Happy March 1st!!!
about 5 years ago
– Fri, Mar 01, 2019 at 01:59:08 PM
Hey everyone,
March is here and we're fast approaching our delivery dates so I guess it's time for a new update. Today I'd like to present some news about production, logistics, mobile app, website integration and deliveries.
But before I start, I'd like to thank you guys a lot for the support and the small "debate" regarding power banks. You guys were fabulous and we really love you for that. Thanks to you we're finally on track regarding the power banks and the official version is that we are not going to change anything in terms of the original promise. Every power bank will be done as we discussed, slim enough to fit into your wallets and with the capacity we promised.
However some of you asked about the option to buy the new power bank, so we added it in our pre-order store here: https://wallor.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
This power bank will have a retail price of $84 because it will come with some amazing features including charging your MacBook or iPad plus 2 embedded cables, 10W wireless charging support and our tracking technology embedded inside ;) But for you guys of course this will be a very good deal again for $39 only. So, hop in since this will be a limited time offer. In 3 weeks we're going to shut this store down.
Production status
I'm very happy to announce you that we have the final solution for the tags developed. The previous versions you guys saw in my pictures were good but not perfect as I wanted. You see, my goal for these tags is to develop the THINNEST Bluetooth tags on the market. Right now the thinnest we found is 2.4 mm thick, however we want to make it 0.74mm thick, similar to the 3D cases I showed you. And based on the news I received, we will develop the bluetooth 5.0 tech inside the PCB. This is the perfect solution because it will allow us to make these tags flexible so you can stick them on things like your backpack for example.
On the GPS tracking side everything is going great. We have finished the testing of the eSIMs and I'm happy to announce that according to our data plan provider we are able to offer full world wide coverage on your GPS tracking. As of now we are working on wrapping up the GPS tracking device. According to our official estimates, by March 24th we will have 50 samples ready to go. These samples will be integrated into the wallets and as soon as the wallets are done they will be sent to our beta testers.
Regarding logistics
Two weeks ago I told you that we are about to participate in an event in Monaco. Well, we did and the results from there are fabulous. We had officially the most innovative solution from that event and our network is expanding. According to our signed contracts we will be able to ship through local distributors through:
- US, Canada, UK, Germany, Spain, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Central Europe through Slovenia and Romania, Middle East through Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Asia through Japan and China and Australia.
As soon as we are done delivering our products to you guys, all our products will be pushed through about 2500 stores worldwide. So that's the great news for our business but also for you guys because this means local center for distribution and customer service. If anything will go wrong (which we hope it won't) you will be able to just ship it to one of our partners and receive a replacement in less than 2 days.
This is the result of a work I've done in the past two years because if you guys remember, when we started the campaign we told you that this is not our first rodeo and that the logistics were a very important aspect of our business since we always aimed for this business to go global.
Btw, here's a short demo of our AR functionality taken right at the expo ;)
And btw, this was recorded live by Simon our CMO while we were preparing for the next meeting with a distributor.
Mobile App
The awesome news about this is that our design is done https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zMN6mGXIQgxmo_m6oQit-bl3qRfgPshc&[email protected]
So please click on this link and give us your feedback. We are changing the entire theme completely and we're pushing for a clear design with easy to understand interface. In the next weeks we will complete the product document also, which means an actual demo of the mobile app with clickthrough interface. As soon as that's done I'm going to let you guys know.
Website integration
You can imagine that the last two weeks were pretty hectic and we're still working on delivering the product catalog to all our contacts, but starting with Monday March 4th, all our efforts will be switched to website. This means:
- a new platform for direct customer service
- all the orders integrated through our website directly which will allow us to update and track your tracking number automatically. Plus automatically update your shipping address once we're ready for shipping.
- the beginning of a portal for tracking everything from whatever device you will want to use.
- of course, the option to order more :D
Deliveries and next steps
Well, on the personal note, I'm back to China on March 15th, leaving from Romania on March 14th after two more trips to Bucharest and more meetings with our mobile app teams.
Everyone who ordered the basics wallets, should expect them either in March or beginning of April. There was a delay on this delivery because the demand was not very high and on top of that, only 30% of you guys fulfilled the survey which kind of blocked our order. But now since we are getting ready to integrate the device, our leather manufacturer agreed to build these wallets even if they're only 25 units.
Beta deliveries will start in the beginning of April, as soon as we finish the integration of the devices into the wallets.
Everything else is still set for May. There might be a delay in the power banks because that process will take pretty long, but if anything happen, we will deliver the wallets first and power banks once they're done.
That's about it, talk to you guys in 2 weeks after I arrive back in China and let you know about the live status from there.
Have a wallorful week-end and a fabulous Spring,
Vio and Team