Weekly Followup

Last week was quite an exciting week for us and will keep us moving forward this week at full throttle. We introduced a new paper just the week prior which received an incredible response. We shipped out the first batch of our new wood prints. We just made some improvements to our new Web API and started looking for seasonal help for the last quarter of this year.

 

But first, I must give kudos to Komla Adevoun , who currently wears two hats as our acting IT Chief as well as the Assistant Production Manager. While our Production Manager was on vacation, he stepped up to the plate and kept our production line running as smooth as can be expected with what we threw at him. Even when two of our printers chose to go down he was unphased and kept things moving right along.  And if he caught me standing around doing nothing, without hesitation he ordered me to start packaging orders along side everyone else.

 

If anything, it was a week of overwhelming responses in two areas. This included our new improved wood prints and the fact that the week prior we introduced our new Entrada Rag Fine Art Paper to replace the Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art Paper. What we did not expect was how much in demand the Entrada Rag Fine Art Paper was going to be so we had to scramble to increase our stock. Fortunately we have plenty being delivered first thing Monday morning. 

 

We also announced a call to artists and photographers regarding the opportunity to be shown on our company folder which received another overwhelming response. Brian Wells, who directs our graphic design projects for marketing and is our Senior Customer Service Rep, will be busy this week and possibly next compiling a list of those that submitted their online portfolios to him for review. I should point out that we  will be keeping this list active since we order these folders several times a year so even if you do not get selected the first time around, it may mean you will find yourself on the folder for the next batch. 

 

You may or may not know that we have been working on a new Web API. Every week we have people contacting us asking how they can better integrate their personal or ecommerce website with FinerWorks. A lot of times they have a website on a site like Shopify, Etsy or other ecommerce platform and want to know how can they tie in with our own systems. While our web api is still in its early stages, this weekend we made some important updates (thanks to feedback from a couple of active developers). Now we think those features we have opened up so far are quite solid, we encourage anyone that wants to build their own application to contact us to request an API key. While a web api is not the simple point and click solution we would love to offer everyone that wants to integrate with FinerWorks, it does provide you the building blocks to develop your own app. For instance if you have a Shopify hosted website, it will allow you to tap into the data within your FinerWorks account, including prints that you setup as well as images you have stored so that you can post for sale. And as we continue to add features, you will be able to develop a means to submit orders including the customer information to FinerWorks in batches, saving you the trouble of having to key in orders individually on the FinerWorks website. To learn more about our API and how it functions, please check out the following link:

 

http://api.finerworks.com/

 

Second, we are getting into the second busiest season which is the Fall season. Sometimes this means we have to work a little harder to get orders out as quickly as we might during slower times. And with fall festivals and art shows just around the corner, we implore you to not wait until the last moment to order your prints if you plan to stock up. It never fails that for at least one person, UPS looses an order or is late in delivery and an artist is left with no prints to sell  because their package arrived too late. DON'T wait until the last moment. Mishaps can occur so you want to have plenty of time so you are not left without inventory. Generally you should have your prints in hand two weeks prior to when you need them at the latest and even that would make me uncomfortable because if something happened such as they were to get lost in shipment or damaged we would be scrambling to get you replacements in time.

 

Last I needed to hi-light that we are looking for seasonal full-time help in our San Antonio production facility that will last for the forth quarter (October through late December). If regular full time positions are created or made available during that time, we will be filling those slots from within. Working at FinerWorks can be physically demanding at times since you are on your feet most of the day but we try to make if fun and low stress. We have a fun and friendly team of people that work in our production department and all have an art or photography background. If you live in the area or know someone who does who has an affinity for art or photography, let them know. My production manager is predicting that we will need at least two people during that time frame. Please fill out our online application at the following link:

 

http://finerworks.com/employment.aspx