Our initial forays into Australia, the States and UK were very positive. We had a revolutionary product and people liked us. They also liked the fact that — even though we came from the other side of the world — we were going to do business “as if we were local”. Photographers could pick up the phone and call us any time, we’d deliver to door to door — freight free — and they could pay us in their own currency. At the time that was just as revolutionary as the product.
But being “local” involved us taking on a lot of risks, like the cost of air freight, potential returns and repairs, and the ups and downs of the New Zealand dollar against the Aussie, the greenback and the pound. With absolutely no experience behind us we had to place our bets and set our prices at a level that would be attractive to customers, we hoped, and still make us a profit.
And then something great happened — well, great for us.
Helen Clarke’s new Labour government proved deeply unpopular with business and the Kiwi dollar crashed. The orders rolled in and suddenly we were getting a lot more NZDs — South Pacific Pesos! — than we expected for the AUDs, USDs and GBPs we were earning. It couldn’t and didn’t last, but for a while it was quite a windfall, and we decided to spend it on travel, trade shows and hosting seminars in our new export markets.