Hot New Products To Satisfy Your Customers
Many of us who are small business owners worry how the “big guys” are affecting us. We hear stories about Wal-Mart creating new, upscale shopping experiences with sushi bars and fine wines. Our local mass marketers display gift baskets at incredibly low prices. So we wonder how we might compete with our limited resources.
And you’re not the only one who’s wondering! Several of the biggest industry trade magazines have recently addressed this topic and share an interesting view as well as resources for those of us who are trying to offer our customers new, unique products.
For those of us who have small businesses, having the right attitude and perspective about our position in the marketplace is critical. Debra Paulk, editor of Gift Basket Review Magazine, points out that the “big guys” are really not our competitors (May, 2006). She believes that “discriminating customers and clients prefer to patronize businesses that offer something different from what the masses buy at the wholesale club”. She goes on to suggest that as small business owners, it’s our job to go after those “discriminating customers” and offer services and products that they want.
So how do we go about that?
In The Gourmet Retailer Magazine, May, 2006, publisher Edward Loeb states that “whether you have or haven’t attended the major trade shows this year, it is your responsibility to seek out the new and creative products that will satisfy your customers’ tastes and needs”.
And starting this past January, The Gourmet Retailer started offering a new service on their website to help you find the newest products without leaving your store! Go to their web site and check out the Show Sizzler section. All of the trade shows related to the gourmet food and gift industry are reviewed on this site. Ten days prior to each major trade show, new products are featured. If you are attending a particular show, use this to help you identify vendors that you want to visit. If you’re not attending the show, you can use the web site links to get product information from the vendors who will be at those shows.
Also, make sure you check out the listings for all the shows: gourmet foods, housewares, gifts, accessories, candy shows and more. You never know where you might find those hot, new products that will make your designs distinctly different from those being offered by the “big guys”.
Image courtesy of sklathill.
2 comments May 9th, 2006
