Greetings Bangalore, India
This is our final day of the grand Nepal / India tour.. it's been
hard work, an emotional roller coaster, epic and I hope
successful.
How to measure success on a sourcing trip? Well, we have sourced and
ordered 463 new products, added six new approved suppliers,
ordered about 20 containers of goods, and probably (with your support)
created work for several thousand Indian artisans. The true measure of
success will be how happy we can make you and your customers, if
your customers love any of those 463 products then you can grow your
business, reorder again and again and everyone benefits.. the
circle of life continues. Last week I was telling you about the good
guys we do business with in India. If you missed it you can catch up
here.
It's been an emotional month, not least because it's my first trip
since before covid, and meeting with the families that run the
businesses many of which were impacted by covid, some lost members.
India was ravaged by covid more than anywhere and a few old friends
are lost to us.. but life goes on and hope remains. We spent a few
days in South Goa staying with good friends Alex and Maria and
their kids: Anthea and Mac. It's like a second home and a second
family, and they hosted me and Tomas and Bryant. Mr Chatterjee (our
India agent) was there - and as we took the short flight to Bangalore
he flew back to Kolkata.. we said an emotional farewell in the
departure hall at the airport.
Bangalore is many things, to us it is the incense capital of India.
But it is famous as an IT hub, home to many international businesses
and a fast growing city. It's a beautiful tropical city - I love
the ancient leafy trees that line the streets, the grand old
buildings, the friendly chatty people. Even though the traffic is
horrendous it feels calm and homely. Bangalore leafy streets.
We checked into the Raj West End, a heritage hotel with a long history. In Panipat on our first
days in India we stayed in the world's worst hotel.. (if you missed
that newsletter it's here), now we are at the other extreme.
I'm not sure why or how.. but we got upgraded all three of us from
the standard room to luxury suite rooms and even though the hotel is
stuffed full of celebrities and movers and shakers, the staff are
taking exceptional care of us. It seems to me that the management
style is to totally trust the staff and empower them to do whatever
they can to make the guests stay as good as possible. All the people
I talked to had worked at the hotel for ten years or more. Two guys
in the breakfast area had worked for 32 and 36 years.. and served
Prince (King) Charles amongst other VIPs in the past.. Today they
showed no more special attention or favour to the cricket team than
they did to us..
As well as enjoying the old-world delights of our hotel we have spent
two days with to new incense suppliers, visiting the factories and
working on new exciting and pretty unique ranges.
Tomas even tried his hand at rolling
hand made incense sticks. The incense ladies can hand roll ten thousand sticks a day, Tomas
managed one stick in ten minutes..
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Meanwhile in the UK as Easter approaches we just completed our
showroom open days, they tell me some customers made epic journeys
to visit us - thank you to everyone who came and thanks for the
feedback and ideas you brought with you. The new Bath bombs with gemstone chip bracelets are proving a huge success selling faster than we can make..
and compliment the gemstone bath bombs perfectly.
Other good news the fast selling Spell Candles back in stock.. grab them while you can .
Now our work in India is almost done - 463 new exciting products
on the way - at least for a few months. Bryant will return
to the UK on a midnight flight shortly, and Tomas and I will fly
back to Bali tomorrow.
Something exciting is happening in Bali.. full report next
week.
Take care. And of course, thank you for your support.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend.
David
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