Inventory & Sales Decline Review (2026-02-17)

Overview

During an internal sync on 2026-02-17, Mark Hope and Karly Oykhman reviewed Doodla's deteriorating Amazon sales performance. Daily revenue has fallen from a peak of ~$6,000 to ~$4,400 — a decline driven entirely by persistent inventory stockouts of top-selling products. The discussion surfaced a strategic risk to the client relationship and produced a proposal to professionalize Doodla's fulfillment operations.

Attendees: Mark Hope, Karly Oykhman
Related client: ^[1]

Sales Performance

The decline began immediately after Prime Day (approximately November 25), when stockouts of key products caused a sharp drop in revenue. The account briefly recovered for roughly one week before cratering again.

Affected products (in order of impact):
1. Popcorn — highest-volume SKU; stockouts described as "crushing"
2. Black beans
3. Yellow cornmeal

Root Cause: Operational Failure, Not Marketing

The sales decline is not attributable to Asymmetric's performance. The cause is a client-side operational breakdown in the raw-material-to-finished-goods pipeline:

• Doodla holds approximately 14 million lbs of raw popcorn in storage but lacks the bagging capacity to convert it to shippable finished goods.
• Yellow cornmeal was awaiting return from the miller as of this meeting.
• A large shipment was in transit to Amazon FBA at the time of the call; a follow-up shipment was scheduled for two weeks out.

The core failure is an inventory management and production scheduling problem that Asymmetric cannot control from the outside.

Strategic Risk

Mark flagged a foreseeable client relationship risk: as sales remain depressed, Doodla may begin to question whether Asymmetric's fees are justified — even though the decline has nothing to do with marketing or account management performance.

"There's just going to be a day when they decide that we're charging them too much because the sales that they're having, it doesn't justify it. But this sales decline has got nothing to do with us."
— Mark Hope

A proactive conversation with the client is needed before that moment arrives.

Strategic Proposal: Separate Farm from Commercial Enterprise

Mark outlined a structural model to professionalize Doodla's operations:

1. The Farm — produces raw commodities (popcorn, beans, cornmeal, etc.)
2. The Commercial Enterprise — a dedicated entity focused exclusively on packing, shipping, and Amazon sales (analogous to what DFO was intended to be)
3. Optional: Foundation / Nonprofit — community outreach and brand mission work

The argument is that the business has grown beyond a "hobby" operation and requires professional fulfillment infrastructure. Outsourcing packing and logistics to a third-party fulfillment partner was raised as the most viable path.

"Running this has gotten big enough that it needs to be done properly. It can't just be a hobby."
— Mark Hope

Action Items

• [ ] Mark & Karly: Schedule a meeting with Sebastian to present the operational failure analysis and propose the outsourced fulfillment model.

Open Questions

• Is DFO still a viable fulfillment partner candidate, or does a new vendor need to be identified?
• What is the timeline for the large in-transit shipment to be received and available at Amazon FBA?
• Will the two-week follow-up shipment be sufficient to stabilize daily sales?

Related

• ^[1]
• Internal sync source also covers: ^[2]