[Voiceover]: Welcome to the checkout. We catch up with previous add to cart guests and ask them five quick questions to get to know them better and leave you with a little extra inspiration to get you through your Friday.
Nathan Bush: Today's checkout features Sam Penny, co founder of Artisans Bend. He's also behind the great online cheese shop Cheese Therapy. According to Sam, they are now the largest cheese retailer behind Woolies and Coles. The Artisans Bend marketplace is Sam's latest venture and just one of many strings to his bow. He's a former soldier, engineer, extreme swimmer, and lifeguard. Oh, and he also used to own hair salons.
Sam Penny: What a career.
Nathan Bush: Sam, welcome to the checkout. I have five quick questions for you
Nathan Bush: to learn a little bit more about you.
Sam Penny: Fire away, Nathan.
Nathan Bush: We've already learned a lot, I feel after your English Channel story and you know, we've gone deep already, but it's been fantastic. All right, number one, what is the weirdest thing that you've ever bought online?
Sam Penny: Okay, I think a couple of things. I'm not a big online shopper, but my real weakness online is that I am a collector of anything. Richard Neutra. Now, Richard Neutra is a post modern architect. Anybody Familiar with his 1950s built home, the Kaufman House in the US still one of the most beautiful houses ever built. I bought the Christie's auction book for that house. I've got a limited edition one of a hundred of his boomerang chair. I've got every book that's been written about the bloke. I've got a framed floor plan sketch hanging on my wall. Yeah, it's the only. For some reason, it's the only thing I collect. But I'm a real architecture nerd.
Nathan Bush: What was the first piece of his that you bought? Like, what drew you into that universe?
Sam Penny: I think it's, I think the key thing was seeing a poster of the Kaufman house with these women lounging around the pool. It's such an iconic photo. Just how idyllic and beautiful and simple the lines are on the house. That really drew me in. The landscaping, everything. I then started to go down that, you know, that rabbit hole and still have not found my way out.
Nathan Bush: Great stuff. All right, number two, who is your favorite retailer?
Sam Penny: Furnished a couple of rooms recently, and I would have to say it's Koala. The products arrive very fast. Their customer service is top notch. The customer reviews, you know, there's a lot of people with honesty on there. And Koala are really, you know, it's, it's what they're known for the customer reviews, but also the products don't need tools to assemble things slot together. Things come straight out of the box. Yeah. So right now, my little love affair would be koala. Yeah.
Nathan Bush: Nice. Great example. All right, number three, which e commerce practice you wish was history?
Sam Penny: Okay, a bit of a rant here. The thing that I wish was history is Buy now, pay later. I believe that particularly because I deal with a lot of small producers. They're charging some hefty fees, you know, sort of 5, 6%. The small producers really should not be going there. I feel that the fact that you're unable to pass that cost on to. To the consumer is wrong. I'd love to see that industry regulated and treated the same as credit cards. I also see the amount of debt really rising with Buy now, pay later debt that we're going to be in the same position as where we were with credit cards. It might be good for the big end of town to offer Buy now, pay later, but I just feel for any small producer putting that 6% that they take back into building your brand, building your marketing, build a better product, or even just getting better customer service. I'd love to see a massive overhaul in Buy now, pay later.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. So no Buy now, pay later on Artisans Bend?
Sam Penny: Hell, no. I owe it to our artisan producers that we don't need that. We're better than that.
Nathan Bush: And you don't get customer requests for it?
Sam Penny: No, we do every now and then. And I think a lot of retailers believe that they need to accept every payment offering that's out there. But if. If someone has Buy now, pay later, they've also got a credit card or they've also got PayPal or something like that. And so if you don't offer buy now, pay later, you can always give them a far cheaper offering. I just see it as an absolutely unregulated money grab. That's not providing a lot of value for small producers.
Nathan Bush: I love the conviction.
Sam Penny: It's awesome.
Nathan Bush: All right, number four, can you recommend a book or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into?
Sam Penny: Oh, yes. So look, I've studied an MBA civil engineer. I've read too many books. I don't read any more business books or anything like that anymore. A couple of podcasts that I really enjoy listening to. A little one called what the Flux here in Australia. Just, it's five minutes. My commute on the Sunshine coast is five minutes. And they tell me stuff that I didn't know. The other one that I really get into is called Hidden Brain by Shankara Vedantam. And it's more on the psychology side of things and not accepting things as the norm. So understanding that there could be two different sides to the story, for example, and both sides of that story are right. And then understanding how do you go about dealing with those both sides, for example, or things that are always in our psyche as that is how something is done. But when you actually look at it, why do we still do that when that's not the actual thing? Yeah. So I get a lot of huge amount of value from Hidden Brain.
Nathan Bush: Great suggestions. All right, last one I have for you. Finish this sentence. The future of retail is in the
Sam Penny: hands of small business. Nice. I see that this is the moment in time for for small business around the world to rise up. I see that the playing field is starting to level certainly with my business Artisans Bend being able to do the marketing for 200,000 artists and producers, we're effectively able to take it to the big guys and showcase product that's not on a shelf in a supermarket. We're able to showcase product which has a face behind it that's got heart, passion, value. Yeah. So I really see that the future of E commerce and retail is going to be and it started it's in the hands of the small guys.
Nathan Bush: Love it. Sam, we love what you're doing with Artisans Bend and Cheese Therapy. Keep it up and can't wait to
Sam Penny: see what happens next year, mate. I will do. Thanks, Nathan.
Nathan Bush: To hear more from Sam, jump back into episode 14046 where Sam discusses how the success of his other business, Cheese Therapy, led to a marketplace. He also talks about why content creation is a huge part of the business and what it feels like to go where no man has ever gone before. Thanks for listening and until next time, keep adding to cart.
Nathan Bush: All right, all right.
Nathan Bush: I know you're probably sick of me banging on about it, but a really quick message to say that the 10 week eCommerce accelerator program kicks off on the 14th of March. So soon. Registrations are still open. And don't forget the discount code for add to cart. Listeners use the coupon code add to cart all one word to get $200 off your registration. Head on over to Learn.Esweettalent.com that's Learn.EsweettalEnt.com to secure your place today. All right, I'm off to practice my teacher voice. I'll see you in there.
