Barrister and Mann

I'll be damned. I've been searching for that thing forever. What did you enter that brought it up?

Now the question becomes, "Do I really want to tell people they can only order one of something?"

Probably only for something that will have only x tubs/bottles produced for the year/ever. And only maybe for a day or two if it hasn't sold out - then open it up for people to buy as a many as they want.

If the plugin even allows that kind of flexibility.  And who knows, it may add more potential for glitches.

I wouldn't worry about the salty folks. Do you know if the McDaniels are getting heat for their release day issues?




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You'd have to ask Sam and Eric about that.

It's a tough call, no matter what. As the old saying goes, "You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot please all of the people all the time." That's the long version, of course.

The challenges of a running a business - Will, you ask if its proper for you to tell customers they can only buy 1 of an item - why not?  Its your business.  Now there have been responses that selling multiples is more profitable and its just business and you artisans are business people so whats the problem?  Well, I can't argue with that but there is a down side, there always is.  Lets say I buy all of your stock of a limited release.  I contact you first and say , I'll take it all and I'll cover the shipping.  I'll just slide by your warehouse or garage and pick it up.  Then, knowing the fierce demand, I post it on my own website at a substantial mark-up and I sell it all and reap a profit.  You the artisan made a fair profit based on the economics of your business.  I made a killing.  I expand my operation and agree with you to buy up all of your future limited releases, heck, I'll buy everything you make.  You save time and money by doing one sale to me for everything you have and I make a killing.  For a while, but then people, due to their fickle nature move on to some other soap.  So I tell you I'm no longer buying any of your products because theres no longer a market for it and then I move on and you're left to rebuild your business.  

Maybe Procter & Gamble comes along and buys Barrister & Mann - thats business.  Will gets rich because after all thats the only reason he's doing this soap gig right? Same cool products same limited releases same premium ingredients.  But more reliable because its from mega-conglom P&G.  Really?

Okay, if you're still reading, this distopian future I'm painting is only to try to highlight my view that there is a difference between Barrister & Mann and Procter & Gamble and that its ok for artisans and vendors in this space to make their own ground rules as to how their products are distributed and sold. Its not anti-free enterprise either because by ensuring that the greatest number of people, particularly your loyal customers, get access to your products you actually build goodwill and enhance your business which will translate into a successful profitable business.  More happy customers and fewer pissed off people who may or may not be customers.  I think from a business perspective the choice is clear.  How do you accomplish this?  Well, thats the rub isn't it.
Mark

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For the sake of clarity I want everyone to know that when I was making comments above regarding artisan's intentions etc. I was being facetious.  I do not want to upset any literalists out there

All this over a soap. Are people really that upset? If so, I feel sorry for them.

All evidence has been buried, all tapes have been erased.

Kept seeing Hallows in posts due to the release so I dug out my tub and shaved with it this morning. It is unique both in scent and performance. For some reason the lather is sooooo creamy- creamier than other B&M soaps that I have. Of course the scent is addictive and perfect for this time of year.
I hope everyone enjoys this years release and that it is as satisfying as last years.

Hey Bruce, I don't think people are that upset over having/not having a specific soap, I think its that people who tried to get it and fell victim to the system failures feel somehow they didn't get a fair shake. I think thats all it is. Everybody understands and accepts the trying and failing, its when they feel that they weren't given a fair chance that they get pissed.

There are no sad people in the traditional wet shave community, just varying degrees of joy!

Personally I would think using a limit or having a pre-purchase programme to get your soap in the hands of the most dedicated and enthusiastic customers is a business no-brainer.

Personally I would think using a limit or having a pre-purchase programme to get your soap in the hands of the most dedicated and enthusiastic customers is a business no-brainer.

Well, a pre-purchase program would be very difficult, mostly because it would probably end up in violation of federal law. Most artisans completely ignore this, but the Securities and Exchange Commission requires that, in the case of pre-sales and pre-orders, you can only authorize payment within seven days or less, and can only collect payment once you ship the product (for those wondering, video game companies get around this by shipping a different product: a voucher or code that entitles you to a copy of the game, which is much easier with digital goods and/or a major logistics database than it would be with soap). Since it would not be possible to put together the fragrance materials and such necessary within seven days without having everything expressed, which would cost a fortune, this still presents the same problem.

The limit presents its own problems, though I'm leaning pretty far toward imposing one in the future. Americans don't like being told what they can and cannot purchase (see the success of the illicit drug trade), and wet shavers are a more fanatical lot than most in this regard. That said, it would probably still be beneficial in the long run to impose a limit of one-per-order (I'd need an IP tracker to make it one-per-customer, which would be both expensive and a bad idea).

Quick update on the investigation: Someone seems to have written a programming script to order the soap and aftershave, and this may have caused the system to come down. It's possible that we basically got hit with a cyber attack. Yay.

Personally I would think using a limit or having a pre-purchase programme to get your soap in the hands of the most dedicated and enthusiastic customers is a business no-brainer.

Well, a pre-purchase program would be very difficult, mostly because it would probably end up in violation of federal law. Most artisans completely ignore this, but the Securities and Exchange Commission requires that, in the case of pre-sales and pre-orders, you can only authorize payment within seven days or less, and can only collect payment once you ship the product (for those wondering, video game companies get around this by shipping a different product: a voucher or code that entitles you to a copy of the game, which is much easier with digital goods and/or a major logistics database than it would be with soap). Since it would not be possible to put together the fragrance materials and such necessary within seven days without having everything expressed, which would cost a fortune, this still presents the same problem.

The limit presents its own problems, though I'm leaning pretty far toward imposing one in the future. Americans don't like being told what they can and cannot purchase (see the success of the illicit drug trade), and wet shavers are a more fanatical lot than most in this regard. That said, it would probably still be beneficial in the long run to impose a limit of one-per-order (I'd need an IP tracker to make it one-per-customer, which would be both expensive and a bad idea).

Quick update on the investigation: Someone seems to have written a programming script to order the soap and aftershave, and this may have caused the system to come down. It's possible that we basically got hit with a cyber attack. Yay.

Guess that means you hit the big time. Congrats!....I guess.

Lets stay away from anti competition stuff and look at it as a loyalty program which is very American and essentially rewards a businesses most loyal customers.  Duh, why would you want to reward people who never buy your products other than when an opportunity to flip them at a profit arises so they can then screw that businesses most loyal customers.  That just sounds like bad business all around.  

The computer script you mention is I think called a bot and they are used by people in the collectible Air Jordan shoe releases.  Its basically got to the point that regular collectors cannot buy the shoes on release from vendors like eastbay.com  If you really want the shoe you have to end up buying it from a reseller / scalper/ jerk for a markup.  Nike has struggled with it but there doesn't seem to be a quick fix.  Even without bots, when you release a sought after product at a specific time most systems aren't built to handle the sudden slam of internet traffic. I blame stuxnet  

I've said in previous posts that I like the Italian Barber approach to limited edition items but I just went to his site and I notice that he's dropped the description of the process he follows so maybe there is a competion problem there, however I don't think it should change anything.  How about making limited release items work in conjunction with your loyalty program?  B&M has a loyalty program where you get point when you make purchases that you can use as cash when you reach certain number of points.  Why not say limited release items require X number of loyalty points (plus cash obviously) to purchase?  I just went and did a quick tally of my stock of B&M products (I hope my wife doesn't see this) and I have 34 tubs of soap and 12 bottles of aftershave splash/kyovu/wonderbalm/beard oil.  I love B&M's products and I've been a loyal customer for a few years now.  Its a free country and I know that the loyalty and a buck might buy me a cup of coffee and doesn't entitle me to jump line to buy anything.  But don't you think that I'm the sort of customer that an artisan or a vendor might just want to reward in some small way?  I don't think its rocket science either, they were able to limit purchase of DFS soap/splash to members of DFS weren't they?  

This is the last time I'll say anything on this subject.  Unless, of course I absolutely can't stop myself but I promise to try really hard so we can just get on with talking about these wonderful soaps and razors and blades and aftershaves.  Like Bay Rum.  I just love that stuff.

I bought two. The second will be a special Christmas present for my brother, which he will really appreciate. I'm glad I could buy two, but would completely be okay with one-per-order in the future. As more people join the community, this type of problem will get worse for all small-scale producers. I would hate for all new releases to be like Walmart on Black Friday.


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