Gloom, But Not Doom, According to Consumers
Posted by Beth
In the recent BIGresearch economic news briefing
of Consumer Insights, the company says the mood compares to that of
post-Katrina confidence.
Consumers are curing what the report calls the "Holiday Hangover" by
halting unnecessary spending. Major retailers are seeing the halo
effect of gift card redemption. I hope some of that gift card money is
being spent on scrapbooking supplies- anybody out there seeing a significant increase in gift card sales?
Here are the behaviors we can expect from at least a third of our customers and some ideas on how to respond.
Shopping closer to home- If your business is dependent on customers who make trips from long distances, think about how you can keep serving them.
Is mail order an option? Can you send them emails about what's new?
Plan shopping events that include education to maximize the trip?
Promote car pools to your clubs and classes?
Looking for sales- Careful here, scrapbookers are a discerning
lot so a fake sale (marking up a product 5 x more than you should) then
saying it is on sale is never a good practice.
Doing more in one shopping trip- many of our customers will have
children with them. Do you have a spot to put a small table and chairs
with some books, (washable) crayons and coloring book pages? Stockpile
old stickers and let kids play with those while mom shops. She'll love
you for this.
I believe the scrapbook industry has a unique opportunity to respond to economic conditions with a positive story.
More ideas on that in the future in terms of how to do classes and
events that get people out and using the supplies and photos they
have.... Folks who are cutting back on food and entertainment still
want activities. Let's make a proactive effort to reach these folks to
ensure the new hobby is scrapbook!
Have a great weekend--Beth
1/25/2008 11:13:06 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00) 
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