How Nice is Naiise?
If you’ve long been an admirer of this creative marketplace as I have, you’d be ecstatic too if you receive an e-mail from them.
And not just some generic email touting new releases or promotional offers, but one that addresses you specifically, or for my case, WE THE PEEPUR.
The cynic in me scanned the message to see if it was spam or a phishing scam and was left feeling satisfied that it definitely was not. It really was from Naiise!
An invitation to market our merchandise on their Online Marketplace platform and boy was I thrilled.
After 27 cartwheels around the house and manic-stricken shrieks of delight, I dusted myself down and pored through their Sellers’ Deck. Next up, were questions.
Questions
Their deck was comprehensive but there seemed to be certain details that were glossed over (intentional, or otherwise). So I wondered, brainstormed with my Board of Directors (pictured below) and enquired away.
Did I get a wall of “All mails opened” and the courtesy 3 working days reply? No. Their response was almost instantaneous! Direct and to the point and an attached deck for added measure. Now this sounds like a person I wanna get in business with!
The cynic in me reigned supreme again and pondered:
- Why so fast?
- Too good to be true?
- Our brand so good ah?
So to arrest any suspicions and allay all doubts by merely being planted on the couch and overthinking, I set out to do some probing.
Research
As with any other endeavour in life, you’d be best served to do tons of research. Thankfully for us, days of poring through heaps of books and spending days in the library or waiting for word upon word to load on dial-up are long gone. Thanks, Google.
Simply with our nifty digits, our research brought up these results:
- Their website
- Their IG account
- Article on Naiise apology for payment delays…
- Article on Naiise pulling out…
- Article on Naiise defaulting on payment since 2016…
Wait, what?
PAYMENT DELAYS? PULLING OUT? DEFAULTING PAYMENTS?
Upon further reading, my concerns were set at ease as these issues were either solved, or being worked on. And they concern primarily brands that are stocked in their physical retail stores.
So, evidently, as was pointed out by our buyer and these articles, Naiise worked on and implemented new financial structures to ensure almost instant payouts to brands under their wing.
They’ve also closed down most of their physical stores (only the one in JEWEL remains) to consolidate their business and pivot more towards the online platform.
What I’m offered was an opportunity on their online marketplace and time and again my buyer reminded us to link our Stripe Connect accounts to their platform…
…Any lingering doubts quashed!
Signing-up
The sign-up process was rather straightforward. No jumping through hoops, unnecessary printing of forms, or clicking through numerous links — just an 11-page e-contract to wade through and digitally sign. Easy peasy.
My buyer even went out of her way to ask for our preferred membership tier so she could help set up our dashboard on their marketplace.
After a few days wait, we were in.
Setting-up
Armed with product photos/descriptions, an inventory list and wide-eyed wonder, I went about exploring Naiise’s sellers’ platform. First up, confirmation of the membership tier before making payment for said membership.
Next, list them products. Satisfactory UX; no fluff just what I needed to start listing and selling, upon approval.
Once that was settled, on to updated my terms and conditions for Delivery, Returns and Exchanges. Again, easy to use and understand and only involved a few clicks of my mouse and an economic patter of my keyboard. Wonderful.
Verdict
So far so good, but I gotta say it’s still early days. I’ve yet to try out their warehouse stocking option, or using their recommended delivery service provider or even engage their partner photography studio for product shoot.
But the ease with which we got onto the platform and subsequently the smooth process of uploading the necessary details for our store makes me think that it’ll be a great partnership. We shall review in 3 months…
All in all, I’m just honoured that in our fledgling years (months, rather), we’ve been scouted by Naiise, invited on to their platform and given an opportunity to share our craft and ideas through our merch with a larger audience.
More power to you peepur!
Check us out here.
-JackthePeepur
