• Get Ready for the National Stationery Show
  
  

• What's Hot in Your Stores Now
  
  

• ISA Members Debut New Lines
  
  

• Navigating Social Networking

Get Ready for the National Stationery Show

The countdown for the National Stationery Show (NSS) is on! We're just three months away from this year's show, taking place May 16-19 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. With the economy starting to look up, so are expectations for this all-important annual business event.

"There are many exciting new things in the works for this year's show," states Patti Stracher, show manager for the NSS. "Outstanding exhibitor and retailer education, including pre-show and on-site programs ranging from social marketing and working with reps to trends and visual merchandising, Daily Demo presentations on the exhibit floor, plus intimate networking workshops, celebrity appearances, book signings -- are all designed to create sizzle while adding great value."

A highlight of this year's NSS will be the U.S. Postal Service's dedication of the new "Butterfly" stamp -- the first in a new series of postage stamps that will make it simpler for greeting card and invitation customers to know how much postage to put on their irregular-shaped envelopes. (The new 64-cent "Butterfly" stamp is the solution for one-ounce, non-machinable mail.) Participating manufacturers can print a silhouetted image of a butterfly on their envelopes.

Another new element of the show is the integration of The Supply Side into the NSS show floor. This "Show within a Show" features specialty manufacturers in binding, converting, die- and laser-cutting, finishing, embossing, foil-stamping, printing, etc. and is a great opportunity to source new suppliers. All attendees to the NSS will now have access to The Supply Side.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the show, says Stracher, is the number of brand-new companies that are making their debut there. Many of today's industry greats got their start at the NSS," says Stracher. "This launching pad is a distinctive feature of the NSS and is a true attendance driver." Stracher also notes that the NSS will welcome back to the show several larger, well-known companies, including Recycled Paper Company, Papyrus and The Gift Wrap Company. "The fact that these companies use the show as a core strategy to promote their brands is a testimony to the importance of the show," Stracher remarks.

Of course, invitation manufacturers both large and small are an important part of the NSS. "This show is THE only source for custom invitations, imprintables and other social-stationery products that celebrate life's occasions in the world," says Stracher. "It is the only place to see see the breadth and depth of invitation producers showing their full collections."

Stracher's advice to ISA members exhibiting at the NSS is to take advantage of the member privileges that the show offers -- such as participating in the online catalog gallery -- to help enhance their company's exposure in the show. "This is in addition to what companies should be doing on their own to reach out to their customers and prospects to promote the fact that they're exhibiting in the show," states Stracher. "Don't keep it a secret that you're in the show! Use every logical avenue to communicate, and include your booth number and any incentives to visit you."

There will be some 900 exhibitors at the show this May, which Stracher describes as "quality companies focused on stationery and lifestyle products." An estimated 11,000 buyers will attend the show, including retailers, distributors and wholesalers, along with hundreds of manufacturers' reps, consumer and trade press, licensors and designers. "The right people will be in the room," says Stracher. "

The show is once a year, so don't miss it," she states. "Being in front of your customers as an exhibitor is the most effective business strategy for companies to grow. Retailers want to see the full scope of choices that are available in the market. If you're not at the show, it's easy to be forgotten since there are so many fabulous resources out there."

Stracher also notes that, in this tactile industry, it's important for customers to see and touch products. "It's the only way that they're able to buy it confidently," she says. "Plus, they want to be able to meet the owners of the businesses."

For complete details on this year's National Stationery Show, please visit www.nationalstationeryshow.com.

What's Hot in Your Stores Now

What's selling well in stationery and gift shops at the moment? We polled retailers across the country to find out what's currently hot in their stores.

Hannah Rodewald, Owner, The Pleasure of Your Company, Lutherville, MD: "What has been hot recently are all of the custom, personalized, gifty-type items, such as melamine plates, water bottles, and home items including trays, cutting boards, recipe boxes, ice buckets, etc. The MacBeth Collection just came out with an album for personalizing all of its clipboards, tubs and such. These personalized items are now geared more toward teens and adults; it started with juvenile items but is trending up in age. As for invitations, this is going to be another letterpress year. Also hot is anything about 25 percent less than cost from what it used to be, especially in weddings."

Judy Scheibe, Owner, Paper Paper, Del Mar, CA: "One of the trends we have noticed in the first couple months of this year is black-and-white damask. Customers have been asking for it by name, for save-the-dates and weddings. As far as stock goes, we haven't been able to keep all the new Anna Griffin items in, primarily her die-cut letter invitations, as well as her black-and-white swirl design with glitter. Leopard is still really hot in this area of the country for bachelorette parties and bridal showers. We've been doing a lot of business with Carlson Craft, especially their 'Pockets' album. In these tough economic times, brides are having to cut out certain things; they're going with lower-end invitations. Destination weddings are also huge, such as for the Caribbean, Hawaii and Bali."

Dick Visconti, Owner, The Papery, Shrewsbury, NJ: "Vera Bradley is very hot, but that's more gift oriented; we've also done well with their stationery line. In terms of greeting cards, we're still selling a good amount of handmade, higher-end lines, differentiating ourselves from the big boxes. Also hot for us is the open-stock papers from Rossler; it's the highest quality of the open-stock paper lines. What has been slowing down is the standard, in-house imprintable invitations; although it's still a good business for us. The custom, layered invitations using the Rossler paper is what's doing best for the customer who is a little more discerning. They don't just want a card with a design imprinted on it; they want personalized invtations with different themes, colors, layers and more."

Sue Valenti, Owner, The Paper Place, Nashville, TN: "Brides, we got brides! We do these little fortune-telling birthday books from Chronicle Books; they're a nice little $15 gift. We personalize so much stationery for people -- they buy a box of Crane's stationery for $15, and we personalize it for $5. It looks like the gift-giver has spent a lot of time and thought on the gift, but we can do it in 48 hours. Personalized return-address stamps are strong; much of what we sell is a special order. Brightly colored, patterned gift bags are also doing well. Additionally, we can't keep in those Maude Asbury magnetic boards; we just got some in yesterday, and they'll be gone in a week. We also have people that will come in and buy five rolls of giftwrap, tie it up with a ribbon and give it as a gift."

Angie Banks, Owner, Paperwhites Fine Stationery & Gifts, San Marino, CA: "We've been selling a lot of a new shape of paper plates from Boston International -- they're like half a square, so in the shape of a rectangle. They have an appetizer size and a dinner size. We're also selling a ton of Meri Meri's cupcake holders; they have all new patterns. Additionally, we're doing a lot of green and yellow for wedding invitations."

ISA Members Debut New Lines

ISA members have been busy developing many exciting new products for 2010. Here's a sampling of what you can expect to find in their latest catalogs and/or at their booths at the upcoming National Stationery Show in New York City.

Navigating Social Networking

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter ... these social-networking sites, and others, represent a great opportunity for stationery retailers to reach customers and to build business in exciting new ways. For busy store owners, however, social networking also means extra time and effort, which is why many have yet to take the plunge. Those that have embraced social media for their stores are finding -- or at least hoping -- that the effort pays off.

"We've been doing e-blasts for some time, but with the growth in popularity of Facebook and Twitter, we've begun using both of those sites as well," says Beth Buchanan, owner of Buchanan Ink in Nashville, TN. "We use Facebook to post photos of new items and to showcase special promotions and sales." Buchanan says she's using Twitter as well. "We now 'tweet' for the same reasons and love what a fast and easy way it is to promote our shop. It's fun!"

Stacey Bush, owner of Union Street Papery in San Francisco, CA, is also employing Twitter. "Since we are updating our website and blog to create a cohesive branding, we are primarily using Twitter to introduce new lines and to announce specials we are running on custom printing and in-store products," she explains. "Special events are tweeted about, whether they are in-store or apply to our entire street, to help bring businesses together for the same common goal ... more shoppers!"

Among Facebook users is Daniel Mulhern, founder/owner of M Milestones in New Canaan, CT. "M Milestones has started to use Facebook as an opportunity to help keep our clients up to date on our seasonal specials and quarterly events," he says, adding, "We are starting to investigate the use of Twitter to keep our regulars informed on a weekly basis of what is going on at M Milestones."

Many retailers have only recently entered the social-media world. "I created a Facebook page just a few weeks ago, so I'm still experimenting with the possibilities," admits Lee Altobello, owner of Invitinglee in Potomac, MD. "Each client that walks into my home studio is enamored with the "brightlee"-colored invitations and sophisticated stationery that I have on display; I hope my Facebook page will be an extension of that."

Although she's new to social networking, Altobello has big plans for how she will use the Facebook group she created to promote her stationery business. "In addition to sharing new paper trends, etiquette tips and cheerful quotes, I plan to post a 'Weeklee Paper' to display and to promote the 'artfullee'-designed invitations that I've recently created for my clientele. My hope is that my 'fans' will be inspired by the designs that I post and want to host a celebration of their own. It is a cheerful, yet effortless, way to continuously put my name out there and to create a buzz for my business."

In addition to their own social-networking efforts, these retailers believe that their vendors' use of social media should also play a role in promoting their stores.

Says Altobello: "Several printers already post invitations created by their dealers -- though only one that I know of is on Facebook -- and it's always quite exciting when your designs are chosen and publicized. It makes the dealers feel special when their hard work and creativity are recognized by the manufacturers. On the flip side, it's also great for the manufacturers to see their products out there, too!"

Buchanan notes that social networking helps her to stay connected with vendors. "We find that using Facebook and Twitter is an easy way to keep in touch with our vendors, to learn about new products and special promotions," she shares. "Everytime I see an announcement on Facebook or in a tweet, it brings that vendor to mind. It nudges me to take a look at them."

Buchanan also expects vendors to promote her business via social media whenever possible. "If our customers receive the vendor promotions, I would like to see the vendor drive the customer to the dealer rather than to their website (if they sell directly from their site)."

Bush agrees: "I would love to see our vendors be a little more supportive of their retailers. Since many of them sell online, I feel their marketing efforts are mainly to drive traffic directly to their sites, rather than to those independent businesses that have not only supported them from the beginning, but have paid to do so."

To complement his store's Facebook fan page, Yash Parmar, vice president of Needle in a Haystack in Dallas, TX, would like to see stationery manufacturers use social media to "target marketing directly to appropriate segments -- such as brides -- that refers them to local dealers for service and products."

Sheryl Oberman, president of Stationery Station in Highland Park, IL, adds that she would like more companies to offer links to retailers from their social-networking sites. "It would help shop owners if the online client saw the need for 'touching and feeling' our invitations and having a very knowledgable employee design it expressly for them," says Oberman.

"Ultimately, I think these social-media sites will help to create more personal relationships between dealers and manufacturers," Altobello states. "As dealers, we represent their products, and the relationships we have with them are invaluable. Putting faces to the names and voices on the phone will help to broaden and strenghten the 'stationery family' unit."

Invitation Stationery Alliance
www.invitationstationeryalliance.com