Dear Friends,

Like many of our customers, vendors and other small businesses, Nova has faced a very challenging economic climate for the last few years. Between increasing regulation of small toy producers and the economic malaise that has gripped our country and the world, we have felt at times that we were just holding on. Nonetheless, hold on we have, and it is because of you and the wonderful craftspeople we work with that we still feel energized and hopeful about the future.

In the face of these difficulties, we have tried many different initiatives over the last couple of years to try to continue to grow and share with people the wonder of a childhood filled with natural products. To that end, we have sent out our catalog to rented lists, “prospecting” as it’s known in the industry. We’ve tried free shipping. We’ve tried discounting our products.

All of these efforts have ultimately proven to be dead ends; except for the knowledge we’ve gained of how special you, our Nova customer, really are. And how do we know this? Because no matter how much we change, on average, you come to us yearly in the same numbers and spend the same amount with us—regardless of whether we offer discounts or free shipping or how many catalogs we send you. This tells us that you see the value of what we are providing and price is only a small part of it. And so we’ve decided that the time has come to get back to basics. Here’s what that means.

SHIPPING: The reality is that there is no such thing as “Free Shipping.” Either the cost is rolled into the price of the product or other things are being scrimped on, like customer service, employee wages or working conditions. In the interest of transparency, we will not hide the cost of shipping, but will tell you what it is up front (or rather in back, as the shipping chart is at the back of the catalog) and let you decide if it seems reasonable and fair.

PROMOTIONS/DISCOUNTS/SALES: We sell the same products year in and year out. Discounting a product today means having to order it again to sell to someone else at full price tomorrow. This underscores the main problem with discounting: Why should you be penalized for purchasing a product at the wrong time? We’d rather offer you a fair price every day. Occasionally we do put items on sale. These are almost always close-outs or new items that didn’t find a home at the full retail price. Almost without exception, we will not raise the price of an item once it’s been on sale.

Fair pricing and transparent costs: this is our commitment to you. In a way, it’s also a commitment to ourselves. Running Nova in an unsustainable way, not recognizing the true costs of doing business, would mean we couldn’t be around to serve you.

And ultimately, serving you is what it’s all about. In this, our 10th anniversary of owning Nova, we are so happy to have been a part of your families. You let our products into your homes to become part of your children’s lives. Here’s hoping, that with a little luck, a little learning and your support we’ll be here for many more years to come.

Warmly,

Susan + Ted Blood
susan@novanatural.com
ted@novanatural.com