Measuring the Market
Caroline Kennedy -- Gifts and Dec, 11/1/2011 2:00:00 AM
FOR SOME YEARS NOW WE HAVE BEEN NOTICING A GRADUAL CHANGE, AND SOME HAVE SAID A SHRINKING, IN THE INDUSTRY. The economic downturn has had a huge impact on business, and the Internet and electronic media have changed the way many of us do business.
At almost every gift market that we have attended over the past few years, exhibitor after exhibitor complained about how slow traffic is and that attendance seems to be down. When asked about business, though, many will smile and say, "Great, we're writing a lot of orders."
But there has been nothing substantial in the way of data to back up the anecdotal observations - until now. An analysis of data drawn from the Brandwise Index's aggregated database of client transactions, provides a clearer picture of what is going on in the marketplace. So, what do the numbers tell us?
Gift Market Attendance
Over the three-year period, 2009-2011, the three major trade shows measured in the Index have each seen a decline in the number of buyers att ending market, confirming what many have been casually observing. What the numbers don't tell us is why.
Fewer buyers can be attributed to not only a shrinking retail base as independent retailers struggle to survive against the encroachment of mass market stores and online competition, but also to buyers choosing to cut costs by working with their reps, in lieu of traveling to market, and to extenuating circumstances such as the adverse weather that prevented many from attending the winter 2011 Atlanta and perhaps the summer Dallas market.
Order-writing
On the plus side of things, the numbers show that although att endance may have been down, the overall order-writing has been good. This also confirms the anecdotal information gathered around market: Fewer buyers are spending more. Except for a small decline in the 2011 L.A. winter market, the average amount spent per order was up - ranging from 1.8 percent in Atlanta to 10.8 percent in L.A.
As we see it, it is not gloom and doom for the industry if we measure a market not by the number of buyers but in the orders written and the dollars spent.
We would love your feedback!
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The Industry Responds
Dec 1, 2008 -
Where Buyers Shop
Dec 23, 2011
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