The Competition

They say copying is a form of flattery. I think it's a lack of creativity!

Recently, I've noticed some competitor networks coming to our Action Wipes website and spending quite some time going through our web pages. Two that really stand out are The Thymes Limited and Johnson & Johnson.

So, what are they looking for?

J&J is a household name - they are a HUGE corporation with great baby products, K-Y Jelly and Neutrogena to start. They started coming to the site in June, having landed on our home page by googleing the key words "refresh soothe". Our tagline of course is "Clean. Refresh. Soothe." We've been using it since the day we created Action Wipes.

So maybe they're thinking of doing something with "refresh & soothe" and their Neutrogena brand of products. I think their current tag line, "Touch and be Touched", along with their commercials is sexy and alluring. I wish I had come up with that tag line!

But then I noticed they kept coming back, only this time it was direct, so they must have bookmarked our site. The second time, they spent more time looking at our Slick Lube. One of the things I love about J&J is that they've brought sex into the mainstream with their K-Y Jelly commercials - even though they're a little bit over the top. I mean COME on, who really starts making love at 8pm and keeps it going till 3am?? And without the little blue pill or the one that keeps it up for 36 hours?? Wow. Oh yeah, that's right, it's because silicone lubricant last much longer than sticky water based lubes. Hmmmm, we personally like our C&M Couples Create Passion Personal Lubricant.

Anyway, this has been going on for months...they keep coming back, having taken a look at all our products by now. Jeez, why don't they just call and hire me as a consultant??

The Thymes Limited is not as big as J&J, but they're certainly not small and are a little more bold when it comes to competitor Research & Development. (You typically see their bath & body products at places such as K-Mart, Walmart, Target, specialty boutiques... ) They first came to our site by googleing "essential oil wipes" and landed on our Essential Oils and Aromatherapy page. From there, they explored further and they too returned later - having bookmarked our site. However, they weren't satisfied simply reading about our products - they wanted to actually smell, feel and experience them...

So within a couple of weeks, we receive an on-line order from Madam X for a 15 ct pack of Action Wipes, which sell for $9.50. For shipping she chose UPS Ground, which was a little over $10.00 and would have taken 4-5 days to deliver. So as I typically do when ever someone chooses UPS and I know U.S. Mail will be more cost effective and quicker delivery, I immediately sent her an email and asked if she would prefer U.S. Mail. Offering to make up the cost difference by sending an extra pack of wipes. She wrote back and agreed to the U.S. Mail, but asked for a refund of the difference.

Through out this exchange, I had not paid attention to her email address - until she asked for a refund. Now typically, most buyers choose the extra pack as it's a really awesome deal - so I check out the email address and find that the extension is xxxx@thymes.com. I then check the delivery address and guess what? It's The Thymes Limited headquarters in Minnesota. Now COME on...I'm not a genius, but I'm not stupid either. (However, I do know women with extremely high IQs, but they're still stupid. I call them "stupid smart women" (SSW).) Do you really think I can't figure out what they are up to?? Of course they're in the process of developing their own wet wipes!

Needless to say, I refunded her the money - all of it, including the pay pal fees and advised I could not put my heart into delivering my baby into their hands for R&D purposes. I know they'll find a way around me if they're really interested, but let them work harder at it! What would you have done??

We'll save the Burt's Bees story for later...