I saw an item today that Citizens Bank Park, home to the Philadelphia Phillies, ranks the highest in vegetarian food offerings of all U.S. baseball stadiums. I welled up with pride, that my city, which is best known  for cheesesteaks, scrapple and Tastykakes is now taking the lead on healthier food options on the sacred stadium ground. Go figure, hon.

Now I am not a particularly avid Phan-atic and I am married to a Yankee fan so our trips to the South Philly stadium are limited to one or two a year. But I must confess, that this has intrigued me. Now those of us who make loved ones happy by sitting through live sporting events can look forward to some new culinary delights. Prior to this our vegetarian options were limited to soft pretzels (a must), peanuts and popcorn.

Furthermore-I'm looking forward to seeing how this designation will be used as a marketing tool. It takes more than love for the home team to fill up stadium seats. Otherwise, why would stadiums be so eager to partner with Food and Travel channels to create shows around eating at ballparks? Vegetarian offerings are now another draw to potential stadium visitors.

What is it that you do that sets  you apart from other businesses? Do you have the largest selection of cardstock colors? The deepest selection of acrylic stamps? The most classes? Knowing that piece of information can open the door to a new promotional initiative and at the very least, be one piece of information that you regularly cite that proves why your store is special and merits a business.

We know people will drive distances to visit stores that have the widest selection of a product they desire. So if you are the scrapbooking version of "most vegetarian options" you need to get the word out. Include it in your ads, promotional materials, website, newsletters, email boilerplates. After a while you'll hear people saying, "Hey did you hear that the Memories Store has the widest color selection of Core' dinations cardstock?" Yet another building block to strengthen your reputation.

Yo, youse guys, have a great weekend, I'm thinking I should get myself down to the stadium for a little quesadilla, tofu pup or veggie burger.-- Beth

Here's an interesting piece by Sarah Mahoney of MediaPost: Study: Downturn Gives Rise to New Consumer Beliefs.

She suggests that Americans are shifting their beliefs when it comes to money managing. They are not just making changes for the short-term fix, they are making life changes ... going on a "financial diet" according to the report she cites.

She quotes, "Sixty-two percent of people reported making some kind of sacrifice because of the economy. " The stat that hit me hard is that "Only 14% say their leisure time has not been affected." That means 86% of the survey's respondents have dialed back on leisure time expenses. Oof. Even though we all know folks are cutting back on leisure spending it is really hard to see that number in print.

Your customers are cutting back and studies seem to indicate that this is not a temporary thing, it is strategic thinking to live simpler with less.

Now for the good news. How many crafters do you know who think less is more when it comes to craft supplies? None that I know.

Ok, to so what to do? Give them permission to spend.

1. Understand that customers are super price conscious. They will be doing comparison shopping and looking for store brands. Check out the competitors and see where you stand on pricing and adjust - if you can. At the very least highlight the value of two-sided papers and the new seasonal papers that transcend the season. Promote paper stacks. Check out companies like GCD Studios who have great looking papers at value prices.

2.  If you are looking to sell a costly piece of equipment- what can you give that customer to add to value of that purchase. Careful, don't give the farm away here. Try to do services rather than products because with services,  you are only out of pocket if you deliver the services. So say you sell that super cool die-cutting system. Do a club for system owners or include 10 hours of training. You get to schedule the training on your time...clubs bring people back into the store for repeat business.

3. Find some neat and inexpensive treats. This is the scrapbook retailer's version of "I can't buy the cashmere sweater I love but I can afford cashmere socks." Customer gets the treat and you get a sale, a smaller one but it's still a sale.  Paper by the piece or pound. Or single seasonal stamps. Contact your vendors and ask what they have that you could use as a cheap and cheerful promo item.

4. Show multiple uses for a single product. Yes, you've heard me say this before. Not just tools but think in terms of inks, stamps, ribbons and other embellishments. Just last week I bought a bunch of those American Craft ribbon rolls to embellish the handles of little tin lunchboxes that I had filled with treats for my son's preschool teachers. Then I got giddy and loaded up on Prima flowers.... the flowers just made me happy at the time, but I've already used them in a gift package, card and a jaunty hairstyle!

5. Love your product. If you are excited about it, your customers won't be able to resist!

I'm all for the "simplify" concept of life but when you think about it, it doesn't always jive with our capitalist upbringing. So we need to find a middle ground for our customers who love our products.

Stuff is good for temporary gratification but how I feel when I use the stuff is what is ultimately going to make the sale.--Beth

P.S. About that last comment. Before you go there, I do not advise coating your entire inventory in dark chocolate. It's a happy thought but too messy.

Hi,

Back in the saddle after a few days R&R in the PA Dutch Country, home to lots of independent fabric and craft stores.

Lancaster as a business community is a great example of how independents and chains can coexist and thrive. It may seem hard to believe but all retailers share some common challenges. The size of the challenge is a matter of scale but also in agility to adapt. The economy has hit all retail businesses hard. It's good to see that craft retailers seem to be keeping pace with other lifestyle retailers, and in some cases doing better.

First, congrats to Jane Aggers and my friends at Hancock. The company has just emerged from bankruptcy and I wish them well. JoAnn's  and AC Moore are hanging in there too- after you read what the stock pundits are saying, compare the chain against similar size businesses and you'll see they are remaining competitive.

Interesting that Hobby Lobby is opening a store in New York this fall. Years ago when I profiled the company for C.N.A. there were no plans to set up locations outside of a day's drive from their headquarters. A lot can change in 10 years.

One thing that savvy independents and chains both will be doing is keeping a close eye on inventory management. If you have a lot of old stock taking up space and getting dusty waiting to sell- move it out!

*Have an unscheduled sale or "preferred customers only" sale.

*Create new samples, classes and demos around product that isn't moving. Take a look at that product to see how it can be cut up, distressed, painted or otherwise altered to take on a fresh look.

*Package it up into "Secret gift packages" in brown paper bags that the customer cannot open to see it inside. Promote the bags as a $25 value for $7.99  or some other deeply discounted price and be sure to include some fresh stuff in there as well. I saw this done at a recent consumer show and I cannot believe how many of those packets blew out.

You can stay deeper in core products like cardstock and tools but the trendy collections have to remain refreshed. That doesn't mean tossing out a great selling line-but perhaps you can add some other coordinates to make it feel new.

I'm curious as to what retailers are doing to manage inventory at this time. Any great advice to share with others? Respond to this blog entry!--Beth

Happy Friday!

First I want to direct you to the comments made by Sudie to my previous blog post. Thanks for the great ideas Sudie and for taking the time to respond! To read them just click on responses underneath the blog entry.

Customer service. Broken record, I know. The Marketing Profs offer some great ideas in this "three steps" article- check it out. The address "uncustomary customer service."

It starts with leaving the customer alone. I'm with them. Yes, I like to be greeted and invited to ask questions. Maybe you can drop by if I am dumbly looking at a product trying to figure something out. Sometimes I'm in a chatty mood, sometimes I have two minutes to get to my son's daycare before I get billed for overtime and I need to get outta there. I will depend on you to sense which kind of mood I'm in and act accordingly. Read my mind!

It's interesting that in our efforts to provide customer service training we tend to write down our list of rules or commandments that all employees should follow. I think this is a good idea but should be treated as a starting point.

If you've ever called the phone company or insurance company, you know what I mean. As a consumer, I'm not into following someone else's script. The kicker is when you just ranted and still didn't get satisfaction and the operator says- "Did we answer all of your questions/take care of your issues/ solve your problem today?" The operator's ears were just singed off and she still has to eat crow and and ask the question. Not such good customer service, I'd say. Not so good for employee morale either, I'd wager.

Even as a retail buyer,  you can be "turned on" or "turned off" by a person in a booth who is following the script for the show. You will choose to do business with an independent rep because you can see that they are generally interested in you. Goodness knows I've been sucked in by a sales pitch for a product that I couldn't cover in a million years but the person is so darn likeable I can't resist giving them a shot.

I have frequently been told by company owners whom I greatly respect- "Hire people for their customer service abilities. Hire friendly "people persons." you can teach them about craft supplies but you can't teach them how to be good with people." So true.

Enjoy your weekend, can September really be right around the corner?--Beth

I want to share this terrific article from Knowledge@Wharton
called A Precarious Road: How Retailers can Navigate Inflation's Hazards.

It's written with multi-store retailers in mind but certainly independents can learn from it as well. Some of the advice many be counter-intuitive (inflationary times call for some new thinking) but certainly a little advice from Ivy League researchers is worth consideration. In fact, much of this same advice has been offered up by Scrapbook Retailer contributors and folks who have commented to this blog...

I really, really encourage you to read the article in its entirety but here are a few highlights.

1. Scaling back on inventory may not be the solution, especially if price increases are ahead. Instead, you may want to beef up on core inventory - basic tools & adhesives. If you have to scale back do it on the "fashion-oriented" trendy merchandise- wide and shallow in papers so that you can still maintain an assortment.

2.Raise prices a bit here and there where you can, little dribs and drabs- all those pennies will add up.

3. Everybody is promoting value & price. It's not enought to just have good prices, you will need to step out with superior customer service.

4. Do not cut back on marketing and promotion but you may want to rethink how you are investing those dollars. The Penn folks say cutting back on marketing is the first instinct and it is often wrong. More than ever you need to remind folks you're around and create excitement in your store. It's said those businesses who do not cut back on marketing and promotion do better than their competitors.


I'll add this bit...please remember we are in the business of promoting personally rewarding hobbies and memory keeping activities. We just don't sell supplies, we sell possibilities. If you continue to inspire your consumer and give her reasons to scrapbook and make cards she will stick with you.--Beth

This weekend we attended a pool party at the home of one my son's preschool friends. As the party wound down, we found ourselves inside saying our goodbyes and there was a scrapbook being passed round.

My son's friend is a foster child who is being adopted into this big warm family. This album was the boy's story to the extent that the child services folks could provide. For each child adopted out, a member of the staff creates a scrapbook-on her own time- to provide to the family.

As I think about it now, what made the album so special is that it didn't tell a story of what was but what was to be. The album showed photos of the boy and all of the members of his new family. It was filled with messages of love and welcome. Years from now when he becomes a teenager and starts learning more about adoption, this album will tell the story of how much he was truly wanted by this family.

I was wondering how this "First day of Your Future" scrapbook idea could be translated on a larger scale. You might be able to reach out to your county child services office or children's home to offer supplies for the family scrapbooks. Or maybe you could create  a volunteer group that meets to scrap these albums for a family. These non-profit or state- run groups rarely have the time and financial resources to make this type of memento so any help would be welcome.

An album about the future.Just goes to prove that scrapbooking isn't always about looking back.--Beth

If you are one of those folks who has been eagerly awaiting the crush of customers with tax rebate checks in hand ready to spend...you may be  a little disappointed.

Unfortunately you're not alone, as research by the National Retail Federation shows that those tax rebate checks didn't provide the lift the industry was hoping for. Seems folks are spending their rebate checks on other luxuries... such as food, gas and back to school supplies. Oh, and paying off debt for things they bought last year.

This is from the NRF Press release:
"Bernstein cited polling conducted June 3-10 that found consumers who had received their rebate checks had spent 42.9 percent of the money, but that nearly half of the money spent had gone to gasoline (9.7 percent) or necessities such as groceries (10.4 percent). The total of those two categories exceeded all other spending categories combined, with the next-largest category – clothing and apparel – amounting to only 3.3 percent. Consumers said 25.2 percent of the money went to pay off debt and 17.1 percent went into savings. The polling was conducted by BIGresearch, an Ohio-based firm that conducts regular consumer surveys for NRF.

This just underscores the need for scrapbook and for that matter, all, craft retailers to highlight other qualities that make them a more compelling spending environment. I keep talking about community and education because when folks have fewer greenbacks in their wallets they are going to be picky about where to spend them. It ain't just about good product. (am I sounding like a broken record?)

If you have some time over the next few weeks give some thought to how you can brand your store as a destination- not just a seller of goods. It may make the difference between whether you merely survive or thrive in the next coming months.

And if anyone out there has some suggestions, we welcome your comments to this blog entry. Have a great weekend!--Beth

Check out this interesting blog entry by Loren McDonald of Silverpop. Seeing as Silverpop is a big expert in business to consumer email it's worth a read.

There are two urban myths about email that I was particularly interested in. One was about FREE being an instant SPAM blocker magnet. The other was the  question of whether one day of the week is better than another if you want your email opened.

Even folks who willingly give you their email will not open your messages occasionally. And of course, that assumes that your messages are actually dropping into inboxes and not getting caught by nets designed to capture bogus offers for discounted Vicodin or other products not mentionable in polite company. Honing your email delivery practices when you can is advisable.

I was glad to read that you can use the word free, because let's face it, isn't that the word that we consumers love the best? Just avoid putting it all in CAPS.

No one day seems to be better for email than others- instead there seems to be more weight placed on consistency in your delivery.

Check out Mr. McDonald's blog- it's great advice from an expert. We'll keep sharing these little nuggets of "smartness" as we come across them so that we can help you work smart as well as hard.

If you have any favorite smartness sources, please share by responding to this blog. Also be sure to read the comments to these blog entries, there may not be that many yet but some of them offer great ideas and food for thought.-- Beth

I think I just scared the living daylights out of a few long term craft industry members.

Now that I have your attention, I thought I'd wade in on a topic that everyone seems to be dancing around- the proverbial elephant in the room: Is scrapbooking going away?

Naaaahhhh.

But like every category it has hit a plateau and this is the time when the folks who weren't really making it, fall off. It's when companies that haven't been watching their expenditures are getting some tough love from the accountants and the beancounters have cut up those credit cards. Instead of making minimums with individual vendors retailers are turning to trusted distributors. And then there's this really inconvenient "we're not in a recession yet but the average man on the street thinks we are." thing. The mindset that someone should not be spending money right now on "superfluous" stuff is a challenge.

Consolidation will continue, I expect more by year's end or right before CHA Winter. The latest being Around the Block becoming part of the UltraPro group which also includes 7 Gypsies and Chatterbox.

As we regroup on the plateau, I predict some fundamental changes in how business is done. And for the most part, these changes will strengthen the bottom lines for vendors and retailers alike.

1. Fewer new product introductions- let's face it the velocity of new product that we taught our customers to expect did not work in our favor. Fewer, more well considered collections are better for the vendor but also for the retailer. Folks- it's ok to reorder a line that blew out in the first week!

2. Fewer freebies. Again, this is a monster we created- we have to own up to that. It was pretty heady in the early days and many companies had super marketers behind the brands with clever promotional ideas. There was so much free product shared around in the early days of the industry that customers, whether consumers or retailers, expect it.  Now that those promo dollars are fewer and far between there are fewer freebies. It's not that companies are trying to be cheap- it's just that some items need to be cut in order to hold the line on product price. Think of it as cutting calories.

I heard some grumbling about it at the show which saddens me. It's going to take discipline to wean folks off the freebie expectation.If you base decisions about classes and placing orders just on the freebies- you are going to miss out on some great opportunities. I'd also like to offer this up... yarn retailers are doing just fine and you don't see them giving away balls of yarn.

3. More partnerships- this is one of my favorites because it makes so much sense. But some great partnership ideas have been weakened over the debate about who is in control or who leads the organization/execution. That's a good item to get in the earlier talks.

4. Embrace papercrafting- It's not just 12 X12 pages- they may be your bread and butter but cardmaking will remain strong as will the use of stamps.

5. A need to niche market- there are some emerging consumer groups that are open to papercrafting & scrapbooking. Are we speaking the same language? Do they relate to the projects we show in ads and in magazines? We need more diversity on a variety of levels and this is going to take some brainstorming to work out out to target these groups with unique messages.

The scrapbook category is not "done" but it does need to evolve. Sometimes companies and product lines stumble. What will matter now is the integrity of our industry members, how they will work hard to get more professional education, how they will partner with could-be competitors, how they will invest differently to build their brands. There are many business owners who have all of their wealth tied up in their scrapbooking businesses. How do we ensure they will see a return on their investment?

By working together, adding value but not random freebies and by making an investment in learning how to run a business. I look forward to joining you on the climb up to the next level. If there are any topics you specifically want me to address, please let me know!--Beth

My life tends to revolve around show dates and magazine deadlines. Simple.

Now that CHA summer is over I feel like I can concentrate on the business of blogging and putting a magazine out and catching up with some contacts  that are equally busy. I am sure you get or have sent similar emails.. "I haven't forgotten you, it's just been CRAZY here."

I might even take a few days off to download the brain cache. In fact that actually results in more ideas- when you are away from the office your mind tends to open up.

What do you do after CHA Summer before you gear up for holiday selling? I hope you are taking some time now to take a few days off (if it is really slow- now is the time!) and plan some interesting things for the fall/winter season.

Grant Madsen from American Crafts' article  in the August/September issue on promoting for the holidays is so right on. This is not going to be  spendy Christmas for most folks, yet we still want to preserve our activities and traditions.

Let's continue the dialogue on making your store a destination. Folks are going to be weary this holiday season and your store can be a bright spot.

I hope you'll take some time in this "end of summer" quite zone and reward yourself for your hard work. Go ahead. Call an old friend, lay by the pool, go see a 1:00pm movie. Give yourself some down time. The only rule is... turn off the phone and the blackberry. You need to get 100% "away". In order to stay strong in competive times you need some downtime to refuel.

You are good to your employees, your family and friends. Please be good to yourself.--Beth

I read a thought provoking entry from Cory Trefiletti's Online Spin this morning. He is a principal and managing partner for Catalyst SF an online marketing firm.

Cory suggests that there is a difference between true customer service and service with a smile.  I couldn't agree more. We've all dealt with folks who try to help but few go beyond the normal bounds of service. They  reply "sorry" with a truly sympathetic look rather than saying, "let me see what I can do for you." In its worse incarnation it's a service provider who says all the right words after you've demonstrated true frustration. She is smiling and trying to look friendly while in her brain she is calling you all kinds of unprintable names and wishing you somewhere that is very very hot.

I recently had an experience where I showed up a day early for a flight home from a trip. I reeeeeaaaaalllyyy was ready to get home. Unfortunately the last flight east had left and since I booked the ticket, the airline bore no responsibility. The service agent said "sorry" and looked sympathetic but she didn't stop there. She checked on flights the following day, advised me about standby options and gave me a voucher that would score me a deeply discounted room. She went so far beyond the call of duty that when they mislaid my suitcase on the flight home, I felt I didn't have the right to get mad. (The suitcase arrived on my doorstep 24 hours later.)

It bears repeating. We're not just in the craft industry, we are in the solutions business.  The more we can provide our customer with good solutions, the more loyal they will be. So here's some thoughts on how you can implement some extra great customer service....

Instead of just sorry when...

A class is sold out... ask to take her number and call if there is a cancellation. Or create a waiting list and offer to contact her if you get enough people for another class. Promise her a guaranteed seat in that class.

You're out of stock on a product... offer to do a special order or earmark that product for her in your next reorder. Or call another retailer to see if they have the product and send the customer over (or if you can, go pick it up yourself and have the customer get it from you.)

You forgot to put a key item in the bag and the customer didn't have it when she wanted to work on a project. Offer 50% off the next persion of that one item. If they are local and it is remotely possible, drop the item off at the customer's house.

When it comes to customer service issues, it won't always be someone's "fault". Even in cases where your customer is hopping mad, she will remember that you helped find a solution.

Got any other solutions? Please share them by responding to this entry.--Beth

P.S. Read Cory's blog now.