Today at The Boardr, we're taking another baby step into a new division of skateboard bid'niss. We're now set up as a distributor where we'll be adding our favorite skateboarding brands to work with. The first one we're coming through with is our near and dear Shaqueefa Threads created by The Boardr associate Scotty the Body. To get Shaqueefa in your shop, hit me up at Rob@TheBoardr.com to get an account and dealer app going. [OR DO WE MAKE THIS AN OFFICIAL SIGN UP PAGE/DEALER APP?]
Let me go on a nerdy side rant here. After I tell someone that I wrote our own custom POS and Inventory Management software, some people in retail ask why we didn't just use one of the many platforms for getting a quick and simple online store/site up and running such as Shopify, Big Cartel, some crazy Wordpress configuration, Square, etc.
The main reason for that is growth and change in our business that we know is coming. Change like this new territory we're going into becoming a distributor is easily built into our existing inventory and business procedures with very little impact on the staff. Our distributor orders come in and get processed, billed, and shipped in the exact same procedure and manner as a regular retail online order. The front facing ordering system for our wholesale customers is nearly identical to our regular retail buying experience, too. It's just a modified interface that allows for quicker ordering of large volumes.
The same inventory data and system for our retail business is used so there's no duplicate work needed to set up products that we distribute after we've already done the regular retail setup (product photos, descriptions, categorization, etc). So, behind the scenes, the fact that The Boardr is a distributor now hasn't caused much more additional administrative labor. If you know anything about growing a business, you've seen how administrative tasks and doing them in a very inefficient manner can just consume and destroy your chances for getting to the next level.
We designed our retail system with multiple future store locations in mind so with all our inventory location tracking built in there, adding on the necessary functions to operate as a distributor automatically brings all that functionality with it. Are we going to have distribution set up in all our places we travel around the world? Maybe, who knows, but as far as software, it's a click away from being set up for that. Our wholesale customers also get all the same great customer service, step-by-step updates of their order process, tracking, and all the other stuff we've taken extra care in making our retail order process feel like you're truly being helped by a real skater and more importantly, a human.
Speaking of customer service, if you think about all the times you get terrible service from a place, many times it's because the business is at the mercy of their crappy software system. "I can't help you without an order number." Really? I can't just give you my name or email? Yep, that's sketchy software. "We don't split checks for parties of X or more." Yep, your restaurant likely has crappy software. So your business makes the most awkward part about dining out with large groups of friends even more awkward by pushing the broken process on to your customer? There are endless examples of that from the airline industry right down to the basic corner store. That's one of the main reasons I learned to get in control of software in business.
I know not every small to medium sized business can have the convenience of having a software developer on staff for constant updates to keep procedures in the business from becoming an administrative burden. It's just not economical, especially if you have a "one trick pony" type of software person, who only works on software and can't contribute any other value when the software work is done. What you need to look for, or what you need to become if you're thinking of software as a career, is someone who can do that combined with other essential business tasks such as marketing, reporting and analysis, general business understanding including the basic concepts of accounting, writing and more. Balance those things out in your education and you can pick your industry to create a really fun and valuable position for yourself in any small business. I of course chose skateboarding and it's working out nicely. And that's the end of my rant. Stay nerdy.