Scaling up business is any business owner’s dream. But for small business entrepreneurs like us it is a matter of hustling and growing consistently.
Amidst all the hustle, landed our first international order for Dlink, UAE. We were asked to curate 500+ gift boxes for their clients & partners and the occasion was the launch of one of their long awaited product lines.
Check out our experiences and learnings on the way to successfully executing this order.
Stage 1
Shortlisting the products for the gift box. As it was an international client on a different time zone, discussions had to be managed efficiently. Things that the team had to keep in mind were :
Type of products – The products needed to be functional, customized & were required to have a certain synergy with the brand. Also the items had to be light weight to avoid making the gift box heavy as that would directly impact the shipping costs.
Packaging- This was the most interesting part as the client wanted an exact replica of their product box that was to be launched. We loved this creative idea and managed to put together an exact look alike miniature box.
The client wanted to launch their products through the gift box .So we added an additional sunboard with the 3 types of cables that was being launched along with a write up about each of them.
In a nutshell the client launched their product line through these gift boxes ( Now isn't that innovative ?)
Stage 2
Procurement and Packing
Once all the items had been finalized, the team moved on to procurement and fabrication. The underlying intent was to keep the entire gift box simple, formal and in line with the brand ethos. Our efforts were successful and the approval process at the clients’s end was smooth.
Stage 3
Shipping
This was the challenging and most time consuming part. Although some of us had the experience of executing international shipments in the past but a large consignment like these which included individual customised products too along with the gift boxes, was something that we were attempting for the first time. The first hiccup was when we realised that we were required to get special permission for custom clearance. We were oblivious of the fact that products like temperature bottles which had inbuilt battery cells and the charging cables required special certificates before being allowed to board the vessel .Amidst all the changes in the documentation and palletization numbers, by mistake we submitted one of the old packing list and it got rejected by the authorietes as it didn’t match with the originals.
Each day lost , each mistake was costing us time , effort and of course money. But these also led to learnings that we will never forget and eventually helped us to understand the operational nitty gritties better.
Inspite of navigating these issues, we were able to catch the container on time and the shipment sailed.
Stage 4
Delivery
From time it docked at Dubai port, we eagerly waited for the shipment to reach the Dlink warehouse with fingers crossed awaited the feedback.
Check out our order processing video
"Fabulous work", "Fantastic packaging and presentation"," Good job" these were some of the compliments which made the efforts worthwhile .
We had worked very hard and these responses were a big achievement for us.
Nothing is fool proof, mistakes happen, but to learn from them, rectify them and not repeating them is what makes a business successful in the long run.
After a month, I had the privilege of personally visiting the Dlink Dubai office for further discussions on next orders. Looking forward to a fruitful year with them as our client.
If you too are looking for something unique or anything regular ,a small batch or bulk quantity , withing India or International , we have your back . All you need is to send us your details and leave the rest to our team of elves.