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9070 Posts
Hello dear euro TLers!
As the guy personally in charge of the teamliquid store, I would like to shed some light into the Euro store delay, in doing so I will be completely honest about the reality with it and and how the store itself is going to work.
I will start with the idea behind the Euro store. My goal with it (I'm sure the TL staff shares this vision with me) is to build a platform on two continents, providing equal terms of service for both our US and european customers. That includes consistent store policy regarding returns and exchanges, fast reliable and cheap shipping. In order for the Euro store to be sustainable in the long term, we need to find manufacturers to reproduce all our items in Europe as they are sold in the states - consistency in quality is very important as I believe everyone should be getting the same products. Importing our set of products from the states is not optimal - we can do it only for chosen products, unless we want to deal with shipping and duty taxes every time which ultimately will raise the end price by quite a bit.
The problem with our current shirt offering is that they were not designed to be reproduced in Europe. The 3s shirts (spirit, swarm and steel) were designed in the summer of 2011, back then we just picked the best shirt we could find in the States and now in Europe we realized that no manufacturer works or even knows about the brand that we are using. Recently we managed to find a local distributor which sourced the blank shirts we are using for the Spirit, but at this point we are unable to source the shirt we are using for the swarm, steel and winged pony designs. There are a couple of options we have, like importing the blank shirts from another european country or even from the states, but again that wont be optimal as we want to be as flexible with our production as possible - we don't want to be out of stock constantly. As for the hoodie - its just incredibly expensive - we simply cant keep its price as it is right now. One way or another we will get to sell all our items in Europe, we just need to find a sustainable model which offers the best prices for you.
Speaking of prices I want to be transparent and realistic on the matter - the vast majority of our current products will get a slight price increase in Europe. We will do our best to keep the prices equal from our end, but there's still the 20% VAT on all goods sold in Europe. Does that mean all our products will get a 20% price increase? No, we will compensate part of the price increase, but there's still going to be a difference. Products that are not going to be priced differently are the posters and the mousepads. So for everyone hoping for lower or at least equal prices, I'm sorry but its just not realistic and not achievable for us. Even if we want to keep the integrity of our community this is just not how the european market works. To make a real life comparison, I would really like to get the iPhone at 600$ like the americans do but in Europe we get to pay 600 Euros.
I'm really sorry if some of you guys are waiting for lower prices and holding back your orders for the past 2 months. As I said the benefit of the European store will be the much faster and cheaper shipping as well as the better service provided. It really is the best solution in the long term for both you as a customer and for us as a retailer.
So here's the big question - when the fuck are we going to launch it?! Well, I really can't give an honest answer on that. At this time we have all posters, the mousepads, the keycaps and the Spirit shirt on stock. If we decide to just import a bulk of our other shirts and hoodies we can launch the Euro store as early as October. We can also launch it sooner but w/o all items. It's really a hard decision to take, but I can assure you that the Euro store is been worked on every day, we still consider various options like importing the hoodies vs producing them in Europe, perhaps even changing the shirt model to another one (which I really dont want to do).
I was overeager to announce the Eurostore back when we launched the hoodies - I wasn't completely informed about the complications of this venture and I misled all of you as well as the rest of the TL staff. I can only work hard now to make sure the Euro store is actually worth all the wait. I'm really really sorry if you are upset and disappointed, but please blame it on my incompetence and not on the entire TL staff.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!
 
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If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!
How do you maintain being so awesome on a day to day basis? Seriously though, this is really quality business practice. If I had this kind of honesty with my customer's, I would be fired. I really appreciate your words.
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This post really wasn't needed in the manner it was executed.
No one needed to fall on the sword for this one.
Shit happens. Just inform, don't apologize. Launching the store without the hoodies would be a very strange business decision though.
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Thanks for letting everyone know ^^
Really appreciate all the work you've been putting in (though part of that might be a lack of impatience on my part because I live in the US, after all). disciple hwaiting!
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So if the US hoodies are made my American Appareal, why dont you do the same for Europe? I think we have it there too, but I dont know if they produce in Europe and how the costs would turn out to be. You probably alreayd thought about that. I just wondered 
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No need to apologize, man. Based on what you're saying, the delays are completely understandable. As for pricing, I think everyone in the EU is aware that stuff is simply more expensive over here due to VAT and some other factors that are obviously out of your control.
If you already have some stuff on stock, why don't you just launch the store with what's available and then bring other products online as you get the logistics solved?
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On September 22 2012 16:10 AmericanUmlaut wrote:
If you already have some stuff on stock, why don't you just launch the store with what's available and then bring other products online as you get the logistics solved?
I second that. Just start with what you have, I imagine people(including me  ) would be happy with anything for a start, then slowly move on to offering more and more stuff as you figure out the details on different kinds of merchandise. Might also help
you to iron out certain kinks in the store once it gets going.
Anyway, all the best, looking forward to the euro store in any way shape or form.
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On September 22 2012 16:10 AmericanUmlaut wrote:
If you already have some stuff on stock, why don't you just launch the store with what's available and then bring other products online as you get the logistics solved?
^ This.
User was warned for this post
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From where are you planning to ship the goods?
(as in mainland "EU" / UK? or some strange small islands (i.e. Jersey))
Just realized (friend mentioned it^^) that it was mentioned in the original EU announcement My bad - so just ignore this question!
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A pity about the delays but understandable.
Quick question, will the EU store only accept Euros or will it accept other European currencies such as GBP, CHF, NOK, etc.?
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United States4796 Posts
On September 22 2012 17:39 Derrida wrote:Show nested quote +On September 22 2012 16:10 AmericanUmlaut wrote:
If you already have some stuff on stock, why don't you just launch the store with what's available and then bring other products online as you get the logistics solved? ^ This.
I believe Team Liquid would rather have a complete store as a complete product rather than a few ragtag individual pieces.
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Euro store is getting the Blizzard approach, release it when it's ready.
Most people on TL would probably agree with this approach
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You cant ask for a better explanation than this I guess. Hoping for the best!
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I'm glad to hear you guys are working on it... i cant wait!!
oh and don't change any of the products PLS !!...
i really hope you will get it up and running by october that would be sick!!
keep up the good work!
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thx for the infos! You dont need to load it all on yourself, we will be waiting - if we need to, for years! :D
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I'd like to know where the store is going to be located - I know some local shirt manufacturers who might be able to reproduce the TL-Shirts
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On September 22 2012 08:50 Thrill wrote:
Shit happens. Just inform, don't apologize.
No, that's transparent business.
U fuk up (no lieing implied, but certain expecations weren't fullfilled)
u apologize
u keep it realz.
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Knowing is better than not knowing! Hope you can make everything add up
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Thanks for the information, really appreciate it!
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will australia get any love any time soon?
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Thanks for the update. I guess I have to wait a bit longer to throw my money at you. Maybe I'll use the US Store, but with the added taxes & shipping costs, I guess better not. At least I've got my TL Shirt a few months back, so I can at least wear some TL shirt from time to time.
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On September 22 2012 21:28 HououinKyouma wrote:
will australia get any love any time soon?
It's as about likely as New Zealand getting some love.
Chances? None ):
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
At least NZ has a lobbyist in staff.
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Wow disciple, this took a lot of guts, I really respect TL for this.
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Just open it as i'm sure many people are in the same boat as me just wanting a mousepad and keycap. Really annoying to have to wait till October for something I do not want.
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Just use another brand for the blank shirts and the hoodie. As long as the quality is similar it doesn't matter if they are slightly different. It's the brand and the art that we are paying for. Give us the chance to support TL!
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On September 23 2012 01:49 dala wrote:
Just use another brand for the blank shirts and the hoodie. As long as the quality is similar it doesn't matter if they are slightly different. It's the brand and the art that we are paying for. Give us the chance to support TL!
Agreed as long as quality is similar.
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Why is this in blogs? It should be given more attention as many people have been eagerly awaiting the opening of the store.
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I really like that you shared all the reasons here and gave an honest explanation why we have to wait. It's annoying but in the end not that big of a deal as long as we get it someday in the furture (we were able to wait ~10 yearhs for SC2, we can wait a few months for a european shop ).
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Thanks for the update. I'm looking forward to the Euro store, whenever it'll be
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Too bad there is so much delay  . But thanks for the info!
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Its just great to get an honest answer. I am more than happy to wait knowing that you are looking for the best quality products.
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No need for apologies, better delay it and make it right.
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Thanks for the blog, I really appreciate your honesty!
Mainly I wanted to redeem the poster tokens (my room needs moar TL), so I'd rather have a store opened sooner than later w/o all the products. But I completely understand if TL wants to offer a complete product. I'm really looking forward regardless!
(:
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Please let me buy a mousepad, it's all I want, even if I have to pay 20% VAT.
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its november already.....wheres euro store T_T
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Poland3748 Posts
I don't expect euro store to offer identical items - just comparable quality. It may be more expensive as pretty much everything in Europe is. I don't know if our governments are so greedy or that us gov.is throwing money away.
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EPT
