Production woes

In 2009, we took our first steps into retail. I’ve already covered the woes of prototyping at short notice. Full-on production, however, was a different beast.

In August 2009, when most cricket bat manufacturers have finalised their range and mass-production is already underway Mongoose were scrambling around trying to survive. At one point in August, I was invited to MCF’s house and was told that my salary for that month could not be guaranteed. Times were tough, the initial boot-strapping of funding from Marcus, who had poured his life, soul and life savings into the business had run out. The mooted investment, assumed to be a simple case of putting pen to paper fell through due to IP issues and other squabbles. From an outsiders perspective, we looked secure with signings of Dwayne Smith and negotiations ongoing with an Australian fast bowler for the Ashes series. However we were falling apart.

It wasn't until mid-September, that an emergency loan (later to be converted into equity) was secured from a number of private individuals. This secured Mongoose’s future for the short-term, however all production plans were in tatters.

Nevertheless, we pressed on with the Lord’s launch and secured orders for bats to be delivered by the end of the year. Around 160 in total, all needing to be manufactured and delivered between September 2009 and October 2009. The sports retail industry works on 30 day payment terms, meaning we would have to front money for 160 bats to be manufactured and survive another couple of months without getting paid.

The Mongoose 2009/10 range, for which we had 160 orders all for delivery within a month. None of which had been manufactured yet.

We attempted negotiations with Indian suppliers, such as Sareen Sports however many of these were wary after the failure of Woodworm and were insistent on 100% payment upfront. Time was also a factor which made working with Indian suppliers initially very difficult. As if a lead time of 30+ days for a stock order to be manufactured wasn’t enough, there was the 40 days delivery time for the freight to reach the door via sea freight. Air freight sped up the process significantly, but ate into margins tremendously. It cost approximately 20x more to air freight bats, compared to sea.

Eventually we managed to secure terms, with Hunts County Bats. The manufacturer who had helped with prototyping and the initial launch phase. Although they had their own orders to also fulfil, they moved heaven and earth to get our stock orders out and the wheels were fully in motion.

Tony Cook, the batmaker at Hunts County — who ensured we stayed afloat despite our troubles.

As we begun to move further into retail, it became clear our product range was not sufficiently wide enough to satisfy many retailers needs. We’d already looked into expanding into ‘soft’ pads and gloves for 2009/10, and failed, now we were being asked for a new range of Junior bat.

The Junior market is heavily dominated by low grade Kashmir Willow. These bats made up the vast majority of the sales matrix, and although low quality, they can be seen as a great way to build brand affinity. Kashmir willow bats are made in India, and generally cost somewhere in the region of £4-£8 to manufacturer in the factories of Jalandhar or Meerut. Thanks to our earlier production woes, we didn’t have this stock, leading to many suppliers anxious to stock a new product where the lowest retail price point was in excess of £100.00.

The attitude at Mongoose, however was often build interest, and we’ll solve the supply issues later. Supply issues were often seen as a positive — after all, who ever wants to go into a nightclub that doesn’t have a queue? By mid November, we had in excess of 150 junior Kashmir willow bats to manufacture and deliver. Delivery dates were spread from December through to March. In short — we needed Kashmir willow bats, within the week. Impossible.

The updated price list, showing the new MMi3 bats in Kashmir willow. Lead times for manufacture in India, were in excess of 2 months.

With our new production nightmare, we again went back to Hunts County bat — hoping for some assistance in solving our pickle. We took the most unprecedented and perhaps least cost effective route known. Our £26.50 trade price Jnr Kashmir willow bats were to made here in Huntingdon. How did we do this? We took a stock of their Kashmir willow mens bats — and cut them down into Junior bats. Genius?! Amazingly, we managed to still make a small profit on what surely must be the only ever Kashmir willow bats made here in England!

2010 — New year, new challenges

Somehow, through hard-work, luck, some help from other companies and some marketing genius Mongoose had made it through it’s first 7 months of trading. All whilst it looked like plain sailing from the outside.

2010 would be the year Mongoose would really look to press on and become established in the cricket industry. 2010 would bring a new cricket season, the World T20 cup, another edition of the IPL and of course, the Ashes — the tournament which made Woodworm, a brand we were often likened to, a favourite amongst.

Much of our time in early 2010, whilst not chasing production orders or sourcing new investment, was spent perusing Cricinfo and speaking with agents regarding new signings. At the time I was 18, and this was heaven, an opportunity to meet some of my heroes and, hopefully, see them using a product I’d help them design.

We categorised potential sponsored players, based upon how they may represent the brand

Matthew Hayden, had long been one of the targets of Mongoose, in IPL 2009 he received the Orange cap as the tournament’s highest run-scorer. He averaged 53.45 runs in the T20 format. Chris Gayle was averaging 35 at this point. We also saw Hayden as an icon in the game, perhaps as I was brought up on the Ashes 05, but we thought he could really lend a hand to make the ‘Goose seem like a genuine cricketing product, and not a gimmick. We began tapping up Hayden, and his agent, back in 2009 during the Ashes series and briefly netted with him in Finchley, at the Middlesex academy to demonstrate the bat.

Other players also floated around as potential signings, VVS Laxman, a friend of Stuart Law, our first ambassador, was discussed as a potential signing. As too were Andrew Symonds, Harbjahan Singh, Dilshan and Suresh Raina.

Less sexy than schmoozing International superstars, was negotiating with the county pro’s on the circuit. At one point, I vividly remember answering the office phone to an Essex cricketer we hadn’t spoken to before. Introducing himself to us by only first name, he went on to ask for some bats to be sent down ‘for the lads to try out’. The main thing we always were looking for in a player, was a willingness to use the MMi3 — our previous experience with our initial signings was less than promising, and every player was now treated to a net session before signing the contract to ensure they were comfortable with the range.

An example bonus structure, offered to some players.

For the start of the season in 2010, we had signed up approximately 5 county pros including Gareth Andrew, Chris Benham, Ian Blackwell and Azhar Mahmood. Again — our reputation was that we’d pay better than any other brand, with small retainer clauses and some hefty bonuses if runs were scored. 2010 was shaping up to be an exciting season.

Part 3 here