A letter from the President

Greetings Friends:

Whew! We are amazed at how much has happened since our last newsletter!

Last winter we decided to purchase new software which was launched in May. It has generally been a happy experience for both our customers and us. We can now barcode most products so customers at shows and in the store have a description and price right on the product. This is especially useful on the strands of beads as before it was a challenge to interpret the hang tags or to figure out what was what stone from the invoice description. Bar-coding also streamlines and improves the accuracy of the check-out process.

Really exciting for us and we hope for you is that the new software has enabled us to have a much improved website! If you have not already seen it, please check it out at www.canbead.com. We have noticed that it is significantly more user friendly for our customers. One big remaining issue is that the developers are still working on getting the wholesale prices online and we do not yet have an estimated time of completion. In the meantime, wholesale customers can be assured that wholesale prices will be calculated when their order is processed even if it is submitted online with the retail prices. In the future, as the new software is directly linked to the website, we will be able to put information about new products online much faster. Prices are updated hourly so if there are any changes, you will see them right away.

As with any new system, there are glitches and things that may get overlooked. If you detect any problems or have any suggestions, please let us know.

We have also introduced a number of new products, some of which can be seen in the "Products" section of this newsletter. Not all new products are photographed yet so watch for them in our December newsletter. Also, don't forget that we have a number of products that are not yet in our web store so if you are looking for something and don't find it, send us an e-mail and we can tell you whether we have it or can get it.

We greatly appreciate feedback from you - both positive and negative. If you have any suggestions about products or service, we would welcome them!

Sincerely,

Meredith