ETD: 806 Gift Marts; Haggle and be nice when travelling;
InstantPhotoFrames.com
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Tue Aug 3 01:46:25 GMT 2004
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0806 August 3, 2004
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
==================================================================
CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] Gift Marts
[3] Haggle and be nice when travelling
[4] InstantPhotoFrames.com
==================================================================
[1] Greetings.
==================================================================
Hi All:
The NYC Gift Mart is looking for a new location. That got me to thinking
about independent retailers and the giftware industry. It always surprised
me that NYC is the smallest of the major gift marts in the U.S. - less than
10% of the size of Atlanta! Has anyone ever visited or bought at the NYC
Gift Mart?
List member Jan Owens offers us some advice on haggling and being nice when
travelling. What do you think?
Today we learn about list member Patty Sachs and her new venture
InstantPhotoFrames.com. Patty is the world's leading party guru and has a
couple of books to her credit.
Tell us about your business which will remain for posterity at
our "Members: Who Are You?"
site. http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm And we have a
form there for you to tell us about you. As I said when I first proposed
this idea, we have "known" each other for a long time, yet we often don't
know anything about each other. So, tell us who you are and what you do.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
==================================================================
[2] Gift Marts
==================================================================
Quinn Halford and Matthew Kalash report in Gifts & Dec Online
(www.giftanddec.com) that the New York gift building (225 Fifth Avenue) has
been sold and the plans call for a conversion to residential condos. The
building’s tenants have hired real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield to find
a new location for them in Manhattan. Cushman & Wakefield indicated that
the search has been narrowed to four sites - two locations on the far West
Side of Manhattan (in the vicinity of the Javits Convention Center), one
downtown in the World Financial Center (across from the former World Trade
Center), and one on 34th Street and Fifth Avenue (across from the Empire
State Building). The 115 tenants of 225 Fifth Avenue are looking for some
400,000 square feet of space in order to maintain a viable year-round gift
market in the city.
I find it very interesting that the largest city in the US, and the Mecca
for so many other retail groups (like fashion, jewelry, etc) has such a
small gift mart. AMERICASMART®-ATLANTA, the largest in the
world, consists of three buildings, totaling 4.2 million square feet of
exhibit space - ten times the size of NY Mart! The marts in Los Angeles,
Dallas and Chicago are all bigger than NY. When they do have a gift show
in NYC, they are held at the Javits Center, which is much larger. However,
the advantage of a mart is the availability of permanent exhibitors, year
round.
The giftware industry has sales agencies who represent manufacturers and
sell to independent retailers, (a/k/a "mom & pop" stores), which represent
70% of the giftware retail industry. These sales agencies have permanent
locations at the gift marts.
For example, OneCoast Network is largest sales representative firm in the
country, with 260 multi-line sales representatives for the gift, home
furnishings and collegiate markets. They have a team of 13 proven sales
agencies that grows sales for industry-leading suppliers and retailers
through the only national network of highly trained sales professionals in
this industry.
They have strong selling relationships with more than 60,000 independent
retailers and represent top manufacturers. Some of these relationships are
20+ years old.
To do business in giftware (as a manufacturer), you either sell to the big
guys, or sell through agents to get to the independents. While I was Chief
ECommerce Officer are a Chinese giftware manufacturer, I opened doors to
some of these major rep agencies (including One Coast). It's not easy, but
well worth it.
George
==================================================================
[3] Haggle and be nice when travelling
==================================================================
Re: Haggling
You are correct -- it is important to recognize countries and situations
where bargaining/haggling is required, particularly when you might insult
the merchant. Similarly, it is important to recognize the rules of the
specific context. I have had friends who are used to bargaining in the
Mercados of Tijuana or bazaars of Morocco try to do the same in the
high-end shops of Mexico City or Marrakech (NOT done, at least at the
time.) While it is best to learn the rules of the road in every context,
the more "corporate and global " the brand names in the store, the less
likely that bargaining will be the norm. But again, do the homework for
any location.
Even in the U.S., there can be hidden bargaining situations. Most high-end
department stores lease their fine jewelry departments to specialists, and
these MAY be under independent direction by local managers. A number of
years ago, I was chatting with the fine jewelry salesperson in Saks Fifth
Avenue in Naples, FL, and he alerted me to a sale that would begin next
week, and "he may be able to take off another 10% on top of that."
In contrast, Europe is still rather strict about the duration of "sale"
periods in each retail environment, and any bargaining in established
shopping districts. Europe tends to be as concerned about protecting small
family-run shops against very aggressive price competition as it is in
delivering lowest prices to consumers (and please be aware that I am NOT in
favor of delivering the lowest price, all the time and in every
situation.) Again, negotiating in the daily fresh markets may be another
thing, but I don't see much of it unless it is marking down at the end of
the sales day.
Re: Hello and goodbye, etc.
I appreciate your courtesies in the elevators when you travel. I also
recommend "hello and good-bye" in any semi-intimate group of people. For
example, it is standard practice to greet the other guests in a small inn's
breakfast room, at tea time, etc. This seems expected in Europe, but I
find that it is also a nice courtesy in the U.S., in very friendly places
like New Zealand, and just about anywhere when handled well, is culturally
acceptable, and not intrusive. I'm sure we all agree that it makes for a
more civilized environment and when personal distance is not a cultural
priority.
All in all, I recommend that any travelers take a look in some of the
travel books that include a section on local manners. Many of the Fodor's,
Frommers, etc. do. Other good sources are the books about "Doing Business
in...." or "The Idiot's Guide to ..."
Regards,
Jan Owens
U of Wisconsin - Parkside
owens at wup.edu
jan-owens at wi.rr.com
==================================================================
[4] InstantPhotoFrames.com
==================================================================
InstantPhotoFrames.com offers hard-to-find frames for instant digital or
Polaroid photos, especially those used for favors, prizes or give-aways at
events and promotions. We specialize in searches for the right frame for
the client's needs. We also have other photo products such as magnets,
buttons, pennants, clocks, desk top items and now bobble heads!
You can create attractive and added-value items to enhance photos used for
promotional or gift purposes. A quick and inexpensive instant photo becomes
a decorative keepsake piece with the addition of a complementary frame.
We have the best/biggest selection at wholesale/best pricing with
exceptional customer service. Small, rush and hard-to-coordinate orders are
handled personally to a successful result. If we do not have what the
customer wants, we go overboard to help them find it...even if we send them
to one of the very few competitors.
After serving as Celebrations Expert for Polaroid and teaching hundreds of
people how to use instant photos to enhance special events, I realized that
it was difficult to find the right supplies to accomplish many of these
strategies. I search, studied and explored for months before I found the
suppliers and then decided to share my findings with others, while make
profits and commissions.
We have been in business on a free-lance non-profit level for several years
and on a profitable basis since October of 2003.
We started to market on the Internet only but now have expanded our
marketing into promotional efforts through speaking, media interviews,
magazine and newspaper publicity efforts. I write articles that appear with
party tips and ideas for instant photo frame use.
The frames are ranging from .20 cents for cardstock folders to 15.00 for
more elaborate designs. Customized and imprinted items are a bit more for
the promotional and collectible value.
I have a very nice catalog that I will send to anyone who requests
it. There is also a catalog on-line, to review and then contact me for
pricing, etc.
Thank you for this opportunity to share my company information.
Patty Sachs, Owner
InstantPhotoFrames.com
2300 Twelve Oaks Drive K-13
Orange Park, FL 32065
Tel: 904-272-0959
Fax: 801-217-1573
==================================================================
Links to follow
==================================================================
GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.gapent.com/
Sarbanes-Oxley 2002 http://www.sarbanes-oxley2002.com
E-Tailer's Digest http://www.etailersdigest.com
ETD Archives: http://topica.com/lists/etailer/read
Prior to 29 Dec
1999 http://etailersdigest.com/archives/index.htm
Marketing Your Web http://www.gapent.com/myweb/
Automated Press Releases http://www.automatedpr.com
More information about the ETD
mailing list