**Why can't I get Epifanes "Rapid Clear' in NZ? Why can't I get most Epifanes paints and varnishes in NZ? **Why are we stuck with just International Paints and Altex Paints and a couple other small brands.
I bet some of you "in the game" will come back with "Ah, but you can...you have to talk to this person, then to this person, who then needs to talk to this other person whom will tell that person that there is a three month lead in time to get the stuff into NZ"
Nah, stuff that - I just want to be able to walk into a marine chandler or use a a good online chandlery website here in NZ, and buy these brands off the shelf rather than going through hoops.
Hey mate, new member here. I somehow found this post will scrolling google and thought it'd be worth making an account and getting involved as I can speak to this topic very personally.
I am the product manager at 37 South in Auckland and we are the New Zealand agents for Epifanes and have been for well over a decade, you can find us on the Epifanes website, under 'global distribution', although they are still using our old address. I'm new to this roll here and we will be pushing Epifanes as much as possible, hopefully into retailers around the country (we now have a foot in the door with a few "big" chandlery names) as we are aiming to get more into distribution. Typically our Epifanes sales go to boat builders and yachts only, who know of us and have accounts with us. The main reason that you see the same names in chandleries and more niche product ranges not on the shelves has been mentioned already, it mostly comes down to much larger distributors and market makers selling the common, DIY products at massive volumes to major retailers, the type of volumes that smaller companies like us cannot usually compete with, think Akzo Nobel for an example with International and AWL products. If your average customer doesn't recognize the brand they likely won't branch out and buy it, as simple as that. Hence, why major retailers are usually hesitant to stock lesser known brands regularly.
Having said that, we are changing things here soon with a new company that will only be distributing our products that we are the NZ agents, separating our Yacht agent and product distribution businesses. We haven't launched it yet but the new company is called "Mayne + Foss" (pronounced Mayne and Foss), a little sneak peak there for you, the website will be live in a few weeks.
Google targeted ads will be much more common for us so you will hopefully find us and our products much easier online and I'll be pushing harder to get product ranges like Epifanes in retailer stores as our business relationships evolve further.
FYI - We don't stock Epifanes paint, only varnish but we do have Rapid clear and all the other varnishes you'll be aware of in stock by the plenty, so feel free to get in touch with me any time if you needed some.
Why are we stuck with just a couple brands in NZ?
in TechTalk
Posted
Hey mate, new member here. I somehow found this post will scrolling google and thought it'd be worth making an account and getting involved as I can speak to this topic very personally.
I am the product manager at 37 South in Auckland and we are the New Zealand agents for Epifanes and have been for well over a decade, you can find us on the Epifanes website, under 'global distribution', although they are still using our old address. I'm new to this roll here and we will be pushing Epifanes as much as possible, hopefully into retailers around the country (we now have a foot in the door with a few "big" chandlery names) as we are aiming to get more into distribution. Typically our Epifanes sales go to boat builders and yachts only, who know of us and have accounts with us. The main reason that you see the same names in chandleries and more niche product ranges not on the shelves has been mentioned already, it mostly comes down to much larger distributors and market makers selling the common, DIY products at massive volumes to major retailers, the type of volumes that smaller companies like us cannot usually compete with, think Akzo Nobel for an example with International and AWL products. If your average customer doesn't recognize the brand they likely won't branch out and buy it, as simple as that. Hence, why major retailers are usually hesitant to stock lesser known brands regularly.
Having said that, we are changing things here soon with a new company that will only be distributing our products that we are the NZ agents, separating our Yacht agent and product distribution businesses. We haven't launched it yet but the new company is called "Mayne + Foss" (pronounced Mayne and Foss), a little sneak peak there for you, the website will be live in a few weeks.
Google targeted ads will be much more common for us so you will hopefully find us and our products much easier online and I'll be pushing harder to get product ranges like Epifanes in retailer stores as our business relationships evolve further.
FYI - We don't stock Epifanes paint, only varnish but we do have Rapid clear and all the other varnishes you'll be aware of in stock by the plenty, so feel free to get in touch with me any time if you needed some.
Cheers.