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VIEWPOINTS
Chris Houfe sales director of GBCC:
Below: M&S and the main supermarkets certainly have upped their game on the Spring Seasons front.
The bigger picture: “The retailers who are really thinking about how they can compete are still scoring on the Spring Seasons front. They invariably give greater thought to their window displays and internal displays to ensure they are enticing the customer to buy. They have the right mix of gifts at relevant price points, which don’t have to be specific to the season. As consumers tend to leave everything until the last minute, the retailers that are winning in the Spring Seasons ‘game’ are those who are engaging with their customers, and asking them if they’ve ‘bought a cards for their mum?’ etc.” The SOR conundrum: “It’s so difficult to know what to do for the best. If you sell on firm sale or cap returns you’re then going to affect your sales and the customers’ offer the following year. It’s about understanding your numbers to ensure you’re creating the right type of product and then shipping the right volumes to each of your customers.” Changing buying habits: “To some extent the supermarkets have stolen the Spring Seasons. They have the space at the front of their stores for cards, flowers, gifts etc. They are often open 24 hours a day with easy free parking, making it an ideal destination for these seasons. As our shopping habits change and we tend to leave everything to the last minute, it is playing into their hands.”
Emma Roberts partner of Special Occasions, Castle Bromwich:
Below: Emma Roberts (left) with her mum and business partner Pauline Gillett.
The bigger picture: "Spring Seasons are very important to retailers, especially to independents, and SOR makes a big difference. One thing that retailers can do is not to abuse SOR by over ordering just because stock can be returned. Back in the day when there was no SOR and stock had to be carried over, is not something we would welcome back.” Changing buying habits: “Customers' buying habits have changed over the years with the growth of supermarkets who have upped their card space and are selling Spring Seasons designs cheaper. Plus, the value chains are killing the Spring Seasons.” More spring in our step: “Publishers could improve sales by thinking about affordability on these seasons. While we have no problem selling higher code cards (code 375) for Mother's Day and Valentine's Day designs, this is not so on Father’s Day, so lower some codes please. We all think our industry is amazing, but we all need to work together. However, we are sure that no one would like to lose the SOR arrangement and go back in time."
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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
Steve Jones-Blackett director of Wendy Jones-Blackett:
Below: New 2018 Valentine’s design from Wendy Jones Blackett.
The bigger picture: “I’ve found that the really big companies who brokerage, such as Hallmark and UKG, have such fantastic algorithms and enormous amounts of sales data that they can forecast the following year’s Spring Seasons events and they tend not to over order.” The SOR conundrum: “I would argue that it's actually some independents who tend to over order Spring Seasons on SOR. We have taken the view that if a retailer returns lots of Spring Seasons cards to us then we won't offer them to that retailer the following year. In fact, we now do limited print runs on Valentine’s and Mother’s Day designs and won’t sell them on SOR because any Spring Seasons cards sent back to us we have to throw in the bin.” More spring in our step: “We realise there’s a short selling window between Valentine’s and Mother’s Day where the retailer has to change its Spring Seasons displays, and it's the cardinal sin to have empty pockets, but a good retailer will know the forecast of its sales of every line in their shop. It seems the publisher is taking 100% of the liability. Publishers, agents and retailers, every stage of the supply chain, have to make money, if one of the trinity is not then it’s not business.”
Laura Darrington director of Laura Darrington Design: The bigger picture: “Sales on Spring Seasons cards have definitely slowed down over the past few years, particularly for the independent retailers, which does make you question as a publisher whether valuable design time should be spent developing everyday product or seasons, which do perform better. Only several years ago it was common to have full carriage paid orders on Spring occasions, however now Spring Seasons products tend to be tagged on to everyday orders. This in turn makes it financially risky for a publisher to produce and hold stock in advance of the season due to declining sales and unpredictable buying patterns. It’s a very uncertain time for Spring Seasons product and we are focusing on having a smaller but more focused range for retailers.” Above: Laura Darrington with one of her lovely Easter cards.
Paul Woodmansterne managing director of Woodmansterne Publications: The bigger picture: “The retailers tell us every year that they really need publishers to make them new and exciting Spring Seasons product, but with the terms they demand I do not know a publisher that does not lose money on these events. We may only serve them loss-making products if they allow us margin on other business to make up for it. But the dominating American brokers leave so little space to play in, who’s going to do that?” Above: A Quentin Blake Easter design from Woodmansterne.