Not sure how long we need to beat this horse before we can put the issue to rest, but it's really quite simple. The blogs you referrence from Q3 came to pass, and objectives were accomplished.
Walmart:
We supply Walmart through Dynamics Distribution. Dynamic also distributes to other big box retailers in Canada, so they keep 1000+ inventory stocked in their warehouses. The opening order was recieved by the customer as stated in the Walmart blog, and stock came from Dynamics warehouse to acheive this task. Therefore Winning Brands didn't recieve an immediate order for the product which was shipped to Walmart, but has/will recieve an order from Dynamics to replenish stock used for Walmart's opening order, and product turns into the future. So, although the benefit of re-activating the Walmart account didn't provide an immediate cash windfall for Winning Brands, it will contribute to the bottom line for replinishment orders and future orders.
Do-It-Best:
As Eric Blogged that product had been shipped to all Do-it-Best Warehouses, and marketing material would soon soon be distributed to all stores. It only makes sense if you are going to send product information to retailers it's imperative you have product availabe for these retailers to order. Since this was all done ahead of the official launch, scheduled for the fall market show, it's understandable these weren't large orders. It still wasn't known at this time just how the product would be recieved by retailers, so no reason to overstock if retailers weren't interested. Eric never indicated the size or dollar value of this opening order anyway.
Duane Reade:
As everyone knows the product was shipped and paid for long ago, and winning Brands was simply awaiting the product being placed on the shelf. We were only talking about 100 stores at that time, and stocking only small bottles. So it possible the opening order for those location were only 2 or 3 cases each, so roughly 4k-6k in dollar value. Not exactly gonna add massive revenue to the finalcials for the opening order right. Now we know they have decided to go ahead and place it in 235 or so stores, which still won't add tremendous revenues in opening orders, but if the product is well recieved, and the sales goal is achieved in this retailer it could provide 12k-14k per month. Then there's always room for expansion through the parent company.
So, as stated earlier it's pretty simple to understand that regardless of whether or not the account was activated in Q3 or not, the benefit for Winning Brands was minimal during Q3.
