Branding Gift Packaging

Helping Retailers Build Their Businesses

Retailers In The Food and Beverage Industry Outrank Competitors

by

Actual Sales Figures In Millions Of Dollars For Retailers
Actual Sales Figures In Millions Of Dollars For Retailers

Ever wonder what industries are bringing in the most sales? For retailers or people thinking about becoming a retailer, the census.gov website publishes these figures by industry. The latest report was released August 13, 2014. We have created an easy to read graph that shows which industries have made the most revenue in the last quarter.

The food and beverage industry comes out the winner. In the month of July, 2014, this incredible industry brought in $55,890,000,000. $55 billion dollars in sales makes the food and beverage industry the most lucrative of the group.

Other notable sales came from the health and clothing industries. Coming in second the health and personal care industry brought in $25,114,000,000 billion, almost half of what the food and beverage industry brought in. The clothing industry raked in $21,205,000,000.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts a 4.1% increase in retail sales for 2014. NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay, said, “Measured improvements in economic growth combined with positive expectations for continued consumer spending will put the retail industry in a relatively good place in 2014.” Kathy Grannis, writer for nrf.com says, “Contributing $2.5 trillion to annual GDP, retail is a daily barometer for the nation’s economy.”

Kraft Packaging Has Been Around For Years

by

Uses For Kraft Paper Are Endless
Uses For Kraft Paper Are Endless
Many gift packaging products at BowsNBags.com are made from kraft products. There are boxes that are made from kraft cardboard, shopping bags made from kraft paper and wrapping paper made from kraft paper.

So why is it called kraft paper? Kraft paper has been made since 1879. All kraft products were made using the “Kraft process.” The lengthy chemical procedure has many steps to it but basically you are putting in wood chips and coming out with a special, strongly bonded paper or cardboard product.

The process involves using wood chips, boiling them, dissolving with a white liquor solution, a series of bleaching solutions and other chemical processes that finally produce a strong paper commonly known as kraft paper. We are all familiar with it because it is so widely used in lunch bags, retail store bags and grocery shopping bags. Any company can use this method of producing paper however the process is patented.

Kraft shoppers provide that extra strength to hold all of your purchased products without ripping or tearing.

Growing Market In Handcrafted Items

by

Hand crafted jewelry
Hand crafted jewelry
There’s something about a handmade piece of jewelry, pottery, glassware or any item that is original to one artist or craftsman. It’s a piece of art that reflects something of the person who made it, and that can be very attractive to a buyer. Marketing such handmade items is a growing trend among savvy retailers, according to an article in Retail Minded, a trade magazine.

Buying from the maker and then retailing handcrafted items has given some retailers an opportunity to please discriminating customers who attach particular value to the idea of a unique piece. The notion feeds into the current strong trend for marketing made-in-the-USA and locally produced merchandise. It has the added benefit of supporting the arts and crafts experts in our midst. It is an ideal concept for the small businesses that are the backbone of the American economy.

Among the advantages of handcrafted goods are the uniqueness of individual pieces, above-average quality and support of crafts persons who use “repurposed” materials.

Wholesalecrafts.com makes buying easy. More than 1,300 juried artists feature their work through the online marketplace. Free registration is available to retailers. The products include price points from the best makers in the States and Canada. In addition American Craft Retail Expos are held three times each year – in Las Vegas in June, New Jersey in August and Philadelphia in February. Special emphasis is put on helping buyers choose merchandise that matches their demographic and price points.

Education is a large part of expanding into handcrafted goods and good information is available through the website and the shows. Building relationships, always a key component of marketing, is especially important in this niche and the associations built through these opportunities to meet and share are helpful.

When customers buy mass-produced items, they have little interest in who made them, but when they are buying the work of a particular artist, they want to know more about him or her as an individual. That becomes an important part of the sales strategy. In general, artists interest all of us and when you buy a handcrafted item, you are buying, in essence, a part of that artist. Knowing something about the particular person who made the piece you want to buy makes it a very personal transaction.

“Growing small businesses in our own backyards, living off our hard work and creativity,” is the perpetuation of a proud American tradition, said Roxann Chalfant of Bottle Benders, a line of glass chimes on Wholesalecrafts.com. As she watches her business grow (up by 30 percent this year over last year) she believes American buyers are becoming more tuned in to the value of buying locally produced goods, rather than concentrating on looking for “cheap.” Her company has been in business more than 40 years and she is convinced that “handcrafted” can be a unique and productive part of retail sales.

Las Vegas Trade Show Pairs Buyers, Sellers

by

asd-las-vegas

Forty thousand participants rubbed shoulders recently as the ASD (Associated Surplus Dealers) Vegas trade show held its annual extravaganza in the Nevada city’s Convention Center. The show, which has staged its yearly meeting of buyers and sellers for more than 50 years, continues to thrive and evolve.

The convenience of having thousands of exhibitors showing their goods in the style and beauty, jewelry, gift, toy and value categories all under one roof again attracted thousands of buyers who find the yearly blowout a good way to see more of what’s available, spend time with the vendors and place their orders.

Seminars on such current topics of interest to the retail community as social media enhancements, search engine strategies, e-commerce and global sales strategies attracted large audiences.

The Vegas show again attracted representatives of the wholesale and mass retail arenas. They included those from the large chain retail stores, independent retailers, online retailers, distributors, boutique franchisers, mall carts and kiosks. They had a dazzling array of goods in the most comprehensive selection of general merchandise in the country.

Hear what retailers are saying about ASD Las Vegas:

Les Kleinberg
Glitz in the City; Salt Lake City, UT
“It’s big and it’s in Las Vegas––that’s why I attend ASD. It’s everything we need and more all in one place. I buy jewelry, purses and wine glasses. I do cash & carry here and I’ve found new products and suppliers we may place orders with. We attend San Francisco International Gift Show as well, but there is more merchandise at ASD all in one place.”

Rich Richardson
Best Tires for Less; Temecula, CA
“Having merchandise for sale keeps our female customers entertained while they are waiting for their cars. We have purses, backpacks, luggage, stun guns. My wife is also buying cash & carry jewelry for herself. We need what’s new and different to keep people buying––that’s why we come to ASD.”

Reed Fowlers
Big West Sales; Kaysville, UT
“We’re here looking to place orders on items to sell at our hundreds of stores throughout the West – mostly gas stations and convenience stores – and to network with suppliers. This is one of the major shows that we attend every year.”

Looking For Goods, Services? Yelp Can Help

by

why-use-yelpMore and more people are turning to Yelp for help when they are looking for inside reviews on such things as restaurants, products and services. At the end of March this year, the website and mobile application reported an average of 132 million monthly visitors in 120 markets worldwide.

What does that mean to you as a business person? It means you might be passing up an opportunity to get your message before millions of people with potential interest in what you do. Nielsen statistics, for instance, say that 82 percent of those who went to the site for assistance in choosing a provider reported they intended to make a purchase. The same survey indicated that 89 percent of the Yelp users made a purchase within a week.

The misperception that Yelp is only a restaurant review tool is yielding to its true role in connecting local businesses with potential customers. Shopping reviews, with comments by those who have actually dealt with the relevant business, account for 23 percent of the Yelp business.

Say, for instance, that wrapping personal packages or the goods you sell is your objective. Yelp can provide all the pertinent data re: a local outlet that does wonders with the latest in decorative wraps, complete with ribbons, bows and assorted touch-ups. The same is true of a huge variety of businesses.

Does it make a difference? A recent study by Boston Consulting Group showed that businesses that used Yelp’s free services increased annual revenues by an average of $8,000. Those that added advertising to the package upped annual revenues by more than $23,000 on average.

You can create a free business owner’s account by visiting biz.yelp.com.

Yelp’s value is in enhancing that all-important first impression that snags customers and keeps them coming back. An attractive business page, particularly a page that catches the eye with colorful photos, can have a huge impact when it appears in a resource that has already proved it has high visibility. The data confirm that Yelp users spend 2.5 times more time perusing listings that have photos than those that do not.

Activity Feed is one of the useful tools Yelp offers. It creates graphs of user views and customer leads and lets you know when a customer has contacted your business, mapped out directions to your location or clicked through to your website. When a customer prompted by Yelp calls you, it will appear in the feed, including the exact time when the call was made.

Activity Feed also provides information regarding your business’ average revenue per customer. The average spend per customer also leads you toward more accurate financial readings.

In response to those who complain that most of the customer comments generated by Yelp are negative, the service notes that some 79 percent of the comments actually fall into the category of three stars or higher (on a five-star scale.) You also have the opportunity to respond to reviews to build customer goodwill. A thank-you to those who make positive comments may encourage them to keep coming back.

Who visits Yelp? Almost 80 percent are in the age groups 18-54, essentially the buying years. Some 56.6 percent are college graduates and another 15.3 percent hold advanced higher education degrees, according to figures compiled by reliable statistical agencies.

About BowsNBags.com

The BowsNBags blog presents retail store owners with resources that will be helpful to them in growing their businesses. From suggesting conferences to attend to finding the best sources for their products, we cover a wide range of simple, helpful tips and suggestions for your retail store operations. On our store front at BowsNBags, we provide our customers with all the supplies they will need to wrap packages for customers, to provide shopping bags for customer and to provide retail gift … Read More

Retailing Experts

Experts in importing and exporting goods are featured on our blog. Why re-invent the wheel when we have so many people who have been down the road of … Read More