How we choose products

Choosing, not stocking

Most stores stock — they fill shelves and let you sort it out. KORD chooses. Every product in the catalogue had to earn its code by being the best version of that thing we could source, and by backing up its own claims. It's a slower, fussier way to build a range, and it's deliberate: we'd rather carry fewer products, none of which we'd hesitate to recommend, than a wall of options with landmines in it.

It has to be genuinely good

The first test is simple: is this the best version of this product we can find at a sensible price? Not the cheapest, not the flashiest — the one we'd actually choose ourselves. For a cable, that means proper conductor gauge and reinforced strain relief where cables normally fail. For a charger, cool running and the right standards. If a better version exists, we'd rather carry that one.

The numbers have to be true

The second test is honesty. A product's claims have to hold up: a "100W" cable is tested to carry 100W, a power bank's capacity is quoted in real watt-hours rather than an inflated mAh figure, a charger delivers its rated wattage under load. We check, because the whole promise of the catalogue is that the numbers mean what they say. A product that can't back its own spec sheet doesn't get a code, however good it looks.

It has to make sense in the range

We also ask whether a product earns its place — whether it does a job our range doesn't already cover well, and whether it's clearly the right tool for that job rather than a near-miss. This is why our collections are organised by what things actually are, and why we're happy to tell you when a cheaper or different product is the better fit for what you're doing.

We'd rather say so than sell it

If a product has a real limitation, we say so — in the product detail, or in an email when you ask for a recommendation. The point isn't to move the most expensive item; it's for you to end up with the right thing. That honesty is easier when we've already done the choosing, because there isn't a bad option to defend.

Standing behind the choice

Because we've chosen carefully, we can back everything with a 5-year replacement warranty without worrying. If something fails through a fault, we replace it. That confidence is the natural end of a careful selection.

Why the range is deliberately short

If our catalogue looks smaller than the sprawling ranges elsewhere, that's the point, not a limitation. Every product had to clear the same bar — genuinely the best version we could find, with claims that hold up under testing — and plenty of products simply don't make it. Leaving a gap is, to us, better than filling it with something we'd hesitate to recommend. It also changes how we can talk to you: because there's no bad option to defend, we can honestly point you to the cheaper or different product when it's the better fit for what you're doing, rather than steering you toward whatever we most need to move. A short, trustworthy range is more useful than a long one full of landmines. As we add products over time, that bar doesn't move — the catalogue grows slowly and deliberately, which is exactly why you can trust what's in it.

The bar doesn't move

We add products over time, always to the same standard. The catalogue grows; the bar to get into it stays exactly where it is. Questions about a specific product's suitability? hello@kord.nz.