I have thought about minimum guarantee and Ohm and I think SH views not always consistent over time (mine included).
There was a thread a while back where most of us here tend to agree that Ohm will effectively sell itself, it’s not any other product. I agree and with minimal no traditional marketing there is demand.
http://www.copyright link/business/energy/electricity/buddy-platform-says-orders-are-surging-for-energy-monitoring-device-20170530-gwgtia
A side note: It would be interesting to know what promotion plan/strategy BUD has.
On the other hand we talk of guaranteed minimum and while I have no experience in distribution deals but from a general contract management perspective, even excluding force majeure there will be caveats. Say BUD fails to deliver Ohm to the distributor on time for whatever reasons, Somalian pirates, Trump and/or rocket man does something stupid, a components is faulty and production delayed…take a pick, will the distributor pay the minimum for the year. I doubt that.
Guaranteed minimum means distributor is getting a bigger margin that cuts into BUD bottom-line. I hear you say …but pocket rocket the distributor will make more of an effort if there is a guaranteed minimum. And to you I say, I thought you believed that Ohm will sell itself do you actually think if a customer ask for Ohm the distributor will say no.
So, I think we need to combine these two things together, having major distribution deals even without guaranteed minimum is great if we think Ohm does not need a big push given the demand pull. All these deals mean that whenever a customer even think a need that Ohm can meet, it already deals with a distributor that can provide more info. But it needs to be supported by the right marketing strategy.
I can tell you that BUD need only install Ohm at 4 or 5 key facilities (AUS & NZ) for government and if it delivers the results as it says it does no more marketing required, just wait for the call from other government departments and agencies (as all things government, it will take time but it will happen).
I assume same will apply in corporate world, for e.g. you get two of the big 4 (PWC, Deloitte, Ernst &young & KPMG) and may be Accenture and next time they get called in for a cost savings initiative work, you can be sure they will through Ohm as a quick win, low hanging fruits.
One thing missing for me is I cannot find anything on marketing and promotion of BUD and Ohm except social media posts. I assume the plan will be internal and sensitive, I just hope they have a good one. Because even for those who purchased already they need to be assured that they made a great investment, brand promotion does that. This may tell us whether BUD is valuing guaranteed minimum or just a nice to have.
For us, so far I can gather, the guaranteed minimum is simply so we can plug some $$ in our spreadsheet with some higher level of certainty to satisfy our need to know valuation if SP is cheap or expensive, fair enough. Yes, risk is reduced but this will not make it no less speculative until as someone said before "there are runs on the board".
I sense a higher level of importance is being placed by SH on the minimum guaranteed than warranted and distribution deals being snubbed. These deals mean any business who decide to get on board has someone in his/her contact list who can make it happen.
Just a few rambling's thoughts please critique, good for learning.
