Posts filed under 'Trade Shows & Market'
I must say that even though we’re one slim week away from our next trade show, we’re much further than we’ve EVER been with our display at this point. We’re getting the mock display together. Previously, despite many grandiose plans, the furthest we got towards a mock up was chicken scratched plans on paper.
The difference between making a plan on paper and seeing the plan in real life is hUgE. We’ve changed our display ideas I don’t know how many times since we started actually building the display. Nothing compares to standing in front of the shelves or racks and seeing how wrong the paper plan feels.
At least chicken scratches on paper give you a starting point. Our first trade show was pretty much about showing up. The next were about incorporating signs and improving display. We’re finally to the point of trying to convey a mood, we’re working around a theme, which helps a lot for the planning. We’ve got the booth space taped out on the office floor and it’s coming together by the day.
Otherwise, everything is in go-go-go-go-and-then-go-some-more mode. I am very excited about the possibilities of my new line - it’s just about getting the samples in by show time. Oh, please, let it all come together by show time.
As an aside - this heat wave does not help my productivity levels and it’s only supposed to get worse. If my kids would only join me, I’d become a vampire - work by night, sleep by day. But the kids don’t play that way and will not sleep during the day. Ah well, I can live on little sleep for one week.
I hope all of you who are prepping for the show are doing better than I am! I wonder if I’ll ever get to the point where I’m a week away from a show and everything is already done and ready to go. But then, getting to that point could be a sign of a stagnant business…
August 28th, 2007
Okey Dokey - So we’re now what, 8 weeks out from the ABC Show? Eight weeks and there is far to go. No more lolly-gagging along. I’m going to have to weed down how many new designs I wanted, but I am still going to make this happen.
We have eight weeks to get a pattern, get the sample fabrics, and have our salesman’s samples made, not to mention pictures. I keep wanting to pretend I don’t have to make time for pictures and a catalog too.
I have to revise my previoulsy created project plan, drastically, and put everything into fast motion. On Monday, I need to set an appointment with the pattern maker and get the sample fabrics ordered. I can’t put it off any longer.
At the same time, I’m learning to have patience with my current product offering. Since we are still so relatively new, there will be a lot of retailers at the ABC Show who haven’t seen any of our stuff. I can take comfort in the fact that we have a decent product line as it is. We need to keep pushing branding and exposure.
This next two months now becomes “how to take a product from sketch to launch in 8 weeks”. My own personal eight week challenge. And this is after I wrote about being behind in the season - but we’re in business now. I don’t get to put off our official launch until I can make something real appear. Now, we have no choice but to make it happen.
Which isn’t to negate all of the legwork I’ve done for this season already, including committing to a theme, scouting suppliers, and hashing out the design basics. But, now we have to put the action behind the plans. And we can. We can, we can, we can.
July 6th, 2007
Well, here we go, we just picked up another event for this weekend. Should just be a simple cash ‘n carry show for us. It’s amazing how far you come in three trade shows. Far enough that I feel like I can pick up a show this weekend and be fine because I’ve got the display all set. Sample blankets, hanging chains and hooks, tables and table cloths, and signage!!! This booth size is different, but smaller, not bigger, so we’ll work it. It’s just a one day show up in LA. Zip up and then back down again by that night.
We’re going to be the only baby brand there. As far as I know at least. This is a calculated risk. But I think it’s wise. Our customers are just as often the aunt or friend as the mom or grandma. The target of this event is the high-fashion crowd between the ages of 25-45. If they’re not pregnant, they know someone who is or someone who has been recently.
The other thing that makes me feel good about this is that both my partner and I feel it’s a good idea. Which, in business, is a rarer occurance than you might think. Plus, it’s super cheap. So, I’m going to go up and see what it’s all about. See if the risk pays off. In San Diego, there is a similar fashion / cash n’ carry show that is growing in popularity. I’ve been wanting to be the first baby brand at the San Diego one for awhile, so this will tell me if it’s wise.
This is part of the extra nuttiness that we’ve poured on top of our apparel manufacturing business by running a direct sales, or retail, side to our business. Maybe it’s too much craziness. Time will tell. For now, it’s working. For now, we like targeting both wholesale customers and retail customers, so we’re going to keep it going.
I owe some of you out there some info and I’ll get it to you in the next couple of days!
Three days to showtime! And I’m excited about it.
May 23rd, 2007
I’m going to take a moment to expand a little more on cash’n'carry shows. The one we did last weekend was our first cash-n-carry show. This means essentially people bring their money, pay you, and take their goods with them. Baby Celebration was touted to us as both a retail and wholesale show, so I went prepared for both. For us, we have graphic T’s which is an easy item for us to have on-hand, so we had stuff to sell.
However, I also was bold enough to bring a couple of our Fall ‘07 items, touted them as “not on the market yet”, and people actually loved our poncho so much that they placed orders - willing to wait for them. So, I can see cash-n-carry shows working well for wholesalers like us who both have some product on hand (which also sold well) and who also have seasonal collections. Build that BUZZ for your brand!!
There was a lot of value that we got out of doing a direct sales show vs. just a wholesale tradeshow:
- Direct contact with the end-buyer. I think I mentioned this in my last post, but this was absolutely the best form of feedback we’ve received to-date. It’s different than talking to your boutique customers who are still just passing on their opinions of what customers will / won’t buy. This was really finding out what people will buy. This is really hearing what people think of your stuff, about everything from colors to style and price. It was such valuable feedback that I went back to our hotel room that first night and rethought much of our game-plan - changed up what I could and increased our sales the second day. And it’s not family-n-friends feedback either!
- Merchandising experience. When I said in my last post that selling your collection is all in the display, I mean it and I can’t stress it enough. It’s as if I’ve been hit over the head with a boulder - to just now FULLY understand how much packaging and presentation matter for your product. There has been a lot of talk lately about packaging becoming being the most important selling-point for a product. I finally believe it.
- Brand Exposure. If it really takes seven or eight ‘hits’ before someone will purchase, then a local cash-n-carry show is great exposure and a great way to build your brand. As hard as it is to go through the painful process of start-up, when you wish everyone would just fall head-over-heels in love with your stuff and buy, buy, buy it, you have to go through the process of building your brand. I’ve done so much wrong in this arena that I’m sure I’ve got numerous posts to write about focusing your campaigns. But a show like this is great - it lets people get their hands on your stuff, which is always a much stronger ‘hit’ for someone than any print ad could ever be. And our website traffic and orders have definitely been up this week.
How do you find these types of shows?
As with anything and everything in this industry, you have to do some digging to find local cash-n-carry shows. I’ve done a bunch of different online searches that have turned up results, but I’ve also found that talking to the owners of other lines can point you in the right direction. For me, in the baby industry, I’ve had luck with search terms such as ‘baby fair’, ‘baby expo’ ‘cash-n-carry shows’ - and also ‘gift fairs’. In southern California there are a few baby-specific shows, so we’re lucky. If you are in women’s wear - there is a growing show in San Diego and I think Las Vegas called Thread. They select specific designers to come and hock their wears, so it’s definitely an industry specific show that brings in your targeted audience for you.
I also liked walking away from that show knowing that our stuff was going to be parading around on all this kids. They said they would bring in 25,000 people and I believe they came close - I’ve never seen so many pregnant women in one building in my life. They were lined up out the door before the show started - so baby industry folks, I highly recommend making a showing at Baby Celebration next year.
Please, keep your questions and comments coming because I have no idea what information I’m leaving out and it’s really nice to know there are others out there - —-
May 5th, 2007
Just a couple of trade shows into the fashion business and I can tell you about some costs that you would never think of when you’re getting ready for your first trade show. The booth cost is only the beginning. As we’re learning to track everything a lot better, I’m getting a better picture of how to figure out and estimate expenses for a trade show. I think this is probably true across industries, but I can attest to the costs I list below for fashion collection trade shows.
The “betcha-didn’t-know” costs of a trade show:
- Electricity - This might sound really silly, but we still haven’t gotten it together enough to order extra electricity. However, now that we have decided on a standard booth setup - I know where we’ll put the lighting next time we do a tradeshow and it’ll be easy to place our electricity order. The cost of extra electricity seems to start around (START) around $175; that’s for one outlet.And it’s not a good idea to decide that you’ll go in and rig a couple of extension cords and make it work. They’ll check out your booth, charge for the electricity anyways, plus some likely additional fees for being a thief.
- Moving Labor - For a lot of shows you HAVE to pay for the labor to move your booth setup materials from the loading dock to the presentation hall. Check for additional rules regarding what you can and can not carry in, what must be wheeled in, and what must be paid for.
- Parking -At convention centers, parking is often an additional fee.
- Clean-up fees; for a lot of trade shows, vacuuming and extra clean-up will cost you extra.
- Internet
Here are some trade show prep fees to keep in mind:
- Print Materials - posters, brochures, catalogs, price lists, business cards and coupons all fall into this category.
- Hotel - You’ll likely be paying for a few nights at a hotel, which will likely have additional parking fees.
- Display fixtures - hooks, grid walls, tape, scissors, pins, tables, floor coverings, and everything else that helps you craft your display falls into this category.
We’ve done what we can to capitalize on our investments for each show, so we can re-use as much as possible, for as long as possible. Two days away from this weekend’s event and I think we’ve got a good grip. We’re meeting the mini-deadlines we’ve set for ourselves, crafted great product packaging for our great new product, and so, I just know we’re going to have a great show this weekend.
Please, jump in and add any trade show costs that I missed. It’s late night here, so I’m sure there are a few.
April 24th, 2007
The three day weekend is over and it’s time for us all to get back at it. Does anyone else feel like staying in bed all day? But I can’t!!! Not even an option. I’m starting a contract job this morning for some extra cash, so I have to get a lot more done in the wee hours of the morning than I usually do. And I’m writing instead. But this writing keeps me sane, I highly recommend it as a start to your day.
The theme for today has to be about contact. I have to start following up with the people I met at the tradeshow. I have to contact my (clothing) sewing contractor and get a production plan in place. I have to find a pattern grader NOW. And I have to keep the blanket production in full-swing. So, with a new job, I think that’s plenty for me to focus on today.
As far as a plan for tradeshow follow-up, I need to get all the addresses into my business contact manager. I need to get everything backed up. And then, I need to craft the initial email I’ll send - make a PDF of our final catalog (must be attached); update our press kit and then start connecting with people.
That’s it, I’m stopping the “to-do” list there. I’ll be happy to be back home tonight. I guess I already said I wish I could stay in bed all day.
February 20th, 2007
So, now that I’ve had a day off from KIDShow, a breather from our first tradeshow, I feel like I’m ready to start figuring out what I learned. The biggest new experience for us with this event was setting up a tradeshow display. There were things we didn’t think about, things we tried to do - but ran out of time, and things we did right. I think we did great for our first time out - we took up the booth space and we had all of our products on display.
Here’s what I think we did right:
- We had mannequins so that our clothing could be well-displayed.
- We ordered the grid walls so that we had a good display for our silkscreen onesies, blankets, and some bibs.
- We scurried at the last moment for enough hooks and hangers but pulled it off.
- We brought plush covers for the tables; we had our signs.
- The booth looked nice and uncluttered.
Here’s what we didn’t even think about:
- Special lighting for certain areas of the display
- Carpet, carpet, carpet. (We have a carpet for photo shoots and I considered it a month ago, but forgot all about it. It wasn’t apparent to me just HOW much of a deterent the “default” carpet was at the show until I saw the picture. But no doubt it detracts.)
- Custom backdrops. We had a drape and pipe booth and it would have made a world of difference to have custom drapes.
Here’s what we tried to do but just ran out of time:
- Print custom posters of some of our models in our clothing.
- Get a few more samples of each design.
- And we ended up not getting two of our designs to the sample stage.
Image is everything; a picture is worth a thousand words. So, the display is incredibly important. The display will be a big consideration for us at the next event. We actually have two whole months to prepare for the next one. Now isn’t that something miraculous?
February 17th, 2007
It’s the last day of KIDShow and what an adventure it’s been. Yesterday was slow, slow, slow. I know there were a few vendors that did good - but for the most part, everyone was just trying to keep themselves awake. Where have all the people gone? Here’s the theories I heard:
- Trade shows suck now because of the internet.
- No body could make it out of the east coast because of the storm and cancelled flights.
- Too many shows going on.
- Did they advertise?
I met a lot of vendors yesterday though, so that’s cool to me. I’ve had a chance to meet some people who own companies I admire, which is super-cool to me. And most importantly, I have learned a world of information from some of the more experienced exhibitors. I am incredibly lucky to be surrounded by happy and helpful people, because not everybody at that show is so friendly (I will save it for another post, but it will be another post).
We have picked up new customers and it’s been exciting. But getting here and getting set up was the craziest experience of our new-business lives. We couldn’t get a babysitter to save our lives, so the kids had to come with us. I was going to come alone, but my husband was kind enough to come up for a couple of days to help with setup. I would never have made it without him. Not for our first show, no way. But it is really difficult to function with two rambuctous youngun’s in -tow.
And I have to give a shout out to my husband who spent the entire day yesterday doing stuff for me. And it was stressful for him because I know where all the stuff is back at home and he hung in there and did the whole darn project after driving our kids back home in the morning. That was our Valentine’s day. An early-morning good-bye and lots of stress. But we’re going to get some time alone after this journey. We need a break!!!
February 15th, 2007
Oh my goodness. Things are moving along, but the time is SO precious being just a few weeks out. I’m starting to feel that crunched “oh boy are we going to make it?” feeling. Heck, at least that feeling kicks me in gear.
I’m also updating the catalog, price sheets, & line sheets today. Because it HAS to get done already. I don’t know what my problem is, I put too much pressure on making it great, or I should say “fabulous”, that I end up with a ton of half-finished stuff. I have to just get it done to the point where I have all of the necessary information on the materials, then worry about making them oh-so-pretty.
I’m crossing my fingers and praying for the fashion line to come together. Running into glitches all along the way, but isn’t this typical? That’s ok. If it comes down to me sewing a few of the samples, I will. It’s actually the fabric that’s a problem. My long-time supplier suddenly decided not to do sample cuts, and frankly, this is crucial to me. We didn’t spend enough $$ with them last year for it to be worth it to them to do some sample cuts. Right, so it’s more worth it to me to “go for it” and hope those colorways sell because my supplier made me buy too much fabric. No, it’s actually worth it for me to spend my time and find someone that will give me sample cuts, so I can actually test the fabric before I invest in it.
But that’s more scurrying around and somehow I always get to o-dark-thirty with too many phone calls I didn’t make. But I can do this. I have some prospective suppliers up in LA and they can get me sample cuts fast. It’s finding something I’m happy with that I’m concerned about.
I could change my plan and offer a lot more of the fashions in one colorway. But I don’t really want to work with that company, and I don’t want to change my plan to suit theirs. How are you ever supposed to start up with them?
So, business hours are about phone calls today. Which makes right now, the kid’s sleeping time, about the print materials. Just get it done.
January 25th, 2007
Things are going good. Things are on the up ‘n up. I think we’ve picked up a sales rep. YES!! I’m excited to bring her on-board and she’s excited to jump on-board, so this could be good, very good.
Once momentum gets going, it’s crazy how things seem to fly by you. All of a sudden, we’re only three weeks from KIDShow, and help-me if we end up in the same scurried position we were in before the gifting suite. The planning HAS to be better than that. So far, it is.
For the last event, we planned product offering, we planned display, we semi-planned print materials. And with all that planning, the product stuff took us so long, we ended up with very little time to devote to display, and less to devote to print materials. What happened? We forgot to set all the deadlines along the way, and to write it all on the calendar.
This time we’re breaking it down to nitty gritty deadlines. We pulled it off last time, but this time I don’t want to feel like we have to pull it off, I want to feel like we’re well prepared. So, that’s the plan. And this time, the print materials and the display are higher priority.
We’re also planning on launching a few of our fashion designs. It’s fall and it’s time. It’s so time. We’ll capitalize on a lot of the designs we’ve invested in, but we’ve got a few new patterns under production - all of them are new to the market, all of them will be fabulous.
Ok, we’re off to do the calendar and then off for the night. We’re sticking to the early morning schedule and it’s really a lot nicer to get to work when we’re refreshed in the morning.
January 19th, 2007
Next Posts
Previous Posts
