Pushing The Easy Button

TV viewers, at least in the U.S., are familiar with the clever "easy button" advertising campaign from Staples, the office supply store. The theme is that there's a complicated way of doing anything. And then there's an easy way. You push the easy button, and you automatically are doing it the easy way. And the easy button is a metaphor for Staples. Or something like that. The message resonates with all of us, because it's such a compelling fantasy. Whatever difficulty you encounter in life, you push the omnipresent easy button, and the problem goes away. What a concept! Sadly, in my experience, not all problems in life can be solved by walking into a Staples store, although certainly some can be. Regardless, I like the approach of looking at any problem with an easy-button mindset. "OK, this problem looks tough. But what's the easy-button way to solve it?"

Perhaps the first historical figure to metaphorically push the easy button was Alexander the Great. Arriving in Telmissus, the ancient capital of Phrygia, he found at the gate a large rope tied up in an intricate, impossible knot. It had been set there by the priests at the command of an oracle which had prophesied: "Whoever can untie this knot, shall become king of Asia." So far, no one had been able to untie it. When Alexander arrived on the scene, leading his armies, he took one look at the Gordian knot, heard about the legend, pulled out his sword and with one bold stroke, sliced through the whole thing. He then went on to conquer Asia as far as the Indus, thus more or less fulfilling the prophecy. This unique approach to untying a knot has become known as the "Alexandrian solution," but we might just as well call it "pushing the easy button."

I had occasion to think about the easy-button approach when talking to a Polygon member at the JCK Show in June. For background, Polygon has in the last few years been expanding into Asia, yet delivering value in Asia has been a challenge. It shouldn't be that difficult. Everyone in India, for example, wants to sell directly to U.S. retailers. Polygon has the world's largest collection of U.S. retail jewelers sourcing online. Accessing that market from India, via Polygon, should be easy. But then come all the problems. How does the supplier know whom he is dealing with? Who pays shipping if the stone doesn't sell? What do you do about the fact that independent retail stores in the U.S. typically source solitaire diamonds one at a time, on an "as needed" basis? Indian suppliers are used to delivering thousands of diamonds in a single order. Finding a way for Indian suppliers to profitably do business with U.S. retailers is complicated, and so far we've not been as successful as we'd like.

At the JCK show, a young man approached the booth and announced that he was already a Polygon member, and that he'd joined about six months ago. I always enjoy meeting Polygon members and hearing about their experiences, but my heart sank when he said he was a diamond manufacturer from Bombay. Being a supplier from India, I knew this man was going to bring up all the difficulties of trying to sell diamonds to U.S. retailers. I'd heard them all, and didn't have good answers. Nonetheless, I had to be polite and go through the motions.

"So, what do you think of Polygon?" I asked, knowing I wouldn't like the answer.
"Love it."
"Excuse me?"
"It's great. I'm selling a lot of diamonds."
"You're selling a lot of diamonds?" (Was I hearing him correctly?)
"Yeah, it's been a lot better than I was expecting."
"Well, who are you selling the diamonds to, exactly? To retailers in India?" (Certainly we have retailers in India, that's what he must mean. Or maybe to jewelry manufacturers in India, we have those too.)
"No, to retailers in the U.S."
"But don't you find that, well, somewhat difficult?"
"It's not difficult at all. Why would it be difficult?"
"Well, I mean, you know, issues like shipping, memo, returns, one-at-a-time sales, that kind of thing…"
"No, I don't have any problems with those issues."
"Umm…just curious…why not, exactly?"
"If the stone's over a thousand dollars (U.S.), we pay the shipping. If it's under, we charge a shipping fee."
"But are you OK with one at a time sales?"
"Sure, we get the markup we want, we're happy."
"But how do you know whom you can trust?"
"We ask for payment up front."
"What? Does that work??!!"
"Yes, our prices are low enough that the buyers are happy to wire transfer the funds."
"But what about memo returns?"
"We don't sell on memo."
"And you get away with that?"
"No one has a problem with it. We explain that it would obviously be impossible for us to do memo business out of Bombay, and that we wouldn't be able to offer these prices on memo. They understand that."

The conversation continued in this vein, with me explaining why it should be difficult to make sales from India, and this Bombay Polygon member quite surprised that I thought any of these issues were problems. Clearly, what this man had done was look at the situation, and then pressed the easy button. Memos are difficult? Don't do memos. Shipping fees are a problem? Pass it on to the customer below a certain price point. Don't know whom you can trust? Require payment up front.

I considered all the time and energy we'd spent at Polygon trying to solve these problems. This man just pushed the easy button. Of course what he was really doing was evolving the way the industry works. He realized he had to do business differently to sell to Polygon retailers from India. And so he did business differently.

It was an important lesson for me, in terms of how we have to think about global trade. Or for that matter, dealing with problems closer to home. Don't solve the unsolvable. Don't untie the Gordian knot. Look for that easy button. It's probably right in front of you. When you see it, push it. It's easy

Jacques Voorhees
Founder & President