13 August 2013
If you are like me, you`ll be reeling at the deal done between Aus Post and NZ Post.
2kgs insured, track and trace, door to door A$15. No one seemed to have considered NZ retailers
No doubt champagne corks are popping on the other side of the Tasman with the idea of 1.4 million NZ customers suddenly
accessible by every online store in Australia who will be virtually able to do sales freight free into NZ.
Thats right to your customer`s door.
Retail as we once knew it, is OVER.
I have been in the industry for 32 years and remember the lessons well.
You can do several things.
If you have been watching what we have been doing in the last six years, you would have noticed the directions.
In hind sight being prevented from even visiting the Auckland Gift Fair 2 years ago, proved to be a catalyst to look at the whole industry and where and how we are going to do business.
Its not been comfortable, MOST of our retail outlets seem to have gone in the last 4 years.
Yet our track record in Design, Wholesale and still being made in NZ, ticks all the boxes when it comes to marketing to the most lucrative market- the baby boomer generation and its growing.
Our new group The Arts Menagerie fits in very well with engaging with this market.
Its been set up fully resourced and sponsored, includes designers , artists, performers, singers, writers, animators, film makers, photographers, marketing, strategists, publicists and web developers.
Its focus is not only Auckland but the rest of the country, over half of our members are from overseas and their friends want to be part of it too. Its compelling and expanding. Just watch the video www.vimeo.com/71210653# and have a look at the website www.theartsmenagerie.org
Two weeks ago we held our first exhibition at the studio in Ponsonby, it was a stunning success proving the creative industry can put together an event which draws the punters in.
You can be part of it, for the same cost as the membership of The Arts Menagerie...........$0.00!.
WHY FREE? Apart from, because we can.
Its about looking at new ways of doing things and co-operation is one of those solutions
Its exciting and when people are engaged they spend!! Simple really
So who wants to be with us? we could talk about it at the studio, as we will not be at the Auckland Trade Fair!
If you are like me, you`ll be reeling at the deal done between Aus Post and NZ Post.
2kgs insured, track and trace, door to door A$15. No one seemed to have considered NZ retailers
No doubt champagne corks are popping on the other side of the Tasman with the idea of 1.4 million NZ customers suddenly
accessible by every online store in Australia who will be virtually able to do sales freight free into NZ.
Thats right to your customer`s door.
Retail as we once knew it, is OVER.
I have been in the industry for 32 years and remember the lessons well.
You can do several things.
- Do nothing and blame the cheap Chinese labour like Winston
- Get a smaller store and go online and hope
- Buy in cheaper goods and try to compete with the thousands of Australian stores who are doing the same. Right now 28 000 retail buyers are in Melbourne to see exhibitors who don`t really need to sell to you any more to access the NZ market.
- Starting making a game plan to exit the industry while there is something to sell.
If you have been watching what we have been doing in the last six years, you would have noticed the directions.
In hind sight being prevented from even visiting the Auckland Gift Fair 2 years ago, proved to be a catalyst to look at the whole industry and where and how we are going to do business.
Its not been comfortable, MOST of our retail outlets seem to have gone in the last 4 years.
Yet our track record in Design, Wholesale and still being made in NZ, ticks all the boxes when it comes to marketing to the most lucrative market- the baby boomer generation and its growing.
Our new group The Arts Menagerie fits in very well with engaging with this market.
Its been set up fully resourced and sponsored, includes designers , artists, performers, singers, writers, animators, film makers, photographers, marketing, strategists, publicists and web developers.
Its focus is not only Auckland but the rest of the country, over half of our members are from overseas and their friends want to be part of it too. Its compelling and expanding. Just watch the video www.vimeo.com/71210653# and have a look at the website www.theartsmenagerie.org
Two weeks ago we held our first exhibition at the studio in Ponsonby, it was a stunning success proving the creative industry can put together an event which draws the punters in.
You can be part of it, for the same cost as the membership of The Arts Menagerie...........$0.00!.
WHY FREE? Apart from, because we can.
Its about looking at new ways of doing things and co-operation is one of those solutions
Its exciting and when people are engaged they spend!! Simple really
So who wants to be with us? we could talk about it at the studio, as we will not be at the Auckland Trade Fair!
Bringing on back the good times. At last the All Blacks are bringing home The World Rugby Cup. Its been too long, all will be forgiven! Lets party for 6 weeks and fingers crossed its never going to be the same again.
Auckland is stunning and its good to see people out and about many of them walking and using public transport too.Things have been rocketing along on all fronts. The Rugby World Cup opening on the harbour was stunning, apart from some massive under estimates by consultants who were paid to get it right. The Gift & Homeware Industry might never be the same again, two wholesale Gift sites in NZ are going online, challenging the dominance of trade shows & reps, add the Australian GHA, plus online sales, as well as buying patterns and thats apart from the recession!
Business plans just never seem to work, one spanner in the works and its kapult
Some strategies that I`ve been following and the key words are Baby Boomers. Target audience Baby Boomer generation seem to be the only ones with cash, extracting it is another issue but one thing is they don`t want more knick knacks. Renovation Baby boomers are starting to nest and not move on plus you can sell from a sample or catalogue and they don`t mind waiting. The interior design industry uses this method. Everyone wins. Original art It holds itself in good times and in recession its suprisingly robust. Hospitality. Spa, Resorts, Hotels, Bed & Breakfast, Restaurants. Everything from Art to fixtures and fittings, corporate gifts, its business and about about doing a job and less on emotional purchases. Legacy and memorial Again it relates to the baby boomer generation aging, retiring, grandparents, wealth built up over years. |
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Its time to pretend things are gonna get better..................... again.
Another show, along with the hope that debt, costs, food& insurance won`t go up further and people are spending like never before. phew, yeah right So I`ll polish my shoes, slip on the new suit and strut with a twinkle in the eye and take a couple lines waaaaaaay out of context and hum a Eric Carmen song, 'Lets Pretend'**"If we close our eyes and believe, it might come true" * Next month will be the 30th anniversary of our company including 22 years loitering around the giftware aisles, it feels like its time to give it all away. Four years ago it was so different. The magic silver bullet of the world cup isn`t going to do much for the economy and the hard yakka will start about mid October about why it didn`t work. shudder...... Worse if we lose the Cup. |
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Substitutes may do the trick in the short term, sooner or later something gives.............
Even worse its gifted, flick the label and oh.................. its not top shelf. Honestly who wants second best in anything? Can you imagine what World Cup visitors to New Zealand will be saying next month? Its all getting a bit sticky. Super inflated accomodation prices, imported NZ souvenirs.........$200+ for an All Blacks shirt, off shore its half price, the justifications are getting laughable. Politicians, Finance and Big business have failed to kick start the economy. Will the markets tumble in the European countries on Monday? US credit ratings has dropped, Congress couldn`t hold hands and stand together to save themselves. Either way the West has a major problem and right now it seems like China is getting fed up with with the Politicking of Democratic Countries. What a turn around of the cold war years. Which leaves the baby boomer generation as the next best hope. Its a group big enough to have propelled every major development and trend since the sixties. What it wants, it gets and right now they are 50 plus and hold the solution. |
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12 July 2011
I `m up for a change, after more than two years of recession, anything is a welcome relief. The last two Art Shows have seen a sudden jump in sales of ceramic lights, resin sculptures and the new resin Icon Paintings. With renovations and developments, sales of the ceramic wall lights have increased for homes as well as hotels projects including the Queenstown Hilton, a boutique Hotel in Samoa and the Ritz Carlton in Shanghai. My last email, although enjoyed by many, may have been a bit too witty and glossed over some painful issues which the recession and earthquake only made worse. Some lost their businesses, other their homes and many are still struggling. Business leaders are starting to feel confidant, but in what I think is the true barometer of how the whole economy feels -The Gift Industry, its going to take a lot more than that to recover.If the gift trade & creative industries were Finance, Trades, Building or Public services, it would be front page news and a political issue! The second issue is Depression and the impact on those in the retail and especially the creative industries. It effects perception, decision making, creativity, relationships and well being, at a time when business survival is at breaking point. Yet it is glossed over and avoided in so many ways. It is really the last thing people like to talk about. All of which I can relate to. |
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29 June 2011
Crisis with mind numbing rapidity, crystallises what is really important. The clarity can be startling, painful or inspirational, leading to decisions and innovations seemingly from nowhere. Its just on three years of an economic downturn, it was the last year that art shows were so lucrative, August 2008 to be exact. Then the pain started...........
solutions. |
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March 2011
Never has the Gift Industry seem so superficial as it does now. One thing after another has hit NZ for at least two years. This industry is dominated by imports, yet it can make a big difference. Its become critical that change happens Canterbury was 15% of NZ economy, thousands can`t work, we are still in a recession and the dollar is dropping. The rest of us need to work, especially Auckland, which my charming niece (a planning economist for Christchurch) happily pointed out last year, has a negative input. The most viable creative industry in NZ is Giftware and Small object production. Small, flexible and able to respond fast to opportunities. The ease of set-up costs and access to most wholesale buyers throughout NZ via The Giftshows make it well placed to foster new ideas, products, businesses and grow opportunity. Especially compared it to Music, Fashion, Food, Literature, Art and Film. Note: The creative industries are also viewed by Government Strategists as an important part on the future economic growth of NZ. The solution is to MAKE IT IN NEW ZEALAND |
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