More From Less

July 18, 2011

So, what have the first few stops on the summer gift and home show schedule shown us so far?
First off, as if anybody needed any further proof, holding trade shows in the middle of the summer in such hot weather cities as Dallas and Atlanta - with Las Vegas looming - is one of the screwiest practices around. When is somebody going to put trade shows in Maui in January and Kennebunkport, Maine in the summer? That's when you'll find me volunteering to get to these markets.
In the meantime, you'll still find all of us at all the usual places doing the usual things...mostly. It's still largely anecdotal and there are no statistics credible enough to back up the theory, but it looks like we are starting to see a fundamental and critical change in the nature of the gift business.
Again, proof is hard to come by, but it sure seems as if retailers are concentrating their business more and more with fewer and fewer vendors. When you walk the aisles of the big trade centers, it sure seems as if the larger showrooms, often multi-line rep organizations, are proportionately more crowded than the smaller guys. Some of that is scale and size, but some of it is simply that many stores are consolidating their ordering with these bigger suppliers.
And once inside these showrooms, they are placing larger orders with fewer lines. Once again, it's just talk but more vendors are telling you that even though their customer counts may not be up, or are only up slightly, the average size of the orders placed and therefore their overall market business is up substantially, often double digits.
All of this is to be expected. The whole Darwinian theory that the strong get stronger and the weak perish applies just as well to gift companies as it does to species and phylum.
And we're seeing it all up and down the food chain. Big shows are getting bigger. Big suppliers are getting bigger. Big retailers are getting bigger.
You may not like the trend and you may think it's a product of the times and not necessarily a permanent state of affairs. But you can't argue with the process.
And I think there's more to come.

Posted by Warren S. Shoulberg on July 18, 2011 | Comments (5)

September 22, 2012

In response to: More From Less
Komang commented:

I haven’t seen much out of Brown to indicate he’s caabple of anything more than a backup role at the moment, but he does have his supporters. BLD’s own Matt Cooper is a staunch Brown advocate, naming him one of his 10 Playersa0Most Likely to Break Out in 2011.

September 19, 2012

In response to: More From Less
Haidy commented:

Can you picture a year wihoutt NFL football? What would we do? The NFL's collective bargaining agreement is due to expire in March and team owners have made a series of moves designed to lock out the players and fans. If the NFL can't reach an agreement by the deadline in March, there will be no football to watch on Sundays. The NFL should get their act together and just extend the collective bargaining agreement because, both fans and players will be disappointed, money will be an issue if there is a lockout, and what good does a lockout do?Both fans and players will be disappointed if there is a lockout. I'm a diehard Eagles fan and I wouldn't know what to do if there was a lockout. I'm sure thousands of others are in the same boat I am. Players love to play football and love the game. What do they do if they can't play?Many money will be lost if there is a lockout. An estimated that more than 115,000 jobs would be impacted by a lockout and cause approximately $160 million in lost revenue in each NFL city. A lockout would have a devastating impact on local and regional economies. Stadium employees will be jobless, and sports bars, police officers, restaurants, hotels and various support staff who work for this game will also be affected. Simply put, these tough times will get even tougher for Americans.What good does a lockout do for anybody? If I were to ask 100 people, what would be good about a NFL lockout, I bet all of them wouldn't have an answer. The fact that owners are even CONSIDERING shutting down America's real past time, its most popular sport, its tradition, just to make more money is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. In baseball the owners and players went through with a strike back in the 90e2€b2s. People moved on and it took a few years for the MLB to recover in ticket sales, merchandise sales, fan interest, etc. Once you turn your back on the public, the public can turn its back on you.The NFL should get their act together and just extend the collective bargaining agreement because, both fans and players will be disappointed, money will be an issue if there is a lockout, and what good does a lockout do. The players want to play, the fans want to watch, analysts want to analyze, and the sports television stations want highlights. So let that happen in the 2011-2012 season.

April 17, 2012

In response to: More From Less
iewzklzesjl commented:

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April 17, 2012

In response to: More From Less
Vinicius commented:

I purchased this dcootr set for my 2 year old. It is the only one that I have found so far that is rated by the manufacturer for an age less than 3 years. It gives a good visual sense of thetools a dcootr uses, but they are not very fun to play with. The stethphascope (spelling!) does not fit very well in my childs ears and around her chin, the tube that attaches to the part youplace on the chest is not very long. The blood pressure measurer keeps falling apart. There is a mirror that looks like something used in a dentists office. It takes carefull rearranging to get all the items back into the carrying case.I was hoping for a toy that could ease my childs fears about going to the dcootr and spark imaginative play. This toy does okay, but not great job of meeting these needs.

July 20, 2011

In response to: More From Less
Bettie Miner commented:

Also without any proof, I offer my opinion on why your observations are true: Because the big suppliers, chain & Department stores, etc., can order in bulk from China (which, in my opinion will absolutely lead to the complete and utter demise of American manufacturers) which make it so much cheaper for buyers ordering in bulk. It's sad, especially for the little guy - the handmade and quality manufacturers and artisans, but one doesn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out.