Long shot I know but is anyone on the waiting list for an alpkit pipedream 400 sleeping bag?

I registered a few weeks ago and have just phoned up to enquire and they dont seem to have my details…which is a tad annoying.

If anyone has registered and no longer wants a bag would they drop me a line.

Cheers

Rich

tryfan71 AT gmail Dot com

Shop elsewhere. I’ve said this on another post- I question whether they have someone who can forecast/merchandise their sales/demand properly.

I don’t get what your problem with Alpkit is, Hora. People can make their own minds up as to whether they want to wait for a product to come into stock or not. It’s not as if Alpkit is pretending stuff’s available when it’s not is it? Guess what, it sells out fast because it’s decent stuff at a very competitive price. So what’s the problem? It’s not as if other brands’ products never sell out.

Why can’t you just register again, or ask them (by phone or email) to put you on the mailing list?

I’m on the mailing list, but as far as I know they’re not in stock in yet.

I also don’t understand Hora’s problem with Alpkit – it would be nice if they had all of their stuff in stock all of the time. I’m quite sure that they’re well aware that it would be better if they could carry more stock, but there must be a reason why they can’t. Regardless, if they have something that I want, when I want it, for a price I can afford, then I’ll buy it. Not terribly complicated.

Its called lost sales. I used to work in supply chain/merchandising.

Hora.
Alpkit seem like a smallish set-up maybe they haven’t got the buying power, storage, or distribution manpower to sell to the demand they have.

They do a great job at designing and producing good kit. Maybe they will funnel more money in to the business and expand to meet the demand. Maybe they will try and keep it small scale and still make enough money to pay the bills. Surely that’s their call?

Agree. I just feel you can have forward orders planned and flowing into the country right based on uplift and a combination of previous years sales.

Maybe with the new colourways (qc etc?0 there has been a delay in orders arriving earlier anyway?

I’m not upset or angry. Just saying people would start buying earlier and more the earlier stock is available.

Not on the list, bought one last year. Great bit of kit most recently used on the OMM a couple of weeks ago.

Kept me nice and warm despite

OMM Overnight camp before the rain!

No issues with Alpkit, great stuff, great prices. Met a bunch of the guys in Capel Curig a couple of years ago, also great!

Unfirtunately they won’t let me re register. Saying that the system went down a few weeks ago and to add me now would not be possible??

Great kit, great price. Normally great service.

Hi Everyone

Stock issues have always been an issue for us, and sales forecasting has proved quite challenging.

Lets say our sales growth for an individual item has been between from -100% to +500%, so even if we forecast for growth, where are then going to have to find several million pounds to buy all the extra stock.

Of course we can do that, and have thought about it. But what happens if you forecast 200% in sleeping bag sales but actually have -100%. You dont sleep so well, thinking about the debt payments.

This year we committed heavily to keeping our entire sleeping mat range (which we did and no one comments on when you have the stock in) as the only way you know if you have no lost sales is to buy too much. No one can forecast Sales + 1 item. If you can, we might have a job for you.

However sometimes the supply chain / reorder cycle makes it difficult to keep up with demand. We cant just reorder and wait a few weeks to get more stuff in. It takes several months. We do keep on top of this but, lets say we have worked on 20% growth and we get a couple of reviews in magazine all of sudden the stock that was going to last those few months to the next stock coming in only last a few days, hey presto we are out of stock.

In might not seem it but we are getting better, however the more we supply quality gear at affordable pricing with proper customer service the more customers we get. We used apologis for being out of stock but now think it’s because we work really hard doing a good job. No point in a merchandiser thinking they have done a good job coping with 6.83% extra sales, just because the promotion team havent been busting a gut. If a few of the guys work hard with promoting the site then sometimes we see thousands of extra people each week that means a few extra hundred orders a month, that soon eats in to your forecast model. If Tescos and Apple cant sell me an iphone for months, given one is one of the most sophistication retailers on the planet and one is a highly profitable private company then i know that sometime stuff just happens.

The customer list mean that we can give the people who waited the longest the best chance to buy a bag. Yes we could take preorders and the like and that would cure all our cashflow problems and the need to borrow loads of money, i can explain this in one word, Watchdog.
Just think of all those companies who all got a bit clever and perhaps greedy, our way we take all the risk, if you dont want the bag then dont order, if you do want it then you know we will send it out to you.

Our registration system hasnt “gone” down, we just took it of line as we had to many people on the list if you want to get on the list for deliveries next year then it’s up on the support page.

If we have messed up anyone then if you can send me your confirmation email i’ll see what i can do.

I think i covered everything.

Cheers

Nick

Thanks Nick. Good analogy with Apple they sell out they cant predict their sales, its fair to say it would be harder for you to forcast!

Good to hear from a great company. Hope you guys have a great xmas.

Thanks for the reply Nick – just wondered whether there were any plans to do another run of the Pipedream 200s?

Hi Crispewheel

At the moment we are working hard with an alternative supplier of sleeping bags, when this new supplier is on line then the PD200 will be part of that program.

However supply from China is getting patchy many factories although will take an order are coming under increasing labour pressure. Many factories are finding that after Chinese New year they are losing up 40% of their production capacity.

I would hope to get the Pd200 back on line sometime early next year.

Cheers

Nick

Nick – please, keep being awesome! Love, A Fanboi.

Hi there Nick

Thanks for your reply…at least you are listening.

Ive just checked my gmail account and there is no confirmation email whatsoever, I vaguely remember thinking that it was an odd system that asked for your email and then didnt follow it up with a ‘thanks for your interest email’

The screen did however say thank you for your interest and that my email was received???

7months? Are you selecting the Geese and nurturing them? 😆

Hora: do you really find this so hard to understand, or are you just being a tit because you think it’s clever or funny?

Nick: I, and a lot of people I know, have lots of your kit and think it’s fantastic. Thank you for making such nice stuff and selling it to me.

Calm down dear. It was a joke. I’m sure Nick took it with a pinch of salt.

I got me a Pipedream 400 this evening.

Hope it’s as good as everyone says it is.

Thanks Nick – would be perfect if the pd200’s are back in time for the spring bivvy season!