"The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it."

-- Epicurus

by Jami Petersen

The CHA Summer show has come and gone. Better business principles were displayed by manufacturers, explained by retailers and appreciated by the crowds that toured the aisles. This week's feature article discusses all that could be gained from working more closely with your top customers.
We encourage you to send in your press releases about new products and retail programs for publication. Simply send an email to: newsletters@a-z.com. Press releases may be published in future issues of Scrapbooking.com Magazine’s Weekly Business Newsletter.

Jami Petersen
newsletters@a-z.com

Tradeshows

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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.
 

Epson introduced three new premium photo all-in-ones – the Artisan® 835, Artisan® 725 and an all-white Artisan® 725 Arctic Edition – designed to deliver quality, reliability and superior performance for today’s active digital families. The three all-in-ones deliver an array of unique features, including the world’s fastest 4”x6” photo print speeds, built-in Wi-Fi® n, wireless printing from an Apple® iPhone, a variety of creative applications, and image quality preferred by consumers 3-to-1 over the competition.

GOLDEN Expands Heavy Body Acrylic Product Offering. Golden Artist Colors is expanding its most popular paint line, the Heavy Body Acrylics. Building on the strength of this category, GOLDEN is adding five new colors: Bismuth Vanadate Yellow, Transparent Brown Iron Oxide, Pyrrole Red Dark, Permanent Maroon, and Chromium Oxide Green Dark. Each color offers unique properties, complementing existing colors already in the family.

Unibind Adds New Do-It-Yourself Photobook Products. At home production of 4x6” personal photobooks has been greatly simplified with the Unibind MyBook Collection, which hold up to 10 photos and the covers are available in a wide variety of themes and colors.

Sakura

Koi Water Color Field Sketch Kits are portable sets, perfect to take along on hikes, vacations, or lunch breaks in the city. Koi Water Colors blend easily to create an endless color range. The kits are available in 12, 18 and 24 colors.

Each set contains a Koi Water Brush with a two-piece barrel handle to carry water. Small, medium, and large brushes can be purchased individually.

Contact your wholesaler for details. http://www.sakuraofamerica.com/Watercolors-Set
- see video demo!

by Sherry Chapman

Many manufacturers and distributors returning from the CHA Trade Show may be asking, “What is happening to our marketplace? Where are the orders we’ve written at this show in the past? How are we going to thrive in this economic downturn?” Business is out there, only now you may have to work SMARTER. Here are a few ideas to help.

Start by reviewing the business your company has done with your independent retailers and determine which retailers are providing you with 80% of those sales. If you focus on these top sellers who are now accounting for the majority of your independent retailer business, you are putting our energy into our top customers. These are the customers to partner with to increase your sales and revenues.

Once you’ve determined who these customers are, it’s time to make a commitment to doing more business with them. One of the first steps in capturing more of their business is to start developing your company’s retail loyalty program for them. Retail loyalty programs have shown dramatic results in other industries. The retail loyalty program I will outline here will work for the scrapbook industry.

First, make these customers an integral part of your business and reward them for doing more business with you. Your program will then encourage them to buy more products from you more often. Here are the five steps:

1. Co-branding of retail display space
2. Individual performance-based volume rebates
3. Matching co-op funds to increase product and store awareness
4. Co-op ad books to improve advertising productivity
5. Clearance center program to replace nonperforming products with performing products

Consider a volume rebate program, which will reward your top accounts for doing more business with you. Communicate with them and encourage them to make you one of their top vendors and show them how they will benefit. You decided what will work for your business. Now’s the time to start showing these retailers you are ready to partner with them with your new program for them. Be sure to give your program a name and parameters defining the retailers in this group. Send these customers branding logos for their store windows. Help them promote your brands to the consumer.

Once you’ve outlined the volume rebate program for retailers, continue communicating with them regularly. Present them with your best selling items. These are your proven sellers that will sell and turn regularly at retail when placed and priced correctly. Send these customers seasonally appropriate best sellers information. Remember, you are the expert when it comes to your product lines; share this knowledge with your top retailers. Educate them on your brands.

Schedule a regular email, letter or newsletter to these customers and provide them the information they need to make informed choices for their inventory. Encourage them to purchase regularly rather than twice a year at the shows. Partner with your top stores to do more business consistently and develop a relationship together that will allow you both to thrive. That’s what being SMART is all about.
 

Email Contact

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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 >>

Partnership to offer exclusive artwork on two new Cricut® Cartridges

Creative Memories and Provo Craft announced a partnership to offer exclusive artwork on two new Cricut® Cartridges - Cheerful Seasons and Reminisce Accents. The partnership is a first in the scrapbooking industry.

Creative Memories pioneered modern scrapbooking nearly 25 years ago and Provo Craft revolutionized the paper crafting industry with the 2006 launch of the Cricut® Personal Electronic Cutter, a portable machine that uses cartridges to cut paper, vinyl, chipboard, and fabric into thousands of shapes and fonts.

“We’ve worked together to create two exclusive new cartridges that marry the Creative Memories style with Cricut convenience”, says Eve Miller, Product Marketing Manager at Creative Memories. “This partnership provides a new source of art and design that will help our customers be even more creative.”

The new cartridges feature the Reminisce Accents and the Cheerful Seasons designs and fonts. Together, the pair of cartridges provide hundreds of unique designs in a variety of sizes.

The new cartridges are compatible with the Cricut Personal Electronic Cutter., Cricut® Create, Cricut Expression®, Gypsy™ Handheld Design Studio, and Cricut Cake™. “Launching new content is always exciting,” says Matt Wilburn, Chief Marketing Officer at Provo Craft. “We get to see what incredibly creative people do with it and it absolutely inspires us.”

About Creative Memories
Creative Memories is dedicated to preserving the past, enriching the present and inspiring hope for the future. As a leader in the memory celebration industry, Creative Memories specializes in selling premium quality photo albums, scrapbooking supplies, digital photo books, and software. Based in St. Cloud, Minn., Creative Memories markets its products at in-home “Get Togethers” through more than 40,000 independent sales Consultants worldwide.

About Provo Craft
Provo Craft is a creative technology company that enables people to achieve their creative best. For 40 years, Provo Craft has invented new products that bring industrial technology to the masses, including the Cricut® Personal Electronic Cutter, the Cricut DesignStudio™ software, the Cricut Cake Personal Electronic Cutter, Yudu™ Personal Screen-printing System, and the Cuttlebug™ Die Cutter and Embosser. These innovative tools help people bring their creative ideas to life in a personalized, professional-looking way at home, in schools and the workplace. Provo Craft products have won dozens of industry awards and are available through leading mass retail, craft, home décor, office, and education outlets nationwide.