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In business, as in life, we often look for ways to enhance
ourselves in order to be successful. Sometimes finding
success comes easily while other times it may seem like the
process lasts forever before we reach our destination. One
sure way to make the process simpler is to search out
resources like newsletters, business groups, and support
organizations. Let us help you in the process.
Jami Petersen
newsletters@a-z.com |
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News you can use
about the latest media coverage of hot
trends, noteworthy events and dynamic
industry leaders. Learn more about the
current headlines in arts and crafts by
clicking on the title of each article
segment.
Creative Memories leaders sued. "A
lawsuit filed late Wednesday accuses
former and current leaders of Creative
Memories and The Antioch Co. of causing
and cashing in on the local scrapbooking
pioneer’s bankruptcy, leading to the
loss of $50 million to $80 million in
employee retirement accounts."
Photobucket and Ontela Announce
Agreement to Merge Operations. The
combined company, which will be known as
Photobucket Corporation, will leverage
the assets of two of the online photo
industry’s leading players. The
combination will bring together
Photobucket’s massive audience of more
than 22 million users in the U.S. with
Ontela’s leading-edge software that is
currently in use on more than 30
wireless carriers, including Verizon and
T-Mobile. Photobucket will leverage
Ontela’s wireless carrier relationships
to provide distribution and consumer
access to more than 140 million wireless
subscribers, while Ontela will drive
uptake of its mobile applications by
capitalizing on Photobucket’s brand and
highly active user base.
New Scrapbook Papers Released for the
Scrapbooking Holiday Season by Craft
Company Empirical Praxis. Located at
cardtoppers4crafts.com under their
festive scapbooking and backing papers
section, crafters can choose from a
range of decorative papers perfect for
scrapbooking and preserving family
photos taken over the festive holidays.
The scrapbook papers are instantly
downloadable, which means that crafters
can search for the right papers to suite
their scrapbook project and get them
quickly and conveniently with the click
of a mouse.
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Advertisement
Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L™ |
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Advertisement
The Memory Tradeshow |
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The Memory
Tradeshow is the premiere market for scrapbooking and related
products, family history and digital imaging.
It is the most important gathering of this industry regionally,
and it’s attracting executives from all sectors: manufacturers,
retailers, distributors, suppliers, sales reps, designers and
press. The show’s goal is to provide the highest ROI show within
the industry with a greater focus on the business of the memory
industry, education and best business practices.
Learn more and save >> |
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by Dennis A. Conforto, A-Z Media Group, Inc. |
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 I
wanted to share with you a story about a retailer that has an important lesson
regarding the nature of what it takes to be a great retailer today.
A new owner having never been in retail before bought a Domino's franchise. He
opened his new store at a resort area near a lake. The first challenge he faced
with his market area is most of the residences live there only six months out of
the year. It's a place where people come in the summer and really nobody stays
for the winter. Think about that, you’re in retail and now you discover you have
to make all of your real profit in a six month period of time because for the
rest of the year your business is going to be dead.
The second challenge he discovered shortly after he opened. Domino's guarantees
pizza deliver within thirty minutes. There was no way that he could consistently
make the advertised time limit because he was situated on a big lake with houses
stretching all the way around the lake. This was quickly becoming a disaster for
his retail business.
He needed to find the shortest route between the restaurant and homes so he
began to deliver the pizza by boat. Every house was right on the lake
accompanied by a dock. As a result, he became the first Domino's franchisee to
ever deliver pizza by boat. You have got to love a retailer like this who just
doesn’t understand the words, “it can’t be done”.
The next challenge he discovered was that boats don't stay stable like a
vehicle. Although the pizza was getting there in thirty minutes, it was all
smashed to one side of the box and stuck to the lid. Once again, he needed an
innovative solution.
He got with the Domino's engineers and together they invented a device solely
for his use. They invented a device that involved a heating gyroscope to hold
the pizzas in the boat while keeping them hot and stable regardless of the
boat’s movement. Now that’s clever retailing! And it shows what can happen when
you work closely with your supplier to solve what is really a joint issue of
getting more sales.
The next challenge he faced was that at night the docks and lake were dark. His
delivery people were getting lost out on the lake and getting lost meant being
late and being late meant the pizza was free. He decided to go around the entire
lake and put solar lights on every dock at his expense. He also painted on dock
numbers so when people ordered their pizza they could just give their dock
number and his staff could get there on time with a perfect pizza. Retail
invention and a set of clever ideas brought him profits and newbies for his
product and services, ultimately making his pizza business work.
Here's the amazing part of the story. In a six-month period that franchisee out
sold two-thirds of what the Domino's franchisees do all year long simply by
delivering pizza by boat on his lake just a portion of the year.
The moral of the story is either you want it badly enough to do what it takes or
you don’t. What would your sales look like if you applied this tenacious
attitude towards looking for the newbie?
A few years ago I was talking with some of the executives of Cord Camera. They
have 37 stores nine of which have a great scrapbooking section. They are an
independent retail chain who has to think outside the box like everyone else. In
this case they thought with the box, a pizza type box.
Like everyone else they had some slow moving inventory they needed to clear.
They came up with the great idea of Scrapbook Pizza! They purchased some boxes
that where the shape and size of a pizza box and created a clever list of
scrapbook ingredients. The result was a great sales event that creatively moved
older inventory without their having to heavily discount it. It also drove up
the average size of the transaction, and by thinking outside the box they found
the solution in a pizza box.
Simply stated we should be reaching to move past the $2.1 billion mark we are at
today. To do that the industry needs newbies and we need to grow from 4.5
million scrapbookers to 40 million with new products, new ideas and new ways of
doing business that will only happen by working together.
Like the pizza guy we need more business more often and in our case we need it
all year long. We need more men buying products and we need real solutions that
appeal to them on a mass scale. Like the pizza guy who was worried about time we
need to worry about the time our core customers have to shop and how much they
have to spend. We can’t afford to have scrapbooking be seen as a luxury expense
because it is now costing on average $16.50 cents per three photo scrapbook
page. Nor can it be seen as a category that takes too much time. We must fit
into today’s reality for women whose budgets are tighter because of rising fuel
prices and who have less time now than ever before.
We have the potential so the question is can we be as SMART as the pizza guy to
shine a light on those consumers addresses we would like to sell to even in the
middle of the night? When we think and act before the box is closed is when we
will reach the goal at hand. And that is what being business SMART is all about. |
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Press Release: Pentel
of America On National Handwriting Day
January 23, 2010 is National Handwriting Day |
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Pentel of America wants you to write something special on
National Handwriting Day, January 23, 2010. On July 4, 1776,
John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence.
Grasping his pen, Hancock signed the revolutionary document
with a flamboyant, passionate, and famous large signature.
Hancock’s signature is perhaps the best representation of
the power of the handwritten word. Therefore, it is only
appropriate that his birthday, January 23rd, is now known as
National Handwriting Day. Sponsored by the Writing
Instrument Manufacturers Association (WIMA), the intent of
National Handwriting Day is to alert the public to the
importance of handwriting. According to WIMA, National
Handwriting Day is a chance for all of us to re-explore the
purity and power of handwriting.
“Technology advances have in some cases lessened the art of
the handwritten word. Texting, e-mail, and personal
computers have usurped personal writing,“ says Marty Furman,
Chief Operating Officer of Pentel of America, a leading
manufacturer of writing instruments. “But nothing can
compare to the sincere generosity of the handwritten word,”
Furman continued. “Taking the time to personally convey
one’s thoughts is a grand display of individuality that
technology cannot simply replicate.”
Pentel of America has a long-standing relationship with
American history, so their endorsement of National
Handwriting Day is a synergistic fit. In the early 1960’s,
the press secretary to Lyndon B. Johnson attended a
stationary show and obtained a sample of the Pentel Sign
Pen. President Johnson borrowed the pen, loved the smooth
writing performance, and ordered 24 dozen to call his own.
The Pentel Sign Pen became the President’s pen of choice
used to sign documents and write important notes and
letters. In keeping with America’s vision for an
environmentally-friendly country, the Pentel Sign Pen is
made from 80% Recycled Plastic.
“The history of the Pentel Sign pen is a perfect
representation of the innovation and ingenuity that pervades
Pentel of America. Our investment in environmentally
friendly products with the Pentel of America Recycology line
demonstrates the progression of product performance that
would make any president proud,” says Furman.
So on the 23rd of January 2010, take the time to write a
note. You can write a poem, a journal entry, or a letter to
the President. Take the time to sign your name proudly, in
honor of one our founding fathers. Just make sure the pen
you use is a good one, and good for the environment too.
ABOUT PENTEL
All Pentel products are backed by warranty against
defects in materials and workmanship. Known for quality and
innovation, Pentel is a world leader in the manufacturing
and selling of writing instruments and art materials. With
offices throughout the world, the Pentel of America
headquarters is located in Torrance, California.
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