Your Nutshell Can Now be Hand Delivered

Confirmed Delivery; Challenging from Down Under

At Nutshell we pride ourselves on giving the best possible service; it is one of the primary reasons our customers maintain their loyalty. What we say we deliver we do our best to deliver.

And if it doesn't work out nobody is more disappointed than us.

Because of our 'distance to market' our options when it comes to choosing delivery systems are limited - and primarily based on cost effectiveness. For over 15 years we have watched as market options have appeared, vanished into the ebb and flow of the tidal global commerce systems, and risen once again. Often that revival is accompanied by a more cost effective approach too.

Sometimes the reason to reject a shipping option is based on our customer feedback.

Like the time we used a shipping service that took our export deliveries in a bundle up into Singapore and then distributed them to all parts of the globe.

Nothing too unusual in that you would think. Except for the complaints we started getting from our more elderly customers in the United States and elsewhere . They claimed we were not making our products in New Zealand. And they remembered the Pacific war! All because the intermediary Singapore step resulted in our packages getting an added Asian stamp!

Transportation is one of those factors that can weigh heavy on any exporter, along with the changeable currency rates, and the service we use  needs to be the best possible to make our customers feel as comfortable as possible.

Within the blink of an eye that Singapore service was terminated; there really is nothing worse for a marketer than waking up to dozens of angry notes from customer threatening to never again darken our doorway, all because they have the wrong end of the stick..

Recently, however, that proved to not be the case. Over a year ago we were approached by a reputable shipping company and offered the ability to provide added security for our shipment, with the option of a signature required service. Unfortunately for us, we were told, and assumed, that this service would be accompanied by a tracking scheme that would let customers go hunt for their individual tracking information by trawling the world's shipping and tracking services. Usually these are maintained by individual postal services and the scanning process is pretty much a necessary formality in this day and age of advanced wariness about trans-border freight and security.

That's what you would think. But often reality is stranger than fiction.

The reality is that the service we elected to engage to make sure that our deliveries were  by hand delivered and required a signature to finalize, were not always scanned as they passed from the local 'down-under;' postal delivery system. We have pressed for answers; most times delivery can be tracked, but only if the product is crossing the border into the United States, where it often gets scanned at the gate. But that's not always the case. While our local Postal service cannot offer us this signature-required registered-mail service we get from that third party supplier, they do not scan the item as it leaves the country. Why? Darned if I know, and I have asked.

That's why we now offer a new Hand Delivery Option; we know and you know you are going to get your nutshell and that it will be delivered by a person who will ask that a signature is provided before the shipment is handed over. What we cannot, at this time, assure you is that you will be able to track it door to door.

It's not an enviable position to find ourselves in, and we are very disappointed that it seems some organisations do not play well together.

Rest assured we are working to find a solution that combines the best of all worlds to make it affordable to offer our customers' a fail-safe and affordable shipping service that delivered on time, every time and let each deliver be tracked, door to door.

Happy Christmas 2014

A Grand Design

We are likely best known for our holsters, but it is not all we do. Over the years we have added value for many, many individual customers. It's part of being a bespoke merchant and creating products that people actually want.

It's also how we come to create new products. The options we offer on our holsters and belt cases are the results of customers' requests.

The previous post extolled the virtues of our smartphone folder/holder wallet-like leather cover for almost any smartphone under 5.5" long.

This post shows off two of our bespoke belt pouches...larger than a holster...not as big as a tablet case, and certainly larger than the two horizontal holsters we offer for the iPhone and similar sized smartphones with "medium" sized accessories.

The smaller one was originally developed for the HTC X7510 Advantage handheld that came out several years ago. Next we responded to user requests and created a second case to hold that device wrapped in a leather book-like cover.

The result?
Two leather belt pouches.

Nutshell Belt Pouches make great tote bags.

Similar in design, side seams, great leather, lined with our ultra-suede...but maybe they can be improved?

Larger Size: 6" L x 5" W x 1.25" D
SKU: WN76512

Smaller Size: 5" L x 3.5" W x 1" D
SKU WN75351

The smaller sample also has an inside-the-back business card holder, which is nice.

It means we have the patterns, so we don't have to walk through the lengthy and time consuming and costly development process.

Now all we have to do is revisit the pricing models, arrange the supplier, create the GTIN wholesale barcode and our NUTCC ASIN, fine tune the descriptions and work out the true costs and benefits; make sure the packaging is acceptable, think about the rich text HTML and the high quality studio images that we'll need to bring the product to the consumer...make sure the rebates and affiliate structures are in place and acceptable, and work on suitable wholesale pricing (with enough margin for all concerned).

No worries...

to be continued...

;-)

We Don't Make the Rules

It's one thing to come up with an idea. It is totally something else to make it real.

Nutshell's elegant leather Smartphone Folder/Holder
holds Phones plus HD accessories

This is a sneak-peek at a development based on the Walnut, our all-in-one combination phone wallet/credit-card/note carrier covered in genuine leather with a protective phone platform built right in.

But we don't make the rules. You do.
And sometimes you tell us what you want and give us another idea.
Like this.

So - unlike the Walnut this folder has nothing inside...except for not one but two protective phone platforms and a lining that accepts a pad and lets you place the phone/accessory combination inside the folder which ever way works best - for you.

With a platform size of 5 1/2" tall x 3" wide this folder will hold an amazing number of current Smartphones.  And because we have deliberately made the folder with a generous 1" spine, it will easily fold over and close on a heavy duty and large sized accessory -  like a battery or rugged protection cover - no problems at all.

 

Take a look at our Picasa images on the project.

Tell us what you think.
Better still, tell us you want one.

This little beauty will retail for USD$39.95.
We consider that's an attractive MSRP - for a slice of genuine leather and some sharp Kiwi protective innovation. And we'll sharpen the pencil.

We have given it an internal SKU: WN53750.
But that's not really a name - is it? 
So...what on earth are we going to call it?
Any ideas?

Challenges from the Trenches

 At Nutshell there is a constant barrage of requests for cases to hold a never ending tsunami of mobile devices. Which we, of course, welcome. Let it never end, say we.

But just how do we create the listing you see below, which lives in the Samsung category of our online catalog and enables you to buy your own tailor-made Nutshell?

Get your case for new Samsung Droid Charge phone here.

We take the dimensions of the device (the height, the width and the depth of the device), gleaned from at least three different places on the 'net, and then match them to the nominal internal dimensions of our cases. In nine out of ten times we will, almost instantly, find a match; an existing case that will squeeze or flatten sufficiently to very comfortably protect the device in a snug leather-covered enclosure.

Very occasionally matching a Nutshell to a device (or an accessory cover) can prove to be a more daunting challenge. Especially when the manufacturer of the accessory case has gone out of its way to give the cover some unique properties to make it harder to drop...or to accidentally leave lying around.

The hardest material to match to (so far) has been the new range of accessories using super-sticky silicon on the places where the user holds them. This material can prove problematic, as it can be so sticky it makes it difficult to extract the device from a case that would otherwise be a neat and tidy fit. In these cases we have to (by trial and error) re-size our suggestion so that, to comfortably hold the device and be big enough to make it  easy to extract, the case actually has to have more space inside.

We really appreciate the input. If you give us a heads up on a new device, the best way we can show our appreciation is by accompanying our reply with a discount code. It is our small way of saying "thanks".

Welcome to 2011

Happy New Year. A new start to yet another series of seconds minutes hours days and months...which will all add up to be 2011. What will it bring?
Doubtless, many things, but in the world of mobile you can be sure of one thing - many, many more mobile devices.
Already CES is behind us; an annual talk fest and show'n'tell that attracts media attention to this niche market like no other. A place where new devices are rolled out and expectant vendors watch carefully to see if the passersby react positively, it at all. Many of these 'new' devices will doubtless sink without trace - for a variety of reasons. Too big. Too small. Even too much "me too". Marketing will trumpet the advantages and advances.  But in the end you, the consumer, will be the King maker; after all it will be your dollars that determine who will rise and who will fall.
Is smaller better? Are tablets finally going to 'come of age' and embrace multiple operating systems in a manner that makes sense to us all - handwriting recognition, long the preserve of Microsoft's mobile tablet platform may begin to appear on other devices driven by other operating systems. Or will it? I would not hold my breath on that.
Regardless of the different devices that will raise their collective heads above the parapet in the coming year, you can rest assured that Nutshell will be there in support, with our growing range of product offerings to provide protection for what, after all, are fast becoming increasingly sophisticated devices.

New Phones - finally....a common size is emerging

Since 1997 Nutshell has been offering its cases for PDAs, smartphones, cellphones and other mobile devices and ever since we started we have been steadily increasing the number of cases we offer. Mostly this has been as a result of the cellphone manufacturers constantly tweaking the sizes of their devices.

Because traditionally our cases have been lined with a synthetic plush material to keep those devices pristine and like new, we have sometimes had to create a totally new size to fit; if we offer you a product that is 'near enough' but 'not quite' it takes very little time for you, our customers, to let us know we have made an error.

However these days it appears that the majority of new devices coming to market are starting to standardize on the size format - the iPhone size.

Obviously, love them or hate them, the iPhone has struck a cord with other device manufacturers as being a handy size that works well for most users; the screen size is good eough to display images and app information without forcing the user to wear a set of reading glasses. And the shape is one that fits well in most hands, regardless of the size or sex of the user.

That makes life a whole lot easier for us as suppliers; having a consistent size means we can concentrate on delivering better product in a more timely fashion; every day we make our cases based on web sales and, even though we have a steady stream of corporate orders in the pipeline, different sized cases to match the many, and many different phones in the marketplace means our folk have to be seriously on their game when it comes to selecting the correct knives and components to make the cases.

Of course, the work never stops; there is a constant stream of product passing from our manufacturing facility to our dispatch team and out into the mail system to finally make it to your mailbox.

And even if the phone vendors have decided that a common form factor works, we are now experiencing a proliferation of add-on accessories in the shape of extra life batteries and protective skins. Each of these has to be matched against our cases to provide you the product fit and quality you have come to expect from Nutshell over the years.

So...the game never ends. Just the shapes change with the passage of time.

If you have a product that you need us to find you a case for, please add the dimensions (length x width x depth) when you make an inquiry.

Although we can usually find the information someplace in the cyber-sphere, it does save time if we know immediately what sized Nutshell you are looking for.

Creating a small home network; simple you say? Oh yeah!

OK, so they tell me this is an easy task.

Maybe it is, if you have six years of network tech training and a MS VP status.

But hey, all I want to do is network a very small cluster of two hardwired machines and one wireless device together.

"How hard can that be?" I ask myself.

Faaarking near impossible.

For a start the wireless tablet and one of the desktops are running XP, the primary machine ( mine) is running Vista.

Aaargh. Not even Methuselah himself would have the patience to keep trying, and trying, and trying again to get this to work.

Ah hah, "create a wireless network connection," reads the appropriate Network application window.

OK.
No problems...put this in here and pull it out.
Put it in there and shake it all about.
Should work.

Oh Yeah! Like hell!!

"Not recognised. No software loaded".

Huh! All I want to do it get them talking to each other.

Ah well, I give up. No wireless connection; hardwired only.

I guess it's gotta be easier than using Linux, or Mac OX.
Hasn't it?

ENDEND