "Yeah, I get it. I understand." Yeah. >> So, there was a big um Cosmop event last week in in Hong Kong. So, there are so many um to uh tourists as well maybe doing business and travel uh personal travel at the same time. >> Crazy. Um you were just in China and I want to talk about it.

Um you uh >> you were at Ktown Fair. You visited 28 vendors for different move supply chain clients. Um, and every time you come back from China, I always feel like you're telling me more things. You're seeing, learning, experiencing, um, all those kinds of things. What was the like standout for you for this this particular trip of what you sort of saw on the ground in China for for clients? Because you I mean, can you tell me how many clients that represents that you were sort of there on behalf of in in for move? >> We uh represented u 15 clients in Move. >> Okay, got it.

Yeah. What's the key difference is I brought in 10 members sourcing specialists in move and that I think is the biggest learning educational tour for everyone because we visited 28 vendors for 15 brands and it's like um doing body system you go here I go here when we arrived in China the team splits in three the two flew to the north and the other team flew to uh somewhere uh took a cab to somewhere south. So, it's it's something that I've been hoping to really do for the longest time is to bring my sourcing specialist in action in China because I am the only one.

It is my fourth time, but it keeps I keep learning and I say I said that I want to be able to share that learning um with the team members. So I flew in the team the team 10 10 of us. Um yeah and we represented 15 brands. >> Crazy. Um did uh did so so yeah what were the like the top Well actually I want to ask you when you go with Move do you tell the vendors there that you are part of move supply chain or do you tell them that you're like part of the brand like I mean do they you know what I mean like >> I'm sure they have some sense that you're not you know American or whatever but yeah. >> Yes.

So two part when we connect with them and work with them um remotely uh when we are in the Philippines we we introduce ourselves as the sourcing arm um of that brand. So everything is handled by our team and so they think of us as employees or independent contractors of those brands and then when we go to China because we don't want to explain so much behind laptop because it they might not under we might not understand each other at that point when we go and meet them that's how we explain that working a move is actually working with different brands and the reason why we mentioned that in the beginning of um seeing each other is for them to understand that we can bring in more business to them. >> That's a Yeah.

Right. That's an advantage to them. Sure. That you >> Yeah, that's actually really interesting. It sort of allows you to to leverage the collective uh like volume of MOVE's clients on behalf of Move's clients. I actually That's funny. I've never heard you say that before, but it makes a ton of sense. I was thinking at first like like it would be more advantageous, you know, for me as a client of move for example to go like I want you to say you're part of Resolute, you know.

Um but that way that way they don't think they're like, you know, I don't know, dealing with some random person, you know, but then but actually it's like Resolute is nothing. It's like it's like so small. It's like that it doesn't even sell anything yet. So it's like actually I don't want you to say that. What I want you to do is go get a better deal by by Yeah. leveraging the entire client collective, you know? And you know, you'll never feel even how small you are right now, you'll never feel that you are deprioritized or not important to Chinese vendors.

Even if you're starting um it is your first product or your 100th product, you will experience the same thing with a very good partner vendor because first of all when they get first business to a new brand, they get something from the government. So whether it's like 100 pieces order, as long as it's a first order from that brand, it's it's a good um point system for them and and they believe in in um longer term um working together.

So even if it's 50 pieces right now, they know it can go 500. They have that so many experience in the past that they started small and now it's doing very very well. >> Sure. So that yeah seems to me too there's just like a cultural thing there too where just my experience of I mean a lot of folks in East Asia but also just um what I hear everybody talk about with going to China is just that they just go out of their way to be really warm and and welcoming and treat you great and and all those kinds of things even aside from everything else.

Uh that's kind of every experience I've ever heard anybody talk about there. >> Yeah. They wanted to show you how they do their business. They wanted you to meet the owners. So, we're always meeting the owners of the of the manufacturing. They want you to meet their QC, their production so that when when there's an issue, you understand how it's happening. So, their warmth is also to explain to you this is our side and this is something that we we want to work together on.

So and and and that um that activity of understanding every parts of their production, every member, every human working behind each each um parts or activities in your production is someone that you can actually work in properly if you can only understand what they're doing. So I kind of appreciated that from the beginning from the first time going to China. But the team also was able to see how how [snorts] what are the things that they can still change, what are the things that they can still improve and that is just the start of working on something because when you understand their um system now it's the time that you can think of um a different kind of strategy and solution to the problems because before when you don't see what's happening in the background of the production you I We have supply chain experts has have so many theories have so many steps and I can I can when I hear a problem why don't you do this 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 and when you know them you can already filter do this because they their production is like that and do that because their QC is like that.

So, it's more um specific and and I think it's it's lesser lesser time in terms of um solving any challenges. >> Yeah, I love hearing that. And uh and I think you're right. Like I definitely have this sense of of uh sort of opining about why um why and how um you know something might be going a certain way with a supply chain or whatever. But realistically, I've I've never been in China. I've never seen it. And so just sort of getting to know people's businesses and how they work better makes a ton of sense to me that that it would really make a big advantage.

Did any particular things come out of this trip for your clients? Was there a a theme of negotiation or a theme of of doing things better or differently that sort of like happened repeatedly? >> Yeah. So first of all I I wanted to share a very funny story because it's not just us trying to get from them but them also trying to understand us when we when we enter this um boardroom with the owners and the high ups um leadership team of the of the manufacturing.

They mentioned uh that is this the company that made us produce something 14 days instead of 45 days and we were like we didn't I I I personally didn't know that but um my my partner my supply chain manager of course know that and it was like two rushed order that they did for 14 days instead of 45 days because it was a huge order from a wholesale. So we we also explained why like this is the situation. This is a very good opportunity for that client to give that order because this is a huge chain hotel chain.

And so if we cannot produce, if we cannot provide then we will miss out the opportunity. And so they understood and they said what what hotel and then we explained um what chain and then they will they were so they started standing up. They they they went to the display room and started giving me products that are good for hotel um >> cleaning products that are good for hotel. So they started lining up this is good for hotel.

This is and and and that that simple explanation gave us so many new product developments for our clients and at the same time we got the support right away. They wanted their products to be in those hotels as well in Europe. And so that's something that in just one few sentences that I explained um in the beginning, they're just who is this client that keeps order rush ordering? And so when we explain it's it's a totally different um discussion already.

So that's a that's a very good um >> Yeah, that's so interesting. I mean, it's it's such the argument for showing up in person. like it's it's exactly there because because I'm sure somebody on a call or in an email >> said something about hey we got a really exciting or you know but it just isn't the same as like showing up and talking to people and it goes from somebody being like frustrated with you or something like that to or you know making fun of you or whatever to like oh we can help with that because it's a really big opportunity for you and for us for everything else and it just yeah such such the power of being in person >> it's clarifying any misunderstanding in any vague gray areas when you meet them.

So as an example, I keep mentioning let's say the name of the client is John. John did this, John did that, John sold this product to and the owner was like scary. Who is John? Who is John? He doesn't know. I was so proud mentioning John for being the owner of that brand and then the other the Chinese owner was like who is John? He doesn't know. But when we explain that this John is doing this and that and this and that his expertise is this and then oh John so okay we will support John. >> Yeah.

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So when in that moment of course our client will give all the stocks to them and so um our our uh online store will have um out of stock or less stock for for other products. And so that's why we keep pushing. We tried to um explain um online. Of course they still did it but you know with a heavy heart I'm producing faster for you. But when they realized what is that for it changed the game and that same um negotiation is one of our biggest negotiation that happened in China because as you know when wholesale starts ordering from an e-commerce brand there's net and an e-commerce brand always pay their vendors upfront like even before it ships out.

So our our biggest agenda in that visit is actually the payment terms because if um if without payment terms, our client needs to um still do a little bit of financing maybe and or lower down the um orders just to make sure that we are we are okay in cash flow. And so we explained that to everyone like and the owner said, you know, I personally um I'm not I don't like debt. That's what he he said. Um I wanted to pay everything in advance and it's a very huge company.

It's a very huge manufacturing Andrew. It's like >> the the owner of the manufacturer was saying this saying. >> Yes. So the the manufacturing owner, he didn't want to give payment terms to the brand. You're saying no. No, he's explaining that's the reason why that's his payment terms is because um personally he doesn't want to have um that and that's what he he's doing with all his vendors. So for example, he mentioned the biggest fragrance vendors in France that also is his vendor and said I pay I pay them I pay them um upfront and so when I pay them up front I'm expecting that I would be paid up front.

So um but luckily it's a mindset that the owner has but in terms of money they can support like they have that deep pocket to support smaller brands when they they know the difference and the and the reason why we're requesting. So we explain this is the reason >> your payment terms is actually the gate for us to support this um um wholesale hotel chains. And so without um without anyone supporting our our e-commerce business then we will not have any chance of um showing these products to to the world and then they somehow understood that and they don't do that to any of their brands but they did um a special negotiation with us.

So what's happening is instead of so from 3070 it became 50/50 which is 50% deposit 50% um upon arrival in the port. So it gives you like 30 45 days at least to wait for the 50%. That's the current and what we're trying to negotiate is to have a net 30 for that balance. And so that's that's definitely we can we can do um a deposit but for the balance at least let us sell it for 30 days and then >> um pay you after >> and you were able to get that ultimately. >> Yes.

Yes. >> Yeah. They only required like because they required us um to give a forecast including that wholesale and um there also some paperworks and contracts that we have to work with them because this is a special arrangement. >> It's so interesting. I mean I think of for a very small e-commerce brand you know 3070 that kind of deal doesn't sound super crazy to me. like I'm expecting my payment terms at Resolute to be terrible to start, for example.

Um, but what point do you see most brands get outside of those payment terms? Like how much volume do they have to do? Because because I I I also think of it as being like definitely not the long term for brands. >> So two two factors. One is the length of working together despite the amount and >> essentially credit just just showing that you're good for it, right? >> Yes, that's right. So the one year in terms of length, one year is a good timeline for them to trust you with a better payment terms. >> Um and then um the second factor which is the value of the POS when you're ordering probably 100K USD per order then that's also a good maybe after 3 months of working together you can already ask for a good a better payment terms. >> Yeah.

Um I don't see this issue happening to new brands because new brands means less orders in the beginning but as you grow like initially like when you when you start I I keep seeing this with brands that keeps growing in terms of um maybe on their first second year selling their products. So that's where the payment terms um negotiation really comes in. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Was uh payment terms something that came up in other negotiations for clients in in China in this most recent trip or was that that one client specifically? >> Well, we have a like a starter pack negotiation um discussion where it's it's always part of it.

So, payment terms um production schedule definitely is already set at that point. Um but if there are issues in minimum order, we'll also discuss that. And also um um lead time because it's it's the same thing that we keep on mentioning. If you have raw materials in place um you will cut the lead time in half. So what we're negotiating is for our clients, can you stock raw materials in advance if we provide you a rolling 3 to 6 months forecast?

So those were the initial negotiations that we always discuss with our vendor whoever whenever we need them >> and they're generally pretty open to that kind of thing. >> So it depends on um different types of products. I would say our success rate for raw materials um safekeeping is around 50%. Um and we are successful for products that has a common product like for example um not having like a a specialized fragrance that is only being used for your brand.

Um and then packaging is always a success in terms of that negotiation because it's common products anyway. So it's a common raw materials anyway. So they as long as you um negotiate that I want to keep like this amount of um raw materials for packaging then then it's done deal and others are um anything that doesn't that are not specialized. So for example wood can be kept aluminum raw materials can be kept. Um so that's that's that's that 50% and then the other um negotiation payment terms.

We negotiate different types of payment terms depending on how long we've been working with the vendor. So we set what we want to negotiate. We don't want to um we don't want to ask for something that we know we cannot get because we are just working with them for a month. So um it's a matter of asking what we think can be given by the vendor. So payment terms it's quite um 75% success rate because we as I've said we try to ask what is possible at that time >> and then for the biggest one is is is this production um production schedule because if the company if the vendor that we're working with is handling old orders from Target or or Amazon or something like that we are not a huge brand for that.

So what we are trying to do this is to keep a certain lead time that will not be pushed up push pushed down whenever there's an alternative um orders that they have. So >> in that case um the lead time the the production schedule um is very very important that we we really set that because when they say 30 days and then someone from Amazon came in and and and they ordered first they might ordered so much that our our schedule will be um pushed back.

So what we're doing there is we try to understand what kinds of machines can you use for us because we're smaller. Um if if this is the case that you're running a huge order from this, what alternative can you do for smaller batches? Like in some point we found out that one of our brands products can be produced in a sample room because their sample room their sample lab is so huge that can produce 10 kilos of this. So it's it's it's something like oh we can use this we can do 10 kg batch and then we can produce that and then ship that via air while waiting for this.

And so th those are the things. Oh, really? Can we can we do that small? And so it's like really understanding their process and and finding the solutions to >> Yeah, that speaks that speaks so much to the thing you were saying, which is the notion that you can think you have a solution on hand, but by being there in the facility, you go look at the sample room and you see like, oh, the sample room is actually huge and and you actually can go like come up with a solution that really does make sense because you you sort of understood how they worked. also feels like it speaks to the issue of just time knowing people like I'm sure at this point with all these trips you've gone back and visited the same manufacturers multiple times and people that you kind of know a little bit more now and some of that stuff.

Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um we visited um Resolut Vendor for the second time um this time around and for the first time it's more of like building relationship knowing um knowing the vendor who are their clients and then discussing this pricing how to how to um create the sample because we have we've um we've we've requested for um for samples and so this time around the second time around the goal is different. The goal is to understand the production better.

Uh where is this produced? How are you keeping our raw materials? How are you ensuring quality is um quality is checked in different parts of production in different steps of production. We also discussed um with the vendor um how do we um pack what is the better quality packing that they can do that is not um that is not going to um contribute to the weight and cost of of the products and then we introduce them to our partners in freight forwarding so that they can have many options who to reach out to in terms of sending that to the US.

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Um and I will always tell them the same thing which is like it's not really yet. It's very much been a side project for both me and >> um and my co-founder who who has like a full-time working man's job uh working in a sort of very different world but has has a big e-commerce background with me. At some point I'll bring him on here. talk about it. But um but he um anyway, we finally placed our first PO and I'm I'm super excited about uh just sort of beginning to get um packaging.

The funny thing is like you know so much of the the PO placement is around packaging whereas like the product itself uh we we took a long sampling process on as well and are about to place our first PO there as well. But the packaging thing is sort of a bigger deal in some respects because it's this custom wood and aluminum combo that's like this really slick packaging. the brand is selling uh fragrances for men, solid fragrances, so it's not a spray bottle.

It's like it's like a little gel basically. Um and so yeah, I anything else come out of your of your gathering or your meeting with uh with Resolute? Let's do a little client call here. Laura, Laura, tell me tell me what's happening with my brand and what I should know from from that trip. We really haven't talked about it very much yet. >> Yeah. Yeah. So pre-China trip I've been um discussing this internally with the people who handling your brand and I say that we should be able to um place the PO so that we can um we can see and we can visit we can uh watch watch um their preparation when we're in China and also because this this um packaging is the longest lead time for all your components.

So >> yeah, >> I I I hear the discussion about boxes, the design of the boxes, but the boxes are very easy to produce. And so this wood and aluminum is like our priority for placement of PO so that we can monitor properly and so um they've been very patient because again this is not your uh priority to launch. Um we've they have been um very supportive in terms of um waiting for us in in in the go getting the go signal for the production and they're super happy that this is finally um happening and one of the reason is because this is one of of the they said most beautiful products that they've created and so all right let's go. >> Yeah.

Yeah. They are very good in producing um woods and aluminum but the design in design-wise they haven't um seen anything like this. This is something that they've considered >> um like a not so hard to produce but very very pretty. So they have been waiting for yeah they have been waiting for this to to to be produced and ordered. So that's something that came out in the discussion and of course we ensure that um raw materials will be um prioritized.

So I that's that's something that we are are considering and even in rewarding I said we're future uh forward in terms of thinking about our clients success. So this is happening right now but we should be ready what's going to happen. We we don't want to just discuss the present. We want to discuss the future like if something happens that we need extra amount quantity of this what's your steps. So it's more of a risk um discussion and then what happens if this quality uh we we detailed we we discuss in detailed the critical points of quality in in that product.

We brought in a quality assurance expert with us in that in um in that trip so that we can identify which of the products are complicated in terms of producing because in our eye in my in my um supply chain eye I would say I cannot see which parts of those wood and aluminum could have issue on production in CNC machining. And so until my my quality my QA said that this part is risky, I wouldn't know because it sounds it looks okay to me.

Like I didn't know it's a that um um a little bit of curve is going to have a critical issue when not checked. And so they we went >> I've got it pulled up at least a little so if you're watching on YouTube I can at least show you some images here. There's like the side of the box. So there's the wood and the aluminum. And that's going to be like the the main thing that um you you bring the sort of um cologne in. And then let's see.

Uh I got one more here as well. There you go. And there it is open. This is this is probably slightly different than the final version, but you get the idea. Um so, uh so that's where obviously it'll be refillable. So you take the the tin out and re replace it. So when you you order at first you'll get this full packaging and then you get these refill packs from there. So which part you're saying was the confusing part for them or the or the ch not confusing but the challenging part? of the curved sides of the aluminum um is critical.

So >> and and also the placement of the magnet is is critical as well. So you know when we went there first our negotiation and discussion isQ lead time pricing um payment terms and because we are gearing up for PO and now this second visit we're always ahead of the discussion um now the discussion is risk management quality check what do you do when we do uh when we place a rush order what's the stepby-step process it's more it's definitely discussing the uh the the we we are trying to avoid potential issues in the future and so we're discussing it ahead of time. >> Man, I'm I'm just all I'm thinking about is how you said that the manufacturer thinks it's the most beautiful product they make.

That's awesome. I can't wait to tell the graphic the or not graphic designer, the designer who did the packaging design uh how much they liked it. That's really cool to hear. He's going to be excited about that. Shout out Robbie Aronson, Aronson Design. I'll uh I actually will link Robbie's website. Robbie is a longtime design friend of mine. He does full brand design um and and the whole the whole deal. But uh Aronson creative that's what his design is called. >> Their specific comment is that >> they didn't realize that they can produce such pretty design in in a simpler way.

They they always think a complicated design can produce pretty designs. And in in in the in their showroom, you can always see a very simple design because that's what they're trying to do. not to not not to get so complicated in terms of production, but in this design, what they felt is like, oh, we can come up with great designs, but doable in terms of production. So, yeah, shout out to Robbie. >> Yeah. Aaronson creative.com.

Uh, and and I will put the link in the show notes, too, um, because he's he's awesome. And I remember Laura, when you first held it, >> you said to me and to Greg, you were like my my my partner, you you were like, "This is going to work. This this is going to work. This is so cool." like it's you know and I was like man it's encouraging because I'm not always so sure I still wonder everybody's going to want to buy it.

Um I I was joking with Patrick Kadoo my COO the other day who's not involved in in Resolute in the same way like he said like I got a way better brand idea for you than uh than Resolute. I said well like anything's a better idea than selling smells online Patrick. So this is a very low bar to clear. So we'll see. We'll see how it goes. Um okay. Uh I want to we only got a few minutes left. Uh well we got about 10 minutes left.

Um uh is there uh anything else um from from this trip or or from anything else that sort of is standing out to you right now in the world supply chain? I'm sure there's still lots talk about tariffs and >> and all that um and that obviously creates a huge problem, but just what else came out of this trip for you? I know there's some partnerships that came out of it you said and more on the ground support and the ongoing um yeah just just curious.

Yeah, before I go to Canton Fair and our partnership, I just wanted to mention last for for the vendor visit um that it has been a year since I last went there. I went there last October as well. >> It changed so much like in terms of technology um in terms of how the their manufacturing looked a year ago, it's like 10 years apart. It's like what happened? Now they have um uh better technology, better process in every in every um vendors that we've met before.

So that's that's that's really proving I told the team it's I'm so amazed how China is really doing it in terms of improving every single time like and and they're not stopping despite the situation in in tariff which um leads me to sharing that there's less less people in Candon fair um this um this time around uh so I've been this is my third Gandon there every year I'm attending. And so this is um they kind of um changed a little bit of their rules the rules and regulations not just for visitors but also for the vendors presenting or or attending the Candon fair.

So it's um it's still a very good opportunity for you to check in new products. So it it it's it's it's not just to find a vendor and and get order from them in canton fair you'll see the future products and um despite what's happening and in in tarif I I believe that it's a very good opportunity for you to understand what's the future of your brand or what brands can you can you develop still um because they are showcasing and displaying the future products of China And um that's something that is always always helpful for us in NPD in new product development because we are acting as their new product development as well.

So if the client doesn't have idea how to move forward with their NPDs, we're the one supporting and um recommending their product. So that's how it works um in in Canton Fair. And at the same time seeing products and raw materials in in person is also very helpful. If if you if you're thinking oak what kind of wood um you know when we are discussing this Andrew if you remember we took a lot of back and forth what kind of wood we wanted but if >> but if you already have that wood in in in front of you and deciding which one you will use it's going to be faster.

So it's also um try the opportunity to see the products um and the quality of the products in person. >> The thing that really stands out to me as you're talking throughout this conversation, as I'm just listening to you, is just how much value there is to be had in these relationships by being there in person. It's it's everything you were talking about comes back to the details of like here you can see the technology and look at how much better it's gotten in just a year.

You know, that's crazy to hear. Like you just don't expect that to happen that much. Here's you know, you can go see new products. You can go see the different woods in front of you. go learn about sample rooms and you can go see get more meetings with the people running these big crazy companies and uh you know and just all of these things create these little pathways of of value creation. It's it's like it's just institutional knowledge basically that gets built up um between you of course as like the as the supply chain agency but then also for each brand you're working with to come and know a little bit more about kind of how these relationships work um and and what's actually happening at the level of factory. just it feels to me like a really big argument in favor of this thing I keep hearing smart supply chain people say which is like get to your factories spend time with people get to know them understand how their business works it will really make things a lot better and and that also helps me have a have a longer term sense of the value creation which is like instead of seeing them as somebody where it's like hey figure out how to get them to do it for cheaper figure out you know almost like a almost like an enemy you know instead it becomes more like you're going to try and build a relationship in the long term with somebody, the better you can understand their business, the better you can understand the people.

Like your story about that, you know, owner of that business who just doesn't like giving payment terms. It's not what he gets from anybody else. He just doesn't like doing it. Okay. Well, that's like a really interesting little detail about somebody that maybe you can overcome, maybe you can't, but like >> you know, uh you only get that kind of knowledge by being there in in in person. And so if you have a long-term vision of your business and its success, >> uh then then theoretically you can have a long-term business of all your partners that you're working with as well and say like we're going to try and figure out how to work this out together, understand each other's businesses, understand how everybody makes money here and how everybody succeeds and we're going to keep doing that.

You know, that's >> that's what I I really hear a lot from this conversation. >> Yes. And lastly, the biggest part for move is partnering now with the different um um areas in supply chain. We part we had a discussion in partnership with a fulfillment with uh freight forwarder and with a quality control. So um all of those three are very very important because now move has um Chinese um partners on ground who will be representing Move who will be traveling faster visiting vendors for quality check faster than we can do it and and definitely the partnership in terms of um lower cost in freight forwarding for example as long as you are represented by move you get a lower cost for for the freight forwarding service And the 3PL and warehousing is kind of um a key negotiation that we've done because um this company has been supporting a lot of brands already.

They came from a drop shipping um they came from a drop shipping line. That's why they are so um resilient in chaos of of fulfillment because that's the hardest fulfillment ever. And >> so hard. Yeah. And now that they have transitioned to DTC and e-commerce brands, they are oh this is easier. This is this is better in terms of of fulfillment. And so that's those are the the um exciting start of partnership with Move and those companies and I can't wait to share all those to our existing clients and um to even to potential clients.

Um Andrew when we have a discovery call and they're quite not ready to start yet and they will ask how much should we pay you if we want to get recommendations for freight forwarder. I said no here are the recommendations o of freight forwarder >> and I've had a lot of those um um um successful connections and networking. And I think in general that's something that I can give back to e-commerce is you don't have to pay for this.

This is free. go ahead and contact them. If you're not using us to contact them, then then it's then it's free. >> Yeah. And so are did you publish that somewhere? You say you post that somewhere or you just call you and ask? >> Okay. We had a discovery call and then um >> Oh. Oh. Oh. >> Yeah. They're they they're starting to start. They're looking to start at Q1. Um but yeah in the future maybe one month from now you will see our directory of partners in our website.

We're not keeping this um important information. We also have vendors to share a directory of vendors to share that if you don't have money yet to to to pay us for for that and you want to do your sourcing yourselves you can go to that directory. So, partnership directory is what we're going to do in in >> in the before we are launching on Q1. >> Insane. You guys are doing something nobody else is doing. I've been bullish on Move Supply Chain for a long time.

And the way you know that that's not just me saying that is that you literally built my supply chain. So, uh so I'm I'm a customer. If lest anybody thinks that because you guys advertise on my show, I got all this for free or something. I did not. Uh I'm paying you to do it and uh and I'm couldn't be more grateful. So, um, Laura, thanks so much. Moveuplychain.com is the place to go reach out to Laura and to her team.

You can also follow Laura on X. I'm going to put the link for that in the show notes. She's always, um, dropping all kinds of information about what she's seeing and learning there. I've really enjoyed actually at times when you've sort of like sent along photos from trips you've taken to different different places and just sort of like did little on the ground, here's what it's like uh, in this kind of place kind of stuff.

That's been cool. So, we could we can travel with you to China and Vietnam or wherever else. Um the um the who should reach out to you, Laura? Like who's the who's the ideal person to reach out to move supply chain? >> Yeah, definitely any pre-revenue to doing up to 10 million um DTC brands. We support end-to-end supply chain in logistics, warehousing, fulfillment, um inventory planning, sourcing and new product development.

So what we do what we do in the discovery call is like a deep dive of your supply chain so we can identify which supply chain areas you need support on. So that's the important call. So um again uh Andrew is going to share the link to that calendarly. We also have Andrew a Slack group channel that is free where people can ask us anything and our experts will reply. So, we'll also share that supply chain lounge um link to you so that they can join and get a free yes, they can get a free um answers to their supply chain questions, >> man.

Go do that. All the links for all those things are in the show notes. Follow up there. Um and uh Laura, thanks so much for your time as always. So glad to be talking to you. It's always a pleasure. >> Uh we'll we'll have you on next time. should be like when we have like all of the Resolute stuff in one place like when we have the product, all the different packaging, the refill boxes, the sample box, like all everything.

We'll just lay it all out. You could talk through all of it and what we're doing to >> where it's at now and how it's going to get better. So, >> all right. >> All right. Thanks so much, Laura. >> Thank you, Andrew. Every time I talk to Laura Gavvar, I feel like I am learning something new about some part of of my business and of other businesses around in the e-commerce space. She's just a killer. Hope you enjoyed that episode as much as I did.

[music] Do go check out Move Supply Chain, go to moveupplychain.com, get on a call with Laura or her team, see if they can help you out as well. If you want to work with AJF Growth in the new year, you should do that by or you should you should reach out to me by either emailing me podcastfgrowth.com. It' be fine. or even better, fill out the intake form on my website, ajfgrowth.com, to uh to tell me a little bit about your brand and what your kind of problems you're looking to solve.

See if we can be a fit for you. And if we can't, maybe there's somebody I know who can be a fit for you and who can help you. Um, big thanks to Intelligence and Rich Panel for sponsoring this episode. And uh, big fan of both of those products. Go check those out. Links for everything is in the show notes. Subscribe. What else am I What else am I supposed to tell you to do? Subscribe, comment, just just hammer this episode with engagement so that my podcast takes over the internet.

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