I’ve been a big fan of Swazi outdoor gear for quite a while. NZ hunters have known about it’s quality and strength for years. So when Karen suggested a new Swazi jacket for my birthday to brave the winter on the farm I couldn’t disagree. Now we always try an online option first when shopping for almost anything. Off to www.swazi.co.nz to order my jacket…but it turns out they don’t sell to NZ customers through the site - only overseas shoppers. It’s a beautiful web site with all the bits you expect from a professional ecommerce store. The only problem was the fine print saying no to NZ customers (although the site was quite happy to take Karen’s credit card details).

Other than thinking this a little odd I didn’t believe it would pose too much of a challenge - the site suggested a number of retailers they sell through in NZ. Trouble is, most of them are rural supply stores and the like, and none of them sell online (although a few do have web sites).

So I called the sales contact I had at Swazi to see if we could sort this out - it shouldn’t be this hard to buy online. I was told it was company policy that they support their retail channel by not selling direct in NZ. I have no problem with this and I’m sure the policy has earned them great loyalty with their retailers, but this didn’t help me. He helpfully suggested I try one of their retailers’ web sites. After I pointed out that none of them actually sell online he agreed this might be a slight kink in his plan. So I asked again, how do I buy online in NZ? I got the telephone equivalent of a blank stare.

He promised to talk to people within the company as he “was not a manager” so I don’t know if anything will happen there.

Maybe Swazi believes that all their customers want to buy from their local PGG Wrightsons, or whatever their local farm supply store is. If they have any aspirations to be a household name like Swandri or Icebreaker, they need to sort their stuff out.

“We don’t sell direct because…” is not something a customer wants to hear. You know what, there will probably be some Swazi retailers out there that feel short changed by this too. Let me explain. We used to own a rural focused business so I know what it’s like to have good (and bad) support from your suppliers. In fact we competed with the farm supply stores in some categories so we know a little about Swazi’s target market.

Most of our suppliers were pretty average - you’d see a rep once or twice a year and the rest was up to us. One notable exception stood out. One of our feed suppliers didn’t “officially” sell direct but for efficient logistics they would deliver bulk feed directly to our customers, often arranged by the rep without our being involved. In return we would get a cheque from the supplier equivalent to about 70% of the margin we would have got on the deal if we had handled it ourselves. We were more than happy with this as the cost of sale was zero and we were effectively getting money for jam. Our realtionship with the customer was enhanced, rather than threatened, by having our supplier involved.

There are two strategies I would humbly suggest Swazi look at to improve the situation:

1 - Allow NZ-based sales online, but simply allocate some of the margin from each sale to the customer’s nearest retailer (or share if there are more than one in a location). In return for a “sale” for no work and no stock on hand required, you can pay the retailer a fair proportion of the margin. You in turn can retain a little of the margin (to cover fulfillment) and the retailer gets some bonus business they never knew was coming. You win, the retailers win and us customers win too. Heck, the retailers might even push customers towards your web site if they know they will be fairly rewarded.

2 - Work with your retailers to help them sell your products through their own web channels. The smart ones will be quick to market and be able to sell to the whole country if they want.

You’ve got great products, an inspiring story and you already have the infrastructure to fulfill orders anywhere in the world - don’t leave out us Kiwis. Likewise, the web can be your best sales tool and it doesn’t have to be at odds with your retailers.

In the meantime I’m heading off to my local Wrightsons to order my new Swazi Windriver jacket. I may be ticked-off with you guys but I’m not stupid - it’s still the best outdoor gear around.