"There are some things you can learn best in the calm and others in a raging storm."

-- Willa Cather, author

by Jami Petersen

The industry seems to be bombarded with word of new store closings on a weekly basis. In fact, knowing what to do when a neighboring store closes became a topic of discussion here in our office when we heard from a store facing that dilemma. Perhaps you fear for the future of your own business, or maybe you are facing this same scenario. Either way, you'll want to read this week's feature article from Dennis Conforto. 

Jami Petersen
newsletters@a-z.com

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Press Releases

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 cuts 6% of work force. "Local scrapbook maker Creative Memories has cut 30 jobs from its payroll, most of them at its St. Cloud offices, said Chris Veit, president and chief executive officer. Veit, who took over as the company’s leader last month after its last president resigned, made the announcement to employees Tuesday. Cuts came mostly in St. Cloud at its Eighth Avenue and Clearwater Road offices. Some Yellow Springs, Ohio, workers were affected. Leaders eliminated jobs in operations, information technology and other support workers, Veit said. That represents 6 percent of its companywide work force, he said. It has 365-370 employees in St. Cloud, about 480 worldwide, he said."

Daisy Bucket Designs announces the retirement of all Daisy Bucket branded products. These items will no longer be manufactured and all remaining stock on hand is marked down 50% off original wholesale prices and our already discounted clearance items.

Sakura

Glaze® glossy 3D ink leaves a raised ink line for writing you can feel.

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My Favorite Things introduces Die-namics, our EXCLUSIVE, American made line of steel dies.

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by Dennis A. Conforto, A-Z Media Group, Inc.

What should you do when another scrapbooking retailer fails within your marketplace? The answers may surprise you. First, don’t be happy. It’s not a victory but a failure for the whole industry. Why do I say that? Well, if it were just one retailer going out of business it would be one thing; but thousands of retailers have failed in recent days. Those failures affect the consumer confidence rate in the overall category. So, when one retailer fails we all fail, and that is the problem.

Think about the scrapbooking consumer who watches scrapbooking retailers continually fail. What message does that send about our industry to them? That we are poor businesspeople? That our products are no longer en vogue? These failures don’t even help the big-box national chains that sell scrapbooking products. Help your store succeed when a nearby store fails with these five tips.

1. Contact the former owner of the business who is closing and see if you can buy their remaining inventory at 10 to 20 cents on the dollar.
2. Take older merchandise and blow it out at 50% off list as a special purchase sale. Fold the current inventory into your standard merchandise mix.
3. As part of the buyout deal of the inventory, gain access to the former owner’s consumer home and email addresses
4. Combine the home and email addresses with your current database and clean up the duplicates.
5. Send invitations for your most current sales event to the new consumers not found in your database and honor any outstanding coupons or certificates of the failed store.
It’s important to take care of the local scrapbookers in your market who may have been adversely affected by a fellow retailer who has failed.

When one of us fails, we have all failed. Each time a retailer fails, the industry should pause and ask itself, “What should we be doing differently? How can we change the tide that is going against our industry?”
Unfortunately, most people in business want one simple, quick-fix for all of their problems, or they are only willing to commit to a single change. However, there is no one fix. There are a host of changes that need to be made to ensure the success of an independent retailer and in turn change the industry for everyone. We have talked about them many times within the last year. Most of the solutions are simple and inexpensive. They can save many retailers and help many manufacturers who are feeling the pain of others’ failures. All of the suggestions are common standards that have served other industries well.


Now that you have taken care of your new customers, here are ten keys to prevent your own store failure.

1. Reduce the number of vendors you do business with to no more than 50.
2. Make sure your displays feature the power brands you bring into your store.
3. Increase your turn rate to at least a four-time turn, which means nothing stays in your inventory more than 90 days.
4. Make sure you are spending 5% on advertising and that half of it is paid by your vendors to assist in your efforts to sell their products.
5. Make sure that 80% of your advertising dollars are spent on finding new consumers and the other 20% is spent on your current client base.
6. Make sure you have two solid promotions every single month.
7. Team up with other local scrapbooking retailers to promote the category.
8. Train your staff to know your vendors, know the products and know your consumers.
9. Understand why scrapbookers scrapbook, then make sure your store reflects your customers’ values.
10. Know how much volume you have to do monthly to ensure that you make 15% pre-tax profits and work hard to achieve it every month with the support of your staff.

If you can implement these ten keys, you will have a great business. It will be a growing, profitable business. Over time, instead of paying for your inventory with credit cards you will be offered terms by your vendors who will look at you as a solid partner and a good retailer. That is what being business SMART is all about.

If you would like to comment directly to Dennis about this article or have him address a subject matter in future articles feel free to email him directly at dconforto@a-z.com.

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The Memory Tradeshow

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 >>

Submit for an Opportunity to Win an Olympus Camera and $5,000 to Show What You Can Do

Olympus wants to know: What you would do if you had the amazing new Olympus PEN® E-PL1 portable camera featuring professional digital single lens reflex (DSLR) image quality, point-and-shoot simplicity and high-definition (HD) video, along with $5,000 to bring your creative vision to life? The PEN your story challenge starts right now, so it’s time to find out.

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Get professional tips to make your filmmaking dreams become a reality from multi Webby-Award winner Erik Beck, executive producer of the online DIY filmmaking network Indy Mogul. Beck has produced a how-to video with tips and tricks to assist you with the production of your submission for the PEN your story challenge.  The challenge is open to residents of the United States and Canada.

MAKE YOUR CREATION SHINE WITH THE PEN

When submitting your video proposal for the PEN your story challenge, explain how, as a finalist, you plan to use the creative features of the Olympus PEN E-PL1 for your project.

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With the PEN’s Multiple Exposure function available for still image capture, you are free to tell a visual story your way. The image capture options enable you to shoot one shot, then another and combine them in real time, or capture both shots separately and combine them within the camera later.

Live Guide

The PEN’s new Live Guide interface simplifies great photography and offers the results you desire at the touch of a button. Want more vivid or muted color in your shot? Want warmer or cooler color? Want a brighter or darker subject, or a sharper or softer background? Or maybe you want to capture the fast-moving action of your subject with a little artistic blur, or perhaps freeze the action? Simply select Live Guide and press the up and down arrows on the back of the camera to slide through numerous photographic effects. Make adjustments and watch the LCD as the effects are made live – before the image is captured! Don’t worry about learning technical things like f-stops, shutter speed and white balance; jump right in by composing, adjusting exposure and more before the shot is taken.

For more details about the PEN your story challenge and the Olympus PEN E-PL1 visit http://www.youtube.com/getolympus and http://www.getolympus.com, and connect with us on http://Twitter.com/getolympus, http://www.Facebook.com/getolympus and http://www.Flickr.com/groups/getolympus.

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