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Business SMART: |
Where is Scrapbooking
Going? |
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By:
Dennis A. Conforto
Chairman & CEO of A-Z Media Group, Inc. |
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Since the formal
mass marketing of scrapbooking in 1996 scrapbooking has been
dominated by the thought that it’s simply a category for the
crafter. As the marketplace matured, the products became more
complex and more oriented toward the expert scrapbooker. By
doing this, the scrapbooking industry has obscured and
overlooked what could be its greatest opportunity and future for
the industry.
In the past we have talked about the four segments of the
market. These are the crafters who are the beginners, the
intermediates, the experts and the collectors. These four
segments of the marketplace now represent 4.5% of women between
the ages of 16 and 64.
But what percentage of women have the time and/or the money to
devote to the craft of scrapbooking, or any craft, for that
matter? There is no question that women have all the time
pressures that modern society can place on them. Over 90% of
married women have jobs, kids and a home to care for. So what
about women who love the idea of scrapbooks, but who lack the
time of a crafter or the finances of an expert?
While the scrapbooking industry has done a good job of capturing
a high percentage of crafters who will scrapbook, the industry
has ignored the most vital segment: non-crafters who would like
to give the gift of a scrapbook.
The non-crafter has two problems with the scrapbooking industry
as it is organized today. Both issues are related to a key
element – time. If you are a non-crafter and are limited in
time, you need fast and elegant solutions to fulfill your
scrapbooking needs. However, if you go to any store carrying
scrapbooking products from the large national chains to the
independent retailer you will not find a simple, fast solution.
For example, if you were a busy non-crafter and you were in need
of a present for a baby shower and you had little time, what
would you find in an independent scrapbook store? Well, what you
wouldn’t find is that you could be in and out in five minutes.
You would be at a loss because the whole industry is oriented
towards the erector set business model. Meaning for the mass
market there are no scrapbooking products oriented towards the
non-crafter.
As our society continues to change, women have less and less
disposable time to invest in crafts, or even to cook. The
scrapbooking industry should look at the food service industry
as an example. To illustrate, in the 1950’s and 1960’s, most of
the meals made in America were homemade. Now we are in a new
century and the meals even at home, for the most part are
pre-cooked or even frozen meals. The manufacturers of these
products have gotten better and better. Local stores put
together fresh salads, pastas and other meals to address the
mass market needs of packaged products fast. Even McDonalds has
learned that they need to make fast food even easier. With as
few SKU’s as they have, they have packaged their products into
meal numbers to move things more quickly. They do it for speed
because they know that they have to respect the consumer’s time.
If you are a non-crafter and love the idea of a scrapbook
imagine how intimidating it is when you walk into a store with
10,000 SKU’s. Time is the enemy of the scrapbooking industry if
it wants to be the $15 billion dollar industry it can be. With
the scrapbooking industry’s erector set business model, the
non-crafter quickly learns that the category is not a quick one.
Consider this: if it takes this long to figure out how to buy
the product, how will a busy, working mom have the time to make
the final product?
I believe there are really five segments to the industry and the
largest one of them all is the “instant scrapbooker
non-crafter.” This segment does not have the same needs as
the crafter. They don’t have a need for the community or the
time for a crop class. Instead, they have the need for personal
gift-giving and creating their own personal family history.
The instant scrapbooker has the potential to be a strong and
lucrative base for the industry. The other four segments that
built the industry up are only the tip of the iceberg. The great
news is that scrapbooking manufacturers are starting to see it,
and feel it, and build products for it.
For the independent scrapbook retailer it’s a huge marketing
problem, because the non-crafter knows that for now,
scrapbooking is a craft business only. So they stay away.
Retailers who are trying to sell packages are challenged by it
because the primary shopper into the store today is in fact the
crafter.
It is also hard for a retailer to package products. Packaging is
really best done by the manufacturers, not the retailers. When
the instant scrapbooking kits finally hit the marketplace they
will start to pick up speed and dwarf the current business model
of today.
Hallmark stores recently released their instant scrapbook
products. In doing so they solved several problems that
independent retailers have. First, they only have to ring up one
SKU not twenty. Second, the average transaction price starts at
$49 not less then $10. And finally, the selection process for
the consumer is fast, and they are in and out of the store
within five minutes with a real solution for their scrapbooking
needs.
The good news is the non-crafter can slowly be converted to the
7 year cycle of the crafter. And yet the non-crafter has no
yearly cycle as to their burn out rate like the crafter does.
The potential for this instant scrapbooker segment is enormous.
The time has come for all of us to look below the water level
and see the iceberg that we are all sitting on and make it
happen. And that is what being SMART is all about. |
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