Thu Jun 24 '21 Announcement
almost 3 years ago
– Thu, Jun 24, 2021 at 04:34:22 AM
Hi there, we hope everyone is well and safe.
We’re back with another update today.
Our factory has cleared part of their workers to concentrate on the SMOL final batch. These workers are on standby and ready to work anytime once they receive the rest of the materials needed to start the production of the perks.
Our supplier has started working on manufacturing the fabrics needed for the final batch and they will let us know as soon as the production is finished. Being a non-essential product and with the small quantity included in this order, only part of our supplier’s workers are assigned to accommodate our purchase.
The rest of the materials needed for your SMOL (e.g. pull tabs, zippers, elastic strings, etc.) will be shipped to our factory once the fabrics are ready so we can start manufacturing the perks.
We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding of the progress. We acknowledge that we’re not progressing as fast as we would like to, however, the current global situation has hindered us from maximising our resources.
Also note that big cities in China are currently under strict health protocols that greatly affect the progress of businesses in the country (e.g. they can only work during specific times, limit the number of people on duty, employees going through multiple health tests, etc.).
We will continue to keep everyone in the loop with our progress.
That’s it for now.
If you have any questions, feel free to send us a message. We do our best to reply to your inquiry as soon as possible, usually within 24 hours.
Stay safe and have a beautiful day ahead.
The LiteTravel Team
Fri May 14 '21 Announcement
almost 3 years ago
– Fri, May 14, 2021 at 02:43:07 AM
Hi there, we’re back with another update.
As of this writing, we still have 44 bakers with incomplete surveys. To check the status of your survey you can have the direct link re-sent to your inbox by entering the email address connected to your Indiegogo pledge through the survey retrieval link here.
If you’re still unable to retrieve your survey link, please send us a message at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help.
SMOL Final Batch
Our factory is currently in the process of wrapping things up with some of their bigger clients so they can give us a firmer timeline for the final batch of perks.
We have already placed the orders for the fabric and materials (e.g. zippers, pull tabs, etc.) and they are just waiting to be shipped out to our factory once the production timeline is confirmed.
Being a company without a large supply chain, we kept getting pushed to the back of the line. However, we’ve reached an agreement with our factory to pay in advance part of the perks that are included in the final batch. This is part of our on-going efforts to encourage our factory to prioritise our order as much as possible.
We appreciate everyone’s understanding that SMOL is currently considered non-essential, which ultimately adds to the delay in our progress. However, we will find a way to optimise every stage we can so we can start working on the final batch as soon as possible. You can trust that we’ll let everyone know through our campaign updates once we have a firmer production timeline, just like we’ve always done.
We understand that the delays are tough to accept and we know that backers included in this final batch are eager to receive their SMOL, especially when the majority of the community have received their perks.
We also know that we have early backers who were included in this latest batch and we are forever grateful for your trust and support because without you, bringing SMOL to life would have been impossible. We sincerely acknowledge that your experience with this campaign might not have been as pleasant as we would have liked. That came from both outside challenges that we couldn't have anticipated and the changes imposed by the global pandemic.
Looking back, we could have done much better and it has been not only a very humbling experience but also a very valuable learning journey for our team. We know we might have let down part of our backers. We really hope that we can all bear in mind that this is a crowdfunding campaign and the challenges of entrepreneurship often storm through much larger businesses with even better resources than ours.
We will continue to learn from these experiences and we remain grateful for every single one of our backers. This will help us do better in our future projects and we appreciate the community’s support and understanding.
That’s it for now.
If you have any questions about the status of your SMOL, feel free to send us a message at [email protected] - we do our best to get back to you as soon as possible, usually within 24 hours.
Thank you again for your support and have a beautiful day ahead.
The LiteTravel Team
Thu Apr 15 '21 Announcement
about 3 years ago
– Thu, Apr 15, 2021 at 01:49:52 AM
Hi there, we hope everyone is safe and well. We’re back with another update.
As of this writing, we still have 24 backers with incomplete surveys. As we shared in our previous updates, all backers who filled in their surveys late will be included in a later production and fulfilment batch.
We’re happy to let you know that most of the perks are now delivered. Thank you so much to everyone who took a moment to share with us their feedback and thoughts about SMOL. We also received a lot of heartwarming messages congratulating us for bringing the campaign to this stage. It was challenging indeed but we couldn’t have done it without you.
We’re posting this update to share with the community a brief insight into the challenges we had with this campaign.
It’s been a tough year for all of us due to the Covid-19 situation. Over a year ago, we all faced uncertainties and rapidly changing situations that impacted most parts of our lives, one way or another.
Businesses have closed down, leaving millions of people unemployed, friends and loved ones getting infected by the virus, and many also lost someone special in this battle that we’re all doing our best to fight.
Our first 2 campaigns (Qubix1 and 2), were very successful thanks to this incredible backer community that believed in and supported the projects. Successful not only means that we exceeded our funding goal (thanks to you and to all our previous backers!), but we also completed the different stages of our campaign (production and fulfilment) with very minimal hiccups and on time.
January 2020 came and we launched our 3rd crowdfunding campaign - SMOL. Everyone in the team was super excited and optimistic. The campaign on Kickstarter ended and just like our previous campaigns, it was a success! We exceeded the funding goal and we had over 3,000 backers who supported us. We then transitioned to InDemand where over 800 additional backers joined us. This is a mix of repeat and new LiteTravel backers.
The production for our Kickstarter batch was scheduled for April 2020, which was the height of the pandemic. When the lockdown started happening in China, we didn't only face extensive delays with supply ordering and production, but all suppliers and manufacturers started losing manpower and demanded from clients like us higher production costs in order for them to keep their businesses afloat and continue to pay their employees.
This was just the tip of the iceberg. As a small company, without a large supply chain, we kept getting pushed to the back of the priority line through every step of the process - materials’ order delivery, manufacturing, fulfilment, etc.
Furthermore, all suppliers and factories imposed 2 different price increases over the duration of our campaign that sent our cost soaring approximately 30% in total. We wanted to bring SMOL to the community at the best possible price because that’s one of our values as a company demonstrated throughout the previous campaigns, so the very fair pricing we usually observe leaves us with very little margins to “play” with in extreme situations such as a global pandemic. At that point, we realised that the situation had thrown us a curveball.
To alleviate the impact as much as possible, the entire LiteTravel team bunkered down and used all available capital towards manufacturing and delivering on the SMOL campaign, despite the challenges and financial losses incurred that far.
Through this period, all our team took massive pay cuts while continuing to work with full dedication towards the delivery of our campaign. Being in the travel niche, which was one of the most impacted industries during the pandemic, we endured the challenges while having no consistent income as a company.
Despite the challenges that caused months of delays, we were still lucky to have started the fulfilment early this year. From the 2nd to the 3rd quarter of 2020, we’ve seen a lot of people struggle with logistics. Packages getting lost while in transit, deliveries delayed for months without tracking updates due to limited or no flight availability, couriers heavily backlogged because of the lockdowns, etc.
During this stage, shipping prices increased by 20-30%, which had a very big impact on our campaign and on our ability to maintain all terms as we initially planned.
Because we already used all of our funds to cover for the increase that we encountered during the production and fulfilment of the perks, we could, unfortunately, not accept refunds at this stage.
We also made sure to send out the perks based on the size that you selected in your survey. Due to the challenges we encountered during this campaign, we will, unfortunately, not be able to offer satisfaction guarantees or accept replacement requests for issues that are not stemming from manufacturing defects.
We, however, have created this SMOL Swap System to make the SMOL size exchange as painless as possible.
If you would like to exchange your SMOL for a different size or colour mix, please read the steps below carefully:
Step 1: Fill in this survey form using your accurate information: https://link.litetravel.co/SMOLswap
Step 2: After filling out the survey form, you’ll be directed to a spreadsheet where you will see all details filled in by other backers who, like you, wish to exchange the size of their SMOL(s).
Step 3: Once you have the spreadsheet open, you must check out the tab called “READ THIS FIRST”
Step 4: Follow the set of instructions to find someone to coordinate with in order to swap your SMOL.
We value your time and this system was created with that important factor in mind. This will hopefully help you exchange your SMOL with a backer near you.
Also, returns run counter to our emphasis on sustainability because every return has a considerable carbon footprint and we’re doing our best to be mindful of our impact on the world. This system will serve this purpose while allowing you to save time and enjoy your SMOL without delay.
SMOL is a crowdfunding campaign where backers joined us on an entrepreneurial journey. Most campaigners in our situation would’ve most likely chosen to say “Sorry, we couldn’t complete the campaign as planned” and deliver nothing.
Others would have simply disappeared, without updates or communication, never to be heard of again. We’ve been crowdfunding backers for years ourselves and we’ve seen creators do this even when the world was not battling a worldwide pandemic. While we’re disappointed and most of all sad with these unforeseen challenges, not delivering the rewards to you was never an option that we considered.
Global pandemics are not our expertise. But instead of being disappointed and sad about the situation, we focused on what we know is the best thing to do. We posted honest and frequent updates and kept all of our communication lines open - emails, campaign comments section, social media messaging, etc, and replied to all inquiries as promptly as possible. Every single comment, message and email sent to us has been replied to.
We’re now 95% complete with the fulfillment of the rewards for all crowdfunding orders. When packages started to arrive, many were happy and satisfied, and just like any product out there, we also have dissatisfied backers. Whatever your case may be, thank you still for supporting us.
We hope you understand that we’re not sharing this to earn your sympathy. This is us openly sharing with you our perspective and how the pandemic affected our campaign because we feel a responsibility to our backers. We’re not a faceless company. We are people just like you - while it may sound a bit cliche, it’s nonetheless true. We’ve received some feedback that we’re using the pandemic as an excuse for the delays. We can only hope that this is because some have not felt any significant impact in their lives or that of their loved ones as a result of the global situation. If that’s the case, please be grateful for that. While skeptical ourselves at the beginning about this whole virus thing, we, unfortunately, felt its impact at every level of our lives (business, social, and most importantly family).
The great majority of the community has remained supportive and we are extremely grateful for this. We owed every backer who supported us an explanation of what caused the delays.
SMOL has been a very humbling experience for us. We’ve learned a lot (and we are still learning) as a team and as crowdfunding campaigners. From this experience, we will look forward and focus on the future so we can explore opportunities that will help us maintain LiteTravel, so we can continue to bring new, useful travel solutions to the community.
Manufacturing Defects
Manufacturing defects are highly unlikely, however, there are always exceptions that fall through the cracks, especially when producing thousands of rewards.
We actively listen to all feedback and we are always available to help backers experiencing issues.
We rely on your help to report any form of damage on your SMOL upon delivery (e.g. ripped or torn fabric where the packaging is not showing the same type of damage, etc.) within 24-48 hours.
To help you with this process, please take a clear picture of the damage and email it to us at [email protected]
We can, unfortunately, not issue replacements based on reasons like package mishandling (the complaint should be directed to the courier), subjective reasons (e.g not liking the selected colour mix, not liking the fit of the jacket, changing body shape/weight which affected the fit of SMOL, etc.).
Final Batch
We’re now in the process of discussing the timeline for the final batch of perks that are yet to leave our factory. Once we have an estimated timeline for the fulfilment of these perks, you can trust that we’ll keep you posted with our progress so you’ll know when to expect your SMOL.
We know that you’re eager to receive your SMOL and we apologise for this delay.
We remain available for any assistance you might need down the line so feel free to send us a message at [email protected]
Thank you again for your support. Stay safe and have a great day for now.
The LiteTravel Team
Fri Mar 19 '21 Announcement
about 3 years ago
– Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 03:00:43 AM
Hi there, we’re back with another update.
Before we share more about our progress, we still have 24 backers with incomplete surveys. All backers who complete their surveys late will be included in a later production and fulfilment batch.
Fulfilment Progress
We have uploaded approximately 670 tracking numbers to BackerKit and all email notifications for these orders were already sent out. You should have received the email notification directly to your inbox. You can also see your tracking number in your survey, which you can always access through the same link as before. If you no longer have your BackerKit link, you can retrieve it by entering the email address connected to your survey at this link: https://smol-indiegogo.backerkit.com
If your tracking details are uploaded and you don't see any updates displayed yet, this is perfectly normal. It's just because your package is still being processed by the carrier. Tracking logs are usually not updated in real-time, so please allow a few days for updates to show up and keep a close eye on your tracking log.
If you still don’t see any tracking updates 2 weeks after receiving your tracking details, please let us know so we can check on the status of your package.
We rely on your support in making sure that you keep an eye out on your tracking link to avoid missing out on the delivery of your package. If the delivery is unsuccessful and your package remains unclaimed for a specific duration, depending on your courier/local postal service, the package will either be returned to sender (us) or it will be destroyed.
Final Batch
We’re waiting for an estimate from the factory on when they will be able to dispatch the final batch of rewards for fulfilment. This batch includes roughly 15% of the total perks. We’ll share a new update as soon as we have an estimate for this final batch.
Because we’re still in the process of shipping out orders, we’re unable to list all backers included in this batch at the moment. If you still don’t receive your tracking details 2 weeks from today, then your SMOL is included in the final batch.
When splitting the orders into 2 different batches, we take into account more than your contribution number because there is a lot that goes into optimising fulfilment to properly manage all orders. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience this delay might cause you.
We know that you have been waiting patiently for your SMOL and we are very grateful that you have remained supportive and understanding throughout this period. Once we have more details about this batch, we’ll be sure to post an update.
In the meantime, we remain available at [email protected] for any assistance you might need.
Thank you again for your support and have a great day ahead.
The LiteTravel Team
