Sunday 19 July 2015
dailynews The official daily for Home & Gift
It’s showtime! MUST VISIT…
Joe Davies Sheaffer Pen Collection The internationally renowned company Sheaffer has appointed Joe Davies as its official distributor to the independent gift sector and three very commercial pen ranges will be available to buy from Joe Davies. Find the Sheaffer pens and some 6,000 more products on their brand new extended stand Q Q50.
Th D The Daily il N News iis brought to you by Gifts Today and Greetings Today magazines
Don’t miss inside • Show d
eals and of fers • Retro pro ducts in fo cus • Trend sp otting with Achica Survey shows consumer confidence is on the up
Home & Gift Harrogate 2015 is now open for business
Home & Gift Harrogate 2015 is open for business. Thousands of visitors will be welcomed to the hub of the home and gift industry for the four-day show, which runs from today, Sunday 19 July through to Wednesday 22 July. “We have made some changes to ensure planning and buying is easier than ever before,” explains show director Cleere Scamell. “There is access to the widest range of new and exclusive lines across four vibrant show sectors: Gifts, Interiors, Greetings & Stationery and Jewellery & Fashion.” Organisers have also gone to great efforts to introduce a new design-led marquee. Design Point 5 offers a mix of great giftware and is a must-visit for greetings and stationery products. “For the first time ever you can access the Design Points directly from Halls Q and the Kings Suite,” adds Cleere. “To help visitors navigate, we have introduced our firstever app which is available via the App Store or GooglePlay.” Responding to visitors’ requests to make the vast show more accessible, there is now a new and improved layout which cuts the time spent travelling between the 15 halls – the trip between new Hall Q and Design Point 1 is now two minutes, rather than the 20 minutes it took in previous years. In a first for Home & Gift Harrogate, 2015 sees the inaugural Great Northern Retail S Summit take place in the Majestic Hotel tomorrow, Monday (see page 2 for more details). S Speaking about the event, Cleere says: “The industry has been crying out for an event that ggenuinely delivers expert insight and practical business advice to retailers, so where better to host it than at the heart of this amazing show?” Also make sure to look out for the curated Product Trails. The ‘New’ Trail showcases th the latest, freshest and most innovative products, all highlighted with ‘new ‘swing tags and st stickers, while Christmas, Eco and Best of British trails are also available. Harrogate also w welcomes more than 150 brand new exhibitors to the show this year.
A knight in digital armour A special 90-minute workshop on how to make digital work for businesses is taking place today, Sunday 19 July, at the Ballroom, Majestic Hotel at 4pm. The workshop is called ‘How to do your Social Media in 30 Minutes a Day’ and will be led by business builder and entrepreneur Warren Knight. Warren is the author of Think #Digital First and will offer business owners handy tips on how to save time, how to design a seven-day social media campaign, and perhaps of most interest to everyone – how to increase online sales by five hundred per cent.
A whopping eighty per cent of home and gift retailers say they have noticed an upward surge in consumer confidence. Retailers were responding to an anonymous survey conducted by Lema Publishing, publishers of the Daily News, in the run-up to Home & Gift Harrogate. The survey, which was carried out via Surveymonkey.com, targeted readers of Lema Publishing’s key titles including Gifts Today, Greetings Today, Nursery Today, Tableware International and Toys n Playthings. “Sales are trending back up,” pointed out one retailer, with another telling the Daily News that “consumers seem to be spending”. Sixty-seven per cent of business owners explained that this has manifested itself with an increase in sales volume, fifty-five per cent said they have noticed an increase in the average spend per customer, twenty-two per cent have benefitted from rom an increase in footfall and more than thirty-three perr cent say there has been an increase in the number umber of higher-priced items sold. “We are based in a smalll village and have noticed a considerable upturn turn in footfall this year,” said one retailer. “This, his, along with an increased average spend nd has meant we are up 15 per cent on last year’s figures.” Interestingly, eighty perr cent of retailers said trading is better tter in 2015 when compared to the same me time period in 2014. When asked if performance ance is in line with expectations, ninety per cent of retailers said that it is, with th eighty per cent rating the overall health alth of the home and gift industry as good. “There is still the ever increasing number of outlets ets that offer cards and gifts as an add-on line,” one retailer er told the Daily News. “But if you can maintain that all important point of difference nce in-store, I think the future e is positive.”