News For and About Regional Shopowners, and Craft, Food and Artist Producers Emailed 2.19.03

I look forward to receiving your news: publicity, awards, expansions, changes, and more. Questions and useful industry leads are also welcome. Nadia Korths, Regional Craft Programs Coordinator.

Congratulations! Adirondack Antlers, Bloomingdale, will have one of their chandeliers featured in Vogue's May issue.

Congratulations! Adirondack Country Store, Northville, had one of their lamps featured in the April issue of Country Living.

Need to have professional product shots and some help breaking into some new markets? And a resulting 10% increase in your sales. Help us help you. Write us a short letter of support. We are submitting a grant to help 35 people from throughout the region achieve the above. You can email the letter back here but address it to: Terry Martino, Executive Director, ANCA, 20 St.Bernard St., Saranac Lake NY 12983. Write a paragraph or 2 stating why you need professional product shots, ie., to make a brochure, get into a juried show, put up your website, etc. Tell us how getting in a new market might better your life, ie., travel less to craft shows during the summer, spend more time producing, etc. Write how the resulting 10% increase in sales would help, ie., pay for contract work or employees, help change your full time non craft job to part time or no time, get supplies at a better rate, etc. Just write it and email back. We will let you know when we have received the funding. Thanks for taking the time.

New Promotion for Buyer Days - For the first time, 700 giftshops in Mass., Conn., and Vermont within 50 miles of Saratoga are being sent invitational postcards. In all, 2000 postcards are mailed out to giftshop owners.

Could the regular Buyer Day vendors who have not yet registered for the show let me know whether you are planning to or not? Thanks. If you need an application, let me know.

Since Buyer Day registration numbers are behind about 20 from where they were last year at this time (my assumption is that cash flow may be tighter for a larger number of you) here is a encouraging survey of people's plans on travel. New York Times, Feb. 23, 2003. Travel section, p.9 (747 people from across the nation were interviewed from Feb. 10 - 12). "Regardless of age or income, most Americans soon will be taking a break from their routines, the poll indicates, with 70 percent of respondents saying that they planned at least one vacation in the next six months. At least 33 percent said that they planned to travel by car and 27 percent expected to fly....55 percent replied that they would not travel overseas in the next six months." Also keep in mind that Lake Placid's sales tax income increased by 17% in June and 11% in July of 2002 from the same months of 2001.

For food vendors. Looking for organic certification but don't want to go with the paperwork of the U.S. Dept. of Ag's organic certification. Farmers in the Hudson Valley have come up with a program called Certified Naturally Organic that "uses the same USDA rules and Organic Materials Review Institute-listed materials, but paperwork has been reduced to the essentials and inspections are carried out by volunteer farmer-inspectors." For more info, call or email Ron Khosla, New Paltz, NY at 845.256.0686 or info@naturallygrown.org. Mother Earth News Dec/Jan 2003

For food vendors in Clinton, Essex and Franklin Counties, sign up for the second annual Adirondack Harvest map guide to farmers. The Adirondack Harvest committee is hoping to have 75 farmers, a big increase from the 35 on last year's and they'll be printing 30,000 copies. Contact Anita Deming at the Essex County Extension office in Westport, 518.962.4810., POB 388, Westport NY 12993.

For those ag product producers who want to see what their local Cornell Cooperatives extensions offer, Links to Local Cooperative Offices

For exhibitors wishing to enter other wholesale markets; I have heard from the former director of Mainewood.com that the New England Trade Show is open to exhibitors from outside of the New England states.

Some online statistics about retailers(shopowners). "A core group - including retailers in remote locations (could that be here?), new companies and internationally based stores - use the Internet as a primary source of ordering... (In all,) 70% have email, 60% use email to communicate with suppliers and sales reps, 39% have ordered products from a supplier website, 15% have ordered products from a biz-to-biz website, and 12% are registered with a biz-to-biz website. Most retailers indicated that traditional methods for sourcing and ordering products (tradeshow attendance, telephone and fax orders, sales rep. instore visits) are still utilized. 1,100 retailers completed this survey. They were surveyed at the 2001 Dallas International Gift & Home Accessories Market, California Gift Show, San Francisco Gift Show, New York Gift Show, Seattle Gift Show, Washington Gift Show and Boston Gift Show. http://www.Whereoware.com conducted the survey." (Crafts Report, April 2002).

Traveling through the Finger Lakes? Or looking to see how other artisans work in the same media as you. Or looking for product. Visit Ithaca Art Trail.

For retailers - Marketing Research Made Easy (Country Business magazine, Jan. 2003, p. 32) "With marketing budgets tight, one way business can get more bang for their buck is to determine exactly who their customers are so they can better serve their existing ones as well as attract some new ones. In an online workshop sponsored by the National Federation of Independent Business (http://www.nfib.org), independent business consultant Jeffrey Moses suggests a variety of simple, inexpensive ways that small retailers can collect demographic information on their stores' visitors. Moses advises finding out where your customers live - that way you can better target advertising, flyers and direct mail. Ask for zip codes while ringing up purchases, and ask customers if they'd like to receive mailing on sales or items they'd be interested in. You can also hold periodic prize drawings in which customers submit their names and addresses, or get more familiar with your customers and their interests simply by observing their behavior in the store. How old are they? Are there more women or men - or couples? Do they seem familiar with the store or is this their first visit? (This is important, notes Moses, since you may need to market more to previous customers.) How much time do your customers spend in the store, and are there certain areas that are more popular than others? Do customers seem to ask questions or do they simply browse and then leave? That may be a good indicator, says Moses, of the atmosphere of your store and the attentiveness of your staff."

Consumers Are Looking for Something Unique, (Country Business magazine, Jan. 2003, p. 75) "After six years of extraordinary spending levels, the urge to buy just to buy is losing its appeal," say Wendy Liebman, president of WSL Strategic Retail (http://www.wslstrategicretail.com), which has conducted surveys on American shopping habits since 1989. "Consumers no longer have the desire for more and more of the same old merchandise," she says. The most recent survey pointed out that 45% of today's shoppers "did not find as many new and interesting things to buy." Clearly, consumers are looking for something unique.
To find this one-of-a-kind merchandise for your store, you need to do two things: Determine what your competition sells, and revise your buying habits. This year, start a new type of exercise program - one that involves walking the aisles of your competition. Notice if other stores carry the same merchandise as you do. If you are seeing the same products all over town that means all the retailers in your area are shopping the same trade shows or working with the same representatives. ... 10 Tips ... 1. Alternate your trade show shopping. 2. Don't rely solely on visiting reps. (I'm curious. How often are you visited by reps? I'll post replies (anonymous) in next email newsletter.) 3. Look for merchandise to personalize. 4. Create a custom store design or private label. 5. Shop local fairs or regional craft organizations. 6. Search publications for products. 7. Attend trend seminars. 8. Establish relationships with vendors and manufacturers. 9. Create your own merchandise. 10. Network, network, network.

45 vendors (with more to come) have signed up for the Adirondack North Country Rustic and Nature Theme Buyer Days, April 2 and 3, 2003, City Center, Saratoga Springs. Visit Rustic and Nature Theme Buyer Days for their names, product descriptions and links.

Need a specific product line now!!! And wish to order from a regional producer. Visit Looking for a Gift. Links to some 50 craft, food, and other artisan websites. Some shops here too.

For those businesses who have already signed up for the 03-04 Regional Guide to Crafts, Foods and Art, your website links have been posted at Looking for a Gift.

Need a specific product line now!!! And can't find it in the region! Visit Adknccrafts.com/Resources/Product. Click on Resources/Product and find links to websites from across the country featuring product shots, some with direct contact numbers. Many of these are state funded organizations. Have just added some new ones with more of a national coverage; craftsonline.com, wholesale.com, theguild.com, and niche.com Found another one in NY which sells to the public but still may give you some leads, madeinthehudsonvalley.com

New wholesale show in Kingston, NY. Catskill Craft Market, March 19 and 20, 2003, TechCity, Kingston, NY. So far 42 vendors have signed up - looking for 50 to 60. For exhibitors interesting in applying, email. Visit Catskill Craft Market to see who's already signed up. 1800 giftshops from a 75 mile radius are recieving invitational postcards.

This issue is being received by about 95 producers and 50 retailers (some are both).

Previous issues are at Stories About You

I look forward to receiving your news: publicity, awards, expansions, changes, and more. Questions and useful industry leads are also welcome. Nadia Korths, regional craft programs coordinator. This newsletter is sponsored by Adirondack North Country Association

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