Hi Everyone!
Kevin here with the first newsletter update of 2024 and our 15th monthly update! From the OGs that have been following along since the beginning to our newest subscribers, it's been really fun writing these monthly updates, and we appreciate your support in reading them.
Kevin here with the first newsletter update of 2024 and our 15th monthly update! From the OGs that have been following along since the beginning to our newest subscribers, it's been really fun writing these monthly updates, and we appreciate your support in reading them.
In this month's edition, we will discuss:
- Sponsoring the American Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) Design+ conference
- Launching our D2C Go-to-Market
- Delivering product to customers
So without further ado,
Outmore Living Sponsors ALIS Design+
When we started selling our products in October, our goal was to first focus on the consumer side of the market. However, businesses, in particular hotels and resorts, started inquiring about purchasing our product as a way to maximize their outdoor spaces and elevate their guest experiences.
We always planned to sell to both the consumer and commercial markets, but the amount of inbound demand we were getting from hotels made us think more seriously about allocating resources to the commercial channel. In an effort to solidify our standing in the industry, we co-sponsored the American Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) Design+ conference last week in Los Angeles.
The conference was INCREDIBLE! We learned so much from industry leaders and met some incredible people, some of which will become partners over the next few years.
And as far as 2024 goes, we are finalizing some contracts with a select set of hotels/resorts in the US. We can't wait to share more detail in the coming months!
Launching Our D2C Go-to-Market
Other than for a few weeks leading up to our Kickstarter, we have not been advertising to customers. The reason why we hadn't been advertising yet was that we needed to make sure we were delivering the best possible customer experience before launching Outmore into the world. This meant:
- Creating an incredible, long-lasting product (test, design, build, repeat) ✅
- Building an efficient and sustainable supply chain (more to come) ✅
- Finalizing our pricing and warranty coverage ✅
- Negotiating buy-now-pay-later 0% APR payment options via Affirm ✅
- Developing a trade program for designers and hospitality customers ✅
- Making a comprehensive digital marketing strategy ✅
It's been a journey accomplishing each one of these aforementioned goals, but all of these add up to a seamless customer experience, and one that we will continually build and improve upon.
So what does this mean for you? Well, for one, you'll probably start to see our ads on Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest over the coming weeks. But also, we are ready to deliver a best-in-class customer experience to you if and when you choose to be outmore.
Founder Perspectives:
Delivering Product to Customers
I have to admit, I was a little naive when we started Outmore Living on how complex it would be to make furniture in Asia and deliver it to your backyard in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. To paint a picture...
What we are selling is big and bulky, and as a result, we can't just ship our product standard freight via UPS or FedEX. And unlike when I ordered outdoor furniture for Target, we don't have the liberty of clicking a button and having a $100B supply chain magically deliver a product to your home. Despite our fancy MBA educations and countless research, there isn't a lift-and-land playbook for what we are making (believe me, I've looked). Instead, we had to build everything from scratch.
It starts in Asia, coordinating with our three factories to ensure everything is made on time with the best possible quality control set up at each step of the manufacturing process.
From there, we work with an import agent to coordinate a delivery from our Vietnam port to our US port. Once we clear customs, the real fun begins.
With our product in the States, our team checks all of the inventory into our warehouse and ensures nothing is damaged or broken.
We then consolidate the inventory by region and send it off via train or truck to one of our six regional docking stations.
When the product arrives at the regional docking station, it is once again checked for damage. Assuming everything arrives undamaged, we coordinate a last mile delivery (two guys and a truck) to deliver the customer's product to your home.
While this process is definitely complex, the key is finding the right experts during each step of our product's journey. This meant talking to countless factories, third party quality control groups, import agents, warehouses, and logistics providers. By separating each component, we were able to build the best and most sustainable supply chain from Asia to Pittsburgh.
With our set orders placed, we can't wait to share the live journey with everyone!