G'day Folks,

Quick update as to the state of play here at Popcultcha HQ:

1. As you may, or may not be aware, we have moved across to a new website platform. As is always the case when these major steps are taken, things often don't go to plan, so we are dealing with a bunch of issues and we thank you all for your patience around this, while our teams are working around the clock to fix and improve these items. We know $100 deposits on pre-orders are down, we know payment plans are not in place as they should be, we know there are issues around Pennies and Gift Vouchers, we know there are broken images and missing content all over the place, we know there are products missing or down or some that should be pre-order or some that should be in stock.. we are working hard to get everything in line and working so that you can enjoy your shopping experience once again. Stick with us, we are hoping to have many of the above items fixed by the end of the week.... sorry for this experience right now.

2. Current Orders - with the new website, we have 10+ years of data migrating between systems. There is no quick way of doing this and it will take days and days to complete. As it stands, we are still waiting on customer orders to connect between our systems, so we are letting you know that there will be a 3-5 day delay in getting this week's orders sorted. We are very sorry, but there is no way around this. Rest assured, once the data is there, we will hustle to get it out to the warehouse and out the door for you all. We sincerely appreciate your understanding during this migration period.

3. Customer service - We are not here to make excuses, we just want to share with you the challenges we currently face and expect to face over the coming weeks. We have around a 2-3 week backlog of customer enquiries that our teams are answering. Not ideal we know, not where we need to be. Here in Victoria, Australia, we are under Stage 3 & 4 Lockdowns due to Covid, this has put constraints on our teams and business. We have people home schooling, we have social distancing in our offices and warehouses which does not allow us to scale, all of which are contributing to our challenge of getting on top of customer queries. We have been putting all resources into helping our customer service team so you may hear from staff in our stores this week or from our warehouse or from myself, we are all on deck to help out and fix your problems, answer your questions and provide solutions for you. All we ask is that you trust that we will get to you and we will do so as soon as we possibly can. The more you follow up with us, the further backlogged we become. It is our goal to make you guys happy and to fix your problems or issues or answer your questions.

4. Delivery Challenges - We have seen some statistics from Australia Post that deliveries in some instances across Australia have been up to 12 business days. Again, Stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne have put strain on the Parcel Centres and Tullamarine Airport to move freight through the second biggest economy in Australia. Again, out of our control, we simply ask for your patience while we battle these challenges with our delivery partners. Similarly, International Postal Networks also are experiencing challenges, some are shut completely, some are at diminished capacity but we are doing everything we can to get you your parcels when we can. It should be noted, there are next to no passenger flights in and out of Australia, which is a main source of Australia Post's pre-Covid network for delivery. They are now utilising other means, other sources to move parcels and adapt, so this has come with delays. We are better today than we were at the start of this Covid pandemic as far as deliveries and timelines, but it still remains a delayed work in progress for many routes.

In sum, this week is gonna be a crappy one whilst we migrate our data. We are using this time to fix customer issues and problems and answer queries as best we all can. We will fire back up as soon as we can and get back to striving to be the best collectables retail store we can be for you all. Thanks for all your continued support across the world we love ya and thanks to our all of our staff across the business who are busting their arses to get everything humming.

Cheers

Ash (Director) & The Very Tired Popcultcha Crew!