I think the answers been staring me in the face..

Now the problem is this............

I sell to retailers...

OOO scary I hear you cry.. well yes actually, its a problem thats frustrating me somewhat.. maybe I should define it some more..

I sell to classic retailers...

You know the type... the family with the shop... think Dad's army.. but well, not Corporal Jones... definitely not corporal Jones.. more Joe Walker, thats a little less insulting I think..

Imagine Dad's army meets the modern world, small shops built with tender loving care with proper service, no all encompassing sheds... no faceless organisation, no pile it high, sell it cheap mentality..

But wait...

At least I thought I did, thats who I was aiming at when I set out... but it seems this recession, this market even, has rid the world of little shops willing to sell proper sausages..

Where did they go?..


I mean... they can't have moved.. there has to be a reason for this mentality.. or is this this just the Tesco legacy?

I used to think they had hopped on the A19 down to Leeds, that the North East was an enigma.. but its becoming increasingly apparent, if you want middle market goods, Kings Cross is about where you will have to go to find a specialist..

So where did the middle market go? I mean why are there such extremes between cheap and expensive? People have argued that there just isn't a middle market in the UK anymore, but hang on..

If a VW Golf is the best selling car in the UK, there is a middle market!!


So why isn't there one in bathrooms? I'm sorry Mr Retailer, but things don't add up.. its time someone sorted this little issue out..


So what do I do... do I battle on through, persuading the whole of the UK industry.. one by one that there is such a magical middle market, or do I box clever and change the game..

Be different..

Well this is me, Will Ryles.. the man who has always done things the hard way.. so yes.. its time to change the game.. bathroom market, you can take your billions, hard fought lessons and rigid ways.. be gone.. I'm changing the rules..

If there is one thing thats been slowly punching me in the face over the past few months, its that..

The internet is the future...


But in no way does our current strategy address the internet.. so what do I do..others have tackled the internet.. and it seems there is one over whelming strategy to beat them all.. the shed..

Should I follow the crowd.. pile it high and sell it cheap online? In one word.. NO..

Aren't there already too many people doing that, hogging keywords and funding expensive adwords campaigns? Information is so easy to access online these days, surely there can only ever be one winner.. so why compete.. join them if you can.. they could bring a whole world of exposure to my products..

So what do I do?


Well it all started with a man called Chris Baxter.. we were sat in my office, not having coffee, but discussing the low caliber of HR managers out there.. quite a serious chat.. and he said one thing.. one brilliant thing that changed the game...

"Will, if everyone else has tried and failed, why are you ploughing the same furrow.. "

Now when I was 18 I had this idea.. what if a manufacturer built a website that sold its goods, but then gave part of the cash to the store that stocks its products locally.. brilliant right.. unless your business link.. who wanted me to cut out the stores that the customer had seen the products in!

Anyhow thanks to a little thing called two way trading our bank blew that one out of the water!

But that willingness to think outside the box was good...

So I actually have a reason to be 18 again!


So, imagine it.. I'm 18, young handsome, full head of hair, and possibly the sexiest thing to walk the planet.. what would I do if I wanted to build a brand online.. the complete opposite to everyone else!

Thus far I know my ideal of independent stores with free design facilities, credit options, good customer service and display opportunities is the way forward.. but how do you combine them with an internet that thus far sells just products..

Simple

By becoming the independents marketing arm, they shift from being in a position of power, to one of partnership.. so all we really need to do is inspire people, get their details and let everyone else do the rest..

Local stores make local sales, all via a massive online presence under the brand Dovcor.. we could even offer free designs, knowing that the stores will do this without us having to lift a finger!

Ok, its not that simple

But why not, as yet, no one has brought the old local shop sales ethos to the internet on a country wide scale.. so why can't we.. best of all.. its just marketing.. the stores do the rest..

Its like having a network of franchises.. without the hassle... ish..

Hard way or what..













and then this new fangled internet thing came along and now everyones running scarred...

Don't sell to them they cry... they'll undercut us!