End of Year Recovery and Some Announcements
For the remainder of this year we will be focusing on closing up the books and getting everything ready for a new year. We wish to kick the new year off with fresh start to better align our energies to all the activity we have planned for the near future.
Over this week and next, our public facing side will see little activity. We will continue process orders and reply to inquiries as quickly as always during this period. Social media and our website will only receive minimal updates.
Now for some quick news items:
- Due to the rise in shipping rates, we are ending our Value Free Shipping Option. We will continue to monitor this expense and find ways to offer an incentive to those that place larger orders. Currently our larger orders are also those with the highest weight. Our only other option is to increase our prices on the heaviest items.
- Inventory levels will be limited on lotions, beard shampoo and any item packaged in 180ml Tube Bottles. We are working to source a new bio-degradable / compostable bottle for these items to launch this Spring.
- Soy Wax costs are continually increasing. We are looking into ways to improve our candle quality while maintaining current wax expenses. If wax and scent oil prices continue to increase we may need to raise our candle prices.
- Reporting on “Supply Chain” issues is getting old. We are still dealing with inconsistencies when ordering our goods. Suppliers are often low on stock, out of stock or have significantly raised prices. We have to spend more time shopping around when dealing with our trusted suppliers. This has become an aggravating process that is slowing us down from other tasks we need to accomplish.
- We plan to launch a “Performance Guarantee” for our personal care and grooming products. We wish to continue growing trust with you in regards to meeting the expectations we set with our products. We want a clearer message on how we wish to back our message and provide support for you when you feel you are not getting the promised experience. To make this happen, we need to rewrite our product descriptions to clarify what those expectations are. Then we need to rewrite our policies to be as simple as possible on how we will handle those times when your experience does not match those expectations.
- Expect to hear more about our move to become more sustainable in all aspects of our business. We must do better about minimizing waste in our operations and the end product. Using packaging that is more renewable, and easier for you to recycle or safely dispose of without harming the environment.
- This coming year we plan to increase our scent options and make it easier to get our most loved scents in more products. We are also looking into more sizes or forms of some of our items as well. For now, this will be limited but we plan to be ready to launch a major expansion of our brand when we secure our first “factory store”.
- Look for us at more events next year. Our aim is to be a part of at least one event per month through the summer and into autumn. We fully intend to return to those events we attended in 2022 and are investigating other events that we feel is the right space for us. We are event looking to get outside Chicago if we can swing it.
2022 was our biggest year ever!
And it is all because of you! We love hearing how much you enjoy what we do and how we do it. You make us laugh, smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside. You have shared us with those you love, and bringing them into our family as well. We are not afraid of doing things different and we like not being like everybody else. J&L / JÖL has always tried to be well grounded and genuine. We avoid cliches, pretense and gimmicks. We have a sense of humor and don’t take our image too seriously. Yet, we are serious about working hard to gain your trust.
We are about to embark on a mission to be more, to do more. It is time that we create a home for us that you can visit and spend some time within. A place that is welcoming to all that are kind, genuine and loving. We want a place that is warm, relaxing and fun. Not just a store, or place to make our goods, but a place to hang out with friends. For you to be comfortable and able to escape for a few minutes or an afternoon. Soon we will share some details about our concepts and what we are looking for in a new home.
We want to make 2023 our biggest year ever!
Look for a 2022 recap next week.