A Peek Behind-the-Scenes: Quantity Forecasting and Pre-Orders 🐢

Hi Hazelnuts – we’re so happy that you all loved the Turtle Society Collection as much as we did! We understand that people are disappointed that the collection sold out so quickly, so I wanted to give a bit more of a peek behind-the-scenes of our business decisions and let you know the next steps for the Turtle Society Collection.
 
We want people to get their turtles – so later this week we’ll be opening up pre-orders for mini turtles and the turtle vest + patch sets! Pre-orders will be open from Friday, February 25th until 1 PM on Friday, March 4th. Once we let our artisan friends know quantities, we’re estimating we will be able to get your turtle treats to you in about 8-12 weeks. There are no limits for the pre-order! Order as many turtles as your heart desires. You can access the pre-order here ❤️
 
In mid-2021, we started noticing that all of our launches were selling out faster than we’d like. We don’t want Hazel Village products to be exclusive to those who are able to shop right at launch time, and we know how disappointing it is when you miss out on a launch and can only purchase it for higher prices on B/S/T groups and marketplaces. So for all of the launches we were still planning, we increased our quantities – and it seems we over-corrected. It’s a delicate balance of making enough for everyone who wants one but not so many that they sit on the shelves for a long time. Unsold product is super bad for business, so when we started seeing limited-edition product not selling, we re-adjusted our quantity down a bit based on how each of our comparable launches had been performing. We’re not professional forecasters, and as a business of ~10 employees, hiring a professional forecaster isn’t quite in our budget right now (sometimes we sit around saying, “Well, what does your soul say about the quantity for that?”), so sometimes we get our quantities very right and sometimes very wrong. You all have been so kind in the Hazelnut group, and please know that we really do appreciate your kindness and understanding as we figure out how to best navigate complicated quantity waters.
 
There have been many suggestions to do pre-orders for more of our limited-edition launches, and I totally understand why people suggest it! Many people are happy waiting a little bit longer for their product, and it seems like a very easy solution to our quantity conundrum. Unfortunately, pre-orders are a bit of a logistical nightmare – it involves a lot of coordinating between the production, marketing, and fulfillment teams over the course of many months. We would like to be able to do more pre-ordered products, but it’s not in the scope of what our small and very busy team can handle right now, and ultimately is not a lucrative long-term business strategy for us.
 
Please let me know if you have any questions and I will happily answer them! Thanks, friends 🐢 
 
- Raquel