Trademark infringement and other tips
July 20th, 2009
Oh bla dee - oh bla da, life goes on, la la la la life goes on. I’m sure that’s a trademarked phrase. We just got an email letting us know that Gerber® has trademark rights to the word “Onesies®”— we honestly had never even looked into it. So, we will be spending the next couple of days making sure that we are no longer infringing on their trademark. I can’t believe this is the first time we’ve been told that. I thought it was as generic as “t-shirt”, but nay.
Fall items are shipping
How in the world is everyone doing? Preparing to ship / already shipping your fall items? It’s already hard to find summer stuff in the stores around here. Well, I shouldn’t say hard, but there isn’t a huge selection. Stores are working on clearing out their summer items and bringing in new fall stuff.
Time to pitch gift guides
And in the PR arena, it’s gift guide pitching time. Remember to target your pitches to your audience. Visit magazine’s websites to find their editorial calendars. The editorial calendars will tell you the closing date and topics of upcoming issues. Magazines plan and complete their issues months ahead of the release date - so to get featured, your product / pitch has to be in their hands long before the closing, or completion, date.
Make re-ordering easy
Here’s a tip to increase business: make it easy for your customer’s to re-order. We just FINALLY created a wholesale quick order form. I love it! I love it! I love it! More importantly, all of our vendors were very excited to hear that we are making it easier for them to place their orders.
Have a great week!
Entry Filed under: Design Project Schedules, The Tools You Need
6 Comments Add your own
1. Donna | July 21st, 2009 at 7:34 am
I know what you mean about chasing down summer stuff! My ds needs rashguards/swimshirts, and I went from mall to mall to mall. Swimwear was completely gone from more than half the stores, and the ones that did have had, literally, ONE. FInally found two at the clearance rack of Old Navy. Ridiculous — it’s only JULY!!
2. amber | July 21st, 2009 at 7:50 am
Yup, I had the same experience looking for a suit for myself!! I should have thought to mention that our summer items are selling like mad. They are immediates - which means the stores can use them as fillers, we have them in-stock and they ship quickly. Here in So. Cal it stays sunny for a long time. There seems to be a gap between when manufacturers can deliver their seasonal items and when the consumer is really ready to buy them. I hear from a lot of retailers - “clothing moves slower in the summer” - could have a lot to do with having long sleeves on the shelves when people have only finally arrived at your store because it’s finally HOT out and they JUST realized they need summer clothes…that being said, it’s a function of the manufacturing cycle
3. Raj Thandhi | July 21st, 2009 at 9:45 am
Hi Amber,
Glad to see you back in blogging mode! I have been very slow on sending out the holiday pitches but today is the day…I’ll be sending our press kits out to the major glossies this afternoon.
Take Care!
4. Elizabeth Wong | July 27th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Hi Amber, I had no idea that Gerber trademarked the word Onesie. Thanks for the information! Does that mean anyone who uses the word onesie is infringing on their trademark?
Thank you!
5. Kasia | August 21st, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Amber - i just discovered your blog! Your progression in your business is awesome to see, thank you for documenting it. I’m currently researching possibly opening my own online baby boutique, I have a couple questions that I don’t know where to find answers to - any input would be greatly appreciated! First, when you started baby fabulous and sold products from other vendors - how much did you order and how often did you sell things? How am I supposed to predict sales on a business plan? Also - regarding your own line of organic onesies (or should i say “bodysuits”) - how did you get started in the process of actually producing your own - which look awesome by the way! (I believe they are your own?) thank you so much!
Kasia
6. stacy lebrun | September 13th, 2009 at 2:01 am
Need help on my store! I sell Organic and Non-organic Baby Products! I am a mom and new at this online store business stuff! I have not gotten even one sale! I need some feedback from anyone who can help me and give me some ideas on what I can do to make it better my store and all that good stuff!!
HELP!!!
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed