As new opportunities arise, we want to make sure to point them out because we often see interesting new ideas emerge in the small-cap space after companies reinvent themselves around a new model after a pivot in leadership. In many cases, those are the moments of greatest opportunity.
Plenty of these situations don’t lead to Shakespearean “fortune and glory”, but enough of them work out – at least to a degree worth writing home about – that we keep an active ear to the ground through our network.
The latest in this genre is Clikia Corp (OTCMKTS:CLKA), an erstwhile private jet and charter flight outfit that has pivoted, following a change in leadership and vision, to a high-end retail “concierge” sales model in the rare custom luxury goods market. The big reveal of this pivot has been “in the oven”, apparently, for at least the past few weeks. But the flag party happened on Monday morning when the company put out a Shareholder Letter outlining its model.
The big highlight was the revelation, made near the end of the piece, that the company – which had been making no money on the top or bottom line for years – has already pulled in seven figures in sales this year in its new model, with continued strong growth on the horizon.
The New Model
As covered by the company in its new “coming out party” release, the model looking ahead is driven by existing prepotency in networks from top leadership as well as an experienced team that understands the rare custom luxury goods market, which is a highly lucrative niche that few companies understand sufficiently enough to target at scale.
Clikia’s wholly owned subsidiary, Maison Luxe, is the primary vehicle here.
Notes the release, “We are already harnessing a robust network and extensive experiential assets that come with the bargain in this transition – including a great deal of experience centered in the rare custom luxury goods market. It is a peculiar niche business context with its own rules governing a unique microeconomic landscape.”
It goes on to also point out that “For example, in the rare custom luxury goods market, traditional supply chains are irrelevant or nonexistent. Luxury purchases happen almost exclusively by appointment through networks inaccessible by normal channels of commerce. People willing to spend $50K on a watch cannot accomplish that transaction on Amazon.com. The watch they want isn’t a click away. It is a relationship away.”
This last line is probably the key point. Consumption in this space is about who you know. Even if you have lots of money, a rare custom luxury good is special not because it costs a lot, but because it’s hard to acquire – even with a fat stack in every pocket.
This is also an interesting point: “As a consequence, the rare custom luxury goods market is actually more resistant to economic cyclicality because the top 0.01% on the global wealth scale generally do not have consumer patterns impacted by the unemployment rate or changes in energy prices. The limiting factor is not demand, but supply.”
That makes sense as well. For those companies able to establish a branded relationship network connecting sources and demand with trust and credibility, the cycle is functionally eliminated. People able to afford to spend $250k on a gown or $600k on a fourth car, and then have it painted pink, aren’t at risk in the type of economic downturn that might impact the rest of us.
Where to Next?
One wonders if this is perhaps the most interesting question.
There are a few tasty hints from the company already. The most obvious one is the reference to “initial steps toward potential expansion into new luxury goods categories and geographic end markets.” That suggests the company is gearing up to expand from watches and jewelry into high fashion, luxury cars, and maybe artwork, or who knows. The sky’s the limit. And it also obviously points toward the east, to China, where the most new billionaires per capita are being created over any useful period of measurement in recent years.
We would also note the important role of capital in this growth thesis. As the company gets more of it, it will be able to widen margins and improve market positioning. In other words, both the top and bottom lines ramp up by simply gaining funds once the model is working at this level.
And it is working, based on the information we now have: “As we will confirm, CLKA has already seen seven-figure revenues so far this year, which represents an enormous expansion in sales over the Company’s prior model. And we expect that figure to grow, especially as the global economy reopens.”
That’s already quadruple-digit percentage sales growth this year. And that’s just for starters. This is likely going to be an interesting and exciting story. And it’s probably better to get it on your radar now than when it has a crowd following it.
