GOOD BUSINESS April 2000

HELLO! We have made it! Hard work - relaunching, rebranding, rebooting and re-thinking but good fun and well worth it. WONDERWORLD is designed to be successful both in business terms and an example of ever improving Fair Trade practise. See our new Trading Policy and talk to us about it.

OUR new catalogue is now available.   It is a flexible format of attractive folder which you should keep with inserts which will be regularly updated.    If you haven't already received a copy then e-mail us info  'at' wonderworld.co.uk with all the details we might sensibly need.

WONDERWORLD has quite a large range and we have been working with most of our suppliers for many years. This enables us to negotiate the kind of assurances, information and access, which is required to fulfil the expectations of the Fair Trade movement and is encapsulated in our Trading Policy.

HOWEVER we cannot claim consistent levels of Fair Trade practise across the whole range. So we have grouped certain items into pricelist categories called PROSPECTS. PROSPECTS fall short of the standard we set for the main range in certain respects. Most commonly we have sourced these items from suppliers with whom we do NOT have a long term relationship - from whom we cannot yet demand the levels of transparency and access which are required to fulfil our complete Trading Policy.

AS FAR as we can tell PROSPECTS are produced under reasonable rates and conditions for the producers - but we accept that what we know is limited. PROSPECTS enables us to trial product ideas and producers with a clear aim to build long term relationships and offering our customers the higher level assurances which apply to our main range.

IN SOME cases this will not happen. In that case the products never ascend above the PROSPECTS category or drop out completely. Some items in PROSPECTS are quite close to fulfilling our higher expectations, some are not. We will discuss the specific knowledge and assurances we can give about all products if required.

OVERALL - we hope that discriminating within our range like this will help our Fair Trade customers and others make informed purchases.

IN FEBRUARY this year, David Turner, one of our directors, was summonsed by Nottinghamshire Trading Standards for supplying a Sand Filled Juggling Animal, alleged to be a toy for children under three years old, neither made safe nor labelled correctly. As previously reported here, we withdrew Sand Filled Juggling Animals from sale under advice from our home Trading Standard authority in March 1999. Notts Trading Standards chose to issue their summons for a supply made before that date, during a period when we were still in negotiation with our home Trading Standards authority.

SAND filled animals are widely available from many wholesalers around the country.   Some Trading Standards departments around the country do not regard these items as toys and recommend the specific steps we took to ensure that customers were under no illusion on that point.

FORTUNATELY Notts Trading Standards agreed to conclude the matter with a Formal Caution once they had been fully apprehended of other Trading Standards authorities' opinions. Thanks for the support several of you gave to help David fend off this prosecution.

THIS is a grey area and you need to be careful if you are selling Sand Filled Animals.     In the event of an investigation or prosecution you may rely for a possible defence upon information given to you by the supplier.   Get written confirmation from your supplier that, in their opinion, these items are not toys and make it clear in your presentation.  

THE rules state that ONLY a court can make the determination as to what is and is not a toy.  Everyone else - trading standards officers, Customs, DTI, importers, wholesalers, testing houses, retailers, paediatricians and even toy safety "experts" - merely offer opinions which may or may not influence the court in their decision.  If a bench decides that a particular item is a toy, then IT IS A TOY.   Should that toy then be incorrectly labelled without CE marks or other required information then a CRIMINAL conviction follows.    Furthermore if a bench decides that in their judgement that toy is intended for use by children under three then  IT IS A TOY FOR CHILDREN UNDER THREE.    Should that toy then be proved unsafe for use by under threes according to Euro Standard EN71  then an additional CRIMINAL conviction follows.

OF COURSE most Trading Standards authorities take a pragmatic view of items which fall in this grey area and are prepared to negotiate common sense conclusions rather than seek a court's decision via a prosecution.     However if you were unlucky enough to fall foul of a more aggressive Trading Standards department which felt called to establish its point in court then be warned that a guilty plea would cost you not only a criminal record but £ 2000-£ 3000 in fines and costs while a failed not-guilty plea would cost at least double that figure.

INCIDENTALLY David was very well assisted in this matter by the Toy Safety consultant to the Giftware Association, a former Trading Standards officer.     He will happily pass on contact details.   Membership of the Giftware Association and/or the Small Business Association is highly advised as that should enable you to get your defence costs paid.   

FOLLOWING a thorough examination of the prices for all our products we have concluded that pricing of our popular hand block printed bed throws has to be revised.

GOOD news. Customers have been complaining about the complicated price structure for our bed throws. We have simplified matters by adopting just two prices for double throws & two prices for singles.

BAD news. The new prices are indeed raised - reflecting purchase price increases and a more sophisticated grasp of other cost factors in India. We have tested the new prices in Dave Hogg's shops in Cheshire and are confident that the consumer will pay the full retail price implied by our wholesale price.

GOOD news again. We have an offer - exclusively for our existing customers. You can acquire any of our old designs at the old prices until June 1^st. We suggest that you price them for retail using the new price, which will apply to everyone from June 1^st. Thereby you will enjoy the extra margin while priming your customers for the new price point.

TO take advantage of this offer make sure your orders are annotated OLD PRICE OFFER for the items you require.

REACTION to the new "Kite" pattern designs in throws, garments and scarves has already been very positive. This design is based on the shape of the Indian Fighting Kite.

If you can - be in north India on January 14^th so you can take part in the traditional kite flying festival day. Clear skies and light, steady winds make ideal conditions for flying simple, colourful paper kites.

Like modern jet fighters, these kites have designed instability, which gives them a tendency to tumble. This makes them highly manoeuvrable. Children quickly develop immense skill in moving their kites about the sky - hunting other kites.

The aim is to cut the string of another kite by looping round and twitching the kite in a precise method. WONDERWORLD has not yet mastered the art despite weeks spent kiting on Rajasthani rooftops. We are often the subject of a triumphant, disdainful shout from some distant waif as we lose yet another pretty kite. No matter - another will soon float down, a free gift cut from on high.