Re:Gifting
What gifts, et al, have to do with the shoppers, retailing and the rest of the known world...at least according to editorial director Warren Shoulberg.
Stationery Stationary
I just got finished walking the Stationery Show at Javits in New York and while it’s true this show has felt both the economy and the seminal change in the way people communicate with each other in the Internet age, I have to tell you the show is still a terrific place to see new products. I’m not shilling for the show operators but the last thing any of us need is a trade show that has out... Read More
Comments (1)Andy, Andy, Andy
With all due apologies to Mr. Warhol: “In the present, every website will be famous for 15 minutes.” Right now we are in the midst of Pinterest fever with everyone and his cyber brother jumping on this bandwagon and pronouncing this website the greatest thing since…well, since the last greatest thing. And it is a nice site and the ability it offers to gather up all your bits and pieces r... Read More
Comments (0)Advice from Coach
Over the run-up in the economy that characterized most of the first decade of the 2000s, perhaps no company rode that wave better than Coach, the accessories company that traded up its product mix and customer base dramatically. Management and the designers there did a terrific job on both counts. And maybe no company reacted faster to the collapse of the economy in 2008 than Coach as well... Read More
Comments (1)Keep Those Cards & Letters Coming
I have a feeling I'm about to get the entire greeting card industry angry with me, but I think the best thing the U.S. Postal Service could do is the raise the price of a first class stamp...to one dollar.I know, I know: The customer is not going to stand for this and it will mean that the already diminishing rate of greeting card usage will go down even further as people question if they want to... Read More
Comments (4)The Next Chinese Revolution
Chances are the gift and home products you make and sell do not come from the Foxconn factory in China where Apple makes many of its consumer electronics products. But what's happening right now at Foxconn is going to have a big impact at where indeed your products are from.Foxconn has been in the news over the past few weeks as attention is turned to the company's labor conditions, hiring practic... Read More
Comments (2)January...
Those clever Romans (or Greeks or whoever it was) that devised the modern calendar didn't know that the first month of the year would so much come to symbolize new starts, rebirths and renewals, not just personally but professionally.That is certainly the case in the gift industry where the month of January is the begining of the new business cycle and all the trade shows throughout the country ta... Read More
Comments (0)A Jolt of January
What if they gave a market and everyone was happy?You hate to make sweeping generalizations in the gift and home industry - especially based on limited information - but you've got to look at the overwhelmingly positive mood at last week's Atlanta Gift Market at AmericasMart as a good way to start off 2012.Mind you, we've seen this happen before and there's no guarantee that some unforeseen event... Read More
Comments (0)Tribute to Eva Zeisel
I had never heard of Eva Zeisel when I first started reporting on the tabletop and gift industry, but I recognized her work the minute I saw it.That classic combination of function and form - always in that order, she said - was unmatched by anybody who ever designed pottery. Not Russell Wright. Not any of the dozens of talented designers who created long-lived patterns for Wedgwood, Lenox, Pfaltz... Read More
Comments (1)Layaway and Other Ways
Have you noticed all the attention the good old fashioned layaway has been getting this holiday shopping season?Resurrected a couple of shopping years ago by the folks at Sears and Kmart, the promotion has now been picked up by Walmart for electronics and toys this year and the boys down in Bentonville credit the tactic with helping their season so far. Target in fact has pointed to its not having... Read More
Comments (5)Tis the Season(s)
So, it's December 5, do you know where your customers are?If you're like most retailers, you got a pretty good bump during Black Weekend and now you're in sort of a lull waiting for the main shopping offense to begin. That's the way the holiday season has developed for those stores that count on this period to make their years.Picture a roller coaster in profile with a huge ascent at the beginning... Read More
Comments (0)Black and Blue Friday
If we all ever needed any more proof that you should always be careful of what you wish for, consider the insanity about to descend upon American shopping society this Friday at 12:01am.That's when the first wave of Black Friday doorbusters start...well, busting doors at retailers all across the country. In fact, there will be some busted doors the day before, on Turkey Day itself, with retailers... Read More
Comments (4)Middle Managers
No, not those mindless bureaucrats whose main function in life is to cover all their bases and assign blame, either up or down.No, middle managers, as in businesses that know how to manage the consumer in the middle. That's going to be the key this holiday season for successful gift and home retailers.Any good retailer knows how to get the bottom-feeder into the store to buy something: Run endless... Read More
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