Consumers : For Shopping Pros, It’s Christmas in July
Romance is hot, country’s not, California retailers found as they surveyed thousands of gift items this week at the California Gift Show. The event previews what consumers will find in stores for Christmas.
This year, the romantic theme, called Victoriana by industry analysts, could not be ignored.
Throughout the gift show were ivory lace and shiny chintz floral patterns in dark greens; reds and deep blues could be found on everything from greeting cards to desk accessories. Traditional Santa Claus figures in long red robes outnumbered the newer, round rosy-cheeked ones. And the Southwest influence in colors and patterns that began five or so years ago continued popular.
But country-style themes clearly were out, while computerized and electronic gadgets remained in vogue with buyers.
One of the fastest-selling items at the show: Shower Notes, a note pad with special waterproof paper that lets the forgetful write themselves reminders in the shower. The item was developed by comedian Yakov Smirnoff and his wife, Linda.
Another popular item was Dancing Flowers, which operate with a computer chip and respond to sound by gyrating in their pots. Or Moonies, dolls for the car window that drop their drawers when an attached bulb gets squeezed.
How do buyers pick products that they hope will become lasting trends and not short-lived fads? With careful study of items offered at gift shows and often through “gut buying,” retailers admitted. Most spend long hours at the giant five-day Los Angeles show, which ends at 1 p.m. today. They track trends in gifts and decide what will appeal to customers.
The semiannual show--which runs at the Los Angeles Convention Center, L.A. Mart and the Bonaventure Hotel--is “the mall for the retailers,” said its marketing manager, Jon Weiglin.
Sonja deBottari of Mountain Gate Lodge Gifts in Coleville, Calif., observed: “You try to buy quality items without spending a fortune doing it. I’m very careful with my money because what I buy will either make or break me. If I make a mistake and buy things that don’t sell, my friends will get them as Christmas gifts or they’ll end up in my own cupboard.”
Like many show buyers, DeBottari runs her own gift shop in conjunction with a fishing lodge she and her husband, Lou, have on the Walker River in the Lake Tahoe area. She set a budget for her purchases and is “a very conservative orderer,” she said.
Debra Gold, special events coordinator for AMC Trade Shows Ltd., which runs the California Gift Show in January and July, said that “65% of the buyers have small mom-and-pop stores. This show is timed to meet retailers’ needs for Christmas. They come with a certain amount of . . . money that they have to spend and they’re careful. They have to forecast five months ahead of time what will sell, what will suit the customers they attract, what the economy will be; 80% of their profits are made in the fourth quarter so if they blow that . . . they’re in trouble.”
Psyching Out Consumers
DeBottari and other buyers at the show said there are few resources to teach a retailer what to look for and how to buy.
“You look at everything, trying to find what people will want,” DeBottari said. “I watch people when they come in the store and try to hear what they say. We have a lot of tourists and I want to offer them usable tourist gifts. One of the best I found here before--warming clay bricks that you heat in the oven and then put in a bread basket to keep rolls warm. The company put our (lodge’s) name on it . . . so it is a souvenir as well as useful.”
Although free seminars and presentations are offered to buyers during the show, DeBottari and others said they want more printed materials on how to market and display items they buy.
“You have to have an eye for how you display your things,” she said. “Nobody helps you with that.”
Jean Merritte of Casa de Oro Florist and Gifts in Spring Valley, near San Diego, explained that she likes to create her own style for her shop, preferring nostalgic items.
Careful Study Process
She found many of the Victoriana-style gifts at the show to her liking, but said, “I don’t always buy everything I like.” She explained that she and her husband, Ralph, spend days perusing show items. “I look and take notes in the catalogue and study them. I delete some and then go back and order others. Sometimes you see something you’re very impressed with at first, then you go back and look at it and it isn’t as good as you first thought.”
Just as the buyers are small entrepreneurs, so, too, are many inventors marketing products. “The gift industry is a big industry made up of small people, people who woke up one day with an idea and started out in their garage,” Gold said.
One such duo with a booth at the show was a mother-daughter team who developed the “It Takes Two” line of greeting cards. “Five years ago they worked out of the garage” in LeSueur, Minn., Tim Rinehart recalled of his wife, Kimberly, and mother-in-law Georgia Rettmer. “We’d pack everyone in the car, including the dog, and make deliveries.
“They started with 24 original designs. Now they have close to 400, plus related products--mugs, gift enclosures, books,” said Rinehart, the firm’s show representative. “We’ve been very blessed. We originally started with a $10,000 investment, and will go easily over $2 million in sales this year. And we’re building a new building, offices and a warehouse.”
Such Success Uncommon
But that kind of success story for gift developers is rare, industry representatives said.
“The negative side is that the majority don’t make it,” said Shower Notes developer Smirnoff. “It’s like in comedy. There are 10,000 comedians around the country playing in small clubs. Then the clubs close and they don’t get there. We’ve invested $50,000 in this. It’s a fun product and people may need it. But to a small person without a backup, that’s too much to spend. They can’t afford to develop it.”
