 |
Please click on a headline link to read the full article below.
|
 |
Industry News
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mighty Bright Showcases Brilliant Line of LED Lights at 2012 NSSSanta Barbara, CA – May 15, 2012 – Mighty Bright, designer and manufacturer of innovative LED lights, will showcase new additions to their line of eco-friendly LED lights at the National Stationery Show, May 20-23, 2012. Mighty Bright will exhibit its newest products in booth #1105 at the Javits Center in New York City. 05/15/2012
Kata Golda Launches New Product Line, Returns to National Stationery ShowFollowing a five-year respite from trade and gift shows, Kata Golda returns to the National Stationery Show in 2012 with a new product line and expanded offerings. Kata Golda founder Alison Kaplan will be on hand at the New York event May 20-23 to display the iconic dolls and photograph albums she has been known for in the last decade, in addition to freshly launched DIY kits, letterpress-printed cards, interactive play mats and a line of accessories geared toward design-minded adults. 05/15/2012
Green Banana Greetings Debuts Unique New Pop-Up Card ProductsGreen Banana Greetings, a new, innovative company full of outrageously clever and colorful pop-up greeting cards, gift card holders, announcements, invitations and more, will showcase its product lines at the National Stationery Show in New York City from May 20-24, 2012 in booth 1934. This is the company's first time exhibiting at the National Stationery Show. The show has not even begun, yet they’ve been recognized and were named finalists for Product Innovation under $5.00 in the 2012 LOUIE awards, which are called the Academy Awards of the greeting card industry. They are awarded once a year by a panel of industry experts, including retailers, manufacturers, and the media. They are also finalists in the National Stationery Show’s Best New Products Competition in the Paper Style category. Both are significant achievements for a company who’s exhibiting for the first time. 05/14/2012
Entrepreneur Designs Seez-it® Labels to Organize Handbags
and Diaper BagsNEW YORK, NY – Entrepreneur introduces all new handbag organizer system that is the first of its kind. Addicks Enterprises LLC is bringing its Seez-it Labels that are designed to help women find a particular item in their purse in a small amount of time. The labels are sold in a kit that helps keep handbags and diaper bags organized. 05/14/2012
Sky of Blue Cards Adds 30 New Seasonal Cards to LineMENLO PARK, CA – Current LOUIE Awards finalist, Sky of Blue Cards, proudly announces the release of 30 new seasonal cards in the categories of Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Graduation, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s, and Valentine’s Day. All of these spring & winter holiday cards are letterpress or conventional printed on 100% cotton paper. They come with colorful matching envelopes and are sold as single cards in cellophane sleeves. These new cards will be launched into the market at the National Stationery Show at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City, May 20-23. 05/13/2012
TalkingTag.com Announces Commercial Availability of Unique Voice Recordable Printed Greeting CardsRESTON, VA — May 11, 2012 —TalkingTag.com announces the commercial availability of voice recordable greeting card - Branded as Hear it is … Cards. These greeting cards have an embedded TalkingTag™ Message Label, whereby users simply scan the tag and record a voice message using the TalkingTag™ App on a smartphone device. The recipients can hear the message just by scanning the Tag with their Smartphone. The voice recording is stored for the life of the greeting cards, using state of the art content management servers hosted on a worldwide network. 05/11/2012
The Pampered Pixel Brings Photo Books from the Web to Retailers at NSSCharlotte, NC – The Pampered Pixel, a custom photo book design firm, today announced that with its debut at The National Stationery Show (NSS), it will be taking photo books from the Web, to bricks and mortar stationery retailers beyond its North Carolina footprint. 05/10/2012
SKY OF BLUE CARDS ADDS 16 NEW EVERYDAY CARDS TO ITS LINE! MENLO PARK, CA - Current LOUIE Awards finalist, Sky of Blue Cards, proudly announces the release of 16 new everyday cards in the categories of Birthday, Encouragement, Sympathy, Friendship, Congratulations, Wedding, and Anniversary. These cards will be part of a large launch of new cards at the National Stationery Show at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City, May 20-23. 05/08/2012
SKY OF BLUE CARDS’ DESIGNER COLLABORATES WITH 11-YEAR OLD DAUGHTER TO CREATE NEW CONCRETE POEM NOTE CARD COLLECTIONMENLO PARK, CA, Current LOUIE Awards finalist, Sky of Blue Cards, is thrilled to announce the release of a new collection of note cards, the result of a beautiful collaboration between Company Principal and Designer, Karla Ebrahimi and her 11-year old daughter Nathalie Camens. These cards will debut at the National Stationery Show at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City, May 20-23. 05/08/2012
Page Stationary Launches New Digitally Printed CollectionRichmond, VA. – Page Stationery is set to release a new Indigo printed (digital), custom line to retailers at the National Stationery Show in May. The line, called “Duet”, is made up of seven custom collections, a total of 185 designs that are digitally, duplex printed on a high quality stock. 05/01/2012
National Stationery Show Exhibitor Amy Ruth Designs Launches 2012 CollectionNew Canaan, CT – Amy Ruth Designs will launch the 2012 collection of 29 fresh patterns at the 2012 National Stationery Show (NSS) in New York City. Expanding beyond the collections’ core business of stationery suites, Amy Ruth Designs incorporated the new designs into custom invitations and imprintable paper goods, as well as a range of accessories such as iPhone and Blackberry cases, bookmarks and placemats. 04/24/2012
Greeting Cards are By Far the Most Common Purchase for Mother's Day, According to NRF 2012 Mother's Day Consumer Spending SurveyWashington, April 24, 2012 – Riding the coattails of a spring where they spent freely on everything from garden supplies and home décor to colorful fashions, consumers will stretch their dollars a little further this Mother’s Day to make sure mom has the perfect day. According to NRF’s 2012 Mother’s Day consumer spending survey conducted by BIGinsight, the average person celebrating the holiday is expected to spend $152.52 on gifts, up from $140.73 last year. Total spending is expected to reach $18.6 billion.* 04/24/2012
JAKE & META Men’s Line Letterpress Flats Launching at the 2012 National Stationery ShowCARRBORO, NC – JAKE & META, LLC, an artist-run stationery and paper notions business, today announced that it will launch its first letterpress line of stationery flats at the National Stationery Show (Booth 2146) taking place at the Jacob Javits Center, New York, NY, May 20-23, 2012. 04/22/2012
JAKE & META Imprintable Invitations Launching at the 2012 National Stationery ShowCARRBORO, NC – JAKE & META, LLC, an artist-run stationery and paper notions business, today announced that it will launch its first line of imprintable invitations at the National Stationery Show (Booth 2146) taking place at the Jacob Javits Center, New York, NY, May 20-23, 2012. 04/22/2012
Post Offices Face Hurdles in Efforts to DiversifyBy Ron Nixon
The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Well before online bill paying was popular, the Postal Service in 2000 began operating a secure system that would have allowed it to remain the primary conduit for most Americans’ monthly payments. But the Internet industry objected, and Congress successfully pressured the Postal Service to abandon it.
04/21/2012
3rd Annual Trendys Award Winners AnnouncedStationery Trends magazine is pleased to announce the winners of the 3rd Annual Stationery Trends Awards, “The Trendys.” There were more than 200 entries submitted in the six categories, and more than 80 companies that participated. Industry professionals were invited to vote in the two rounds of voting — Round One narrowed down the entrants to the top 10 finalists in each category, and Round Two voting was to select a winner in each of the six categories. The categories were: Baby, Bridal, Green, Greeting Card, Holiday and Office. 04/13/2012
Artist Daryl Slaton Turns “Whimsies” into a Digital AppAsheville, NC artist Daryl Slaton has brought his Wispenwood Whimsies to Interactive Touch Books, a new app for iPhone and iPad. Kids 4-12 who intuitively “get” the technology can download the FREE Interactive Touch Books app that brings books to life. Parents who buy these low-cost book apps (Wispenwood Whimsies is only $2.99) provide kids a narrated story or let them read (and learn) the story along with their kids. Parents and grandparents can also record their voices to the story. 03/26/2012
Brooklyn Wholesaler Starts from Scratch After Losing it All in FireBROOKLYN, NY — Sandra Dalmazio will never forget the morning of March 7, 2012. She lost everything-records, merchandise, samples, orders and more-inside her Brooklyn, NY shop, Dalmazio Gifts. First opened in 1980 by her parents, the gift wholesaler offered up everything from wall décor, book cases and lighting to paper goods, glassware, linens, apparel, crystal and house wares and more for weddings and other special events. All of this disappeared following a four-alarm fire, believed to have started by outlets around the store's main work station. 03/26/2012
Industries Fear the Ripple Effects of Proposed Postal Service CutsBy Ron Nixon
The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Wine wholesalers and amateur beer makers want Congress to repeal a law that makes it illegal to ship alcohol by mail. Giant insurers like Aegon of the Netherlands want to make sure that the United States Postal Service stays out of the insurance business. And medical supply companies like Medco oppose the post office’s plans to cut Saturday delivery, saying the move would delay medicines and could add to the cost of mail-order drugs.
03/25/2012
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | |
|
|
NSS News
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
National Stationery Show Announces Seminar LineupWHITE PLAINS, NY, March 12, 2012...From wedding market insights, multicultural marketing advice, and design and color trends, to social media tips and retail strategies for success, the 2012 National Stationery Show® (NSS) seminar program will serve as the industry’s foremost opportunity of the year to stay ahead of trends and marketing tactics driving the social stationery business forward. This professional development opportunity coincides with North America’s most comprehensive exhibition of social stationery and related lifestyle product manufacturers, May 20-23, 2012, at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. 03/12/2012
National Stationery Show Partners with School and Office Products NetworkWHITE PLAINS, NY, November 9, 2011…A valuable new relationship between the National Stationery Show® (NSS) and School and Office Products Network (the Network) has been established, the goal of which is to promote growth and opportunity across all business sectors. The partnership aims to build the presence of national brands in the commercial/specialty office and back to school markets in the 2012 NSS, and draw attendance from major retailers in this important business sector, thereby further diversifying the audience to create new business opportunities for both exhibitors and retailers. 11/09/2011
GLM to be Acquired by Providence Equity PartnersWhite Plains, NY and Providence, RI – August 23, 2011 – George Little Management (“GLM”) and Providence Equity Partners (“Providence”) today announced that GLM and affiliates of Providence have signed a definitive merger agreement under which affiliates of Providence will acquire GLM from Daily Mail and General Trust plc (LSE: DMGT.L) for approximately $173 million in cash. 08/23/2011
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | |
|
|
GCA News
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
USPS Launches Mother’s Day PostmarksThe Greeting Card Association (GCA) is pleased to announce that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will be processing all First-Class Mail in the next two weeks with special Mother’s Day postmarks – two of which specifically call out greeting cards. This series of special postmarks, also known as stamp "cancellations," will feature four different designs that will be randomly alternated through Mother's Day on Sunday, May 13. 05/02/2012
24th Annual LOUIE Awards Finalists AnnouncedNew York, NY – The Greeting Card Association (GCA) has announced the finalists of the 24th Annual LOUIE Awards. Among the thousands of cards and invitations published each year, 3 cards from each of the 54 categories reached the final round of the 2011 Awards. The competition drew approximately 900 entries from 180 companies worldwide, and all entries were marketed and sold in the United States during the 2011 calendar year. 03/21/2012
Valentine's Day Card Sales Hold Steady for 2012January 24, 2012 – The Greeting Card Association (GCA) estimates that approximately 150 million greeting cards will be purchased for Valentine's Day this year in the U.S. This figure is based on member company sales and does not include children's packaged valentines for classroom exchanges. Valentine's Day is the second-largest holiday for giving greeting cards, behind Christmas. 01/24/2012
24th Annual LOUIE Awards Judges AnnouncedNew York, NY – The 24th Annual LOUIE Awards committee is pleased to announce the judges for this year's LOUIE Awards. The panel of judges consists of 16 well-respected retailers, sales representatives, editors and members of the industry who will evaluate this year’s LOUIE entries to determine the finalists and winners in each category. The LOUIEs welcome a high caliber of new and returning judges to this year’s Awards, including influential retailers such as Paper Source, Kate’s Paperie and Barnes & Noble; industry professionals from Hallmark, American Greetings and Mohawk Paper; and editors from Oh So Beautiful Paper, HOW Magazine and Stationery Trends. 01/05/2012
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | |
|
|
|
Online Shoppers Are Rooting for the Little Guy
By Stephanie Clifford and Claire Miller
The New York Times
Harold Pollack used to spend $1,000 a year on Amazon, but this fall started buying from small online retailers instead. The prices are higher, but Dr. Pollack says he now has a clear conscience.
“I don’t feel they behave in a way that I want to support with my consumer dollars,” Dr. Pollack, a professor in Chicago, said of the big Internet retailers.
Giant e-commerce companies like Amazon are acting increasingly like their big-box brethren as they extinguish small competitors with discounted prices, free shipping and easy-to-use apps. Big online retailers had a 19 percent jump in revenue over the holidays versus 2010, while at smaller online retailers growth was just 7 percent.
The little sites are fighting back with some tactics of their own, like preventing price comparisons or offering freebies that an anonymous large site can’t. And in a new twist, they are also exploiting the sympathies of shoppers like Dr. Pollack by encouraging customers to think of them as the digital version of a mom-and-pop shop facing off against Walmart: If you can’t shop close to home, at least shop small.
“Folks are exercising their desire to support local stores where local is not just in their town, but anywhere in the country,” said Michael Walden, a professor who studies regional economics at North Carolina State University. “A large number of Americans have a general suspicion of bigness in the economic world — they equate bigness with power, monopoly.”
Lacy Simons, owner of Hello Hello Books in Maine, a small store with an e-commerce site, says she is seeing customers “cement their determination to shop local” — which on the Internet, means shopping at the smaller vendors — even when the big sites offer lower prices.
“We know there’s only so much that we can do to compete against them, so you end up relying on what hopefully becomes an emotional or personal connection with the retailer online,” Ms. Simons said.
The battle between supersites and small online retailers became pitched this holiday season, as the big sites raked in the money. In November and December, the 25 biggest online retailers, including Amazon.com, Target.com and Walmart.com, received 70 percent of e-commerce dollars spent, an increase of three percentage points over last year, comScore said.
Amazon, the world’s biggest Internet retailer, has been the leader in aggressive promotions that small sites can’t afford to match — and has received the most criticism.
This holiday season, Amazon offered price cuts on almost all holiday gifts; it can do this in part because of its size and profits from other businesses, like cloud computing, analysts said. The company offered free overnight shipping on thousands of items, and advertised its price-checking app by giving shoppers 5 percent off items on Amazon that they scanned in a store.
Amazon says it is giving consumers what they want. But the price-check promotion drew special ire; Senator Olympia Snowe, Republican of Maine, called it “an attack on Main Street businesses.”
It is contributing to “a reputation as a bully,” said Sucharita Mulpuru, an e-commerce analyst at Forrester Research. Reflecting that, in a reaction similar to what occurs when Walmarts open in small towns, some consumers say they will not support supersites any longer. But the economics of that decision are not always sound, said Professor Walden of North Carolina State. If a small site is selling products from a national manufacturer, for example, to people scattered around the nation, it has little effect on local vitality, he said.
Dr. Pollack, the Chicago professor, says that even if he is not supporting Chicago retail with his online purchases, he is not supporting what he calls big business’s bullying ways.
Emily Powell, the chief executive of Powell’s Books in Portland, Ore., which has an e-commerce store, said she attracts some shoppers with similar attitudes. “People come because they want to support an independent and feel good about it,” she said, but especially in a recession, “you can only guilt people into coming to you for so long.”
That’s where the other strategies kick in.
Some stores respond by carrying exclusive items at their sites. Powell’s Books, for example, offers a subscription service through which it chooses a new book and includes an extra item like a related book or candy — personalized touches that it says big sites can’t match.
Other sites try to play hardball by refusing to carry what the big stores do, among other tactics.
“What I can’t compete with is one day, for whatever reason, Amazon will suddenly drop a price below wholesale cost,” said Ali Wing, the founder of the baby store Giggle. She has stopped carrying products, including a car seat and certain toys, when she can no longer compete. “I won’t take that brand damage and have you have a reason to think that Giggle is expensive.”
Lori Andre, owner of Lori’s Shoes, an online and physical store based in Chicago, is asking vendors to give the shoes that Lori’s carries different model names than it gives other stores, or to put a different label inside, so shoppers can’t compare prices with a Zappos. (That may not win over shoppers; Best Buy, when it created its own labels to prevent in-store price checks on electronics, drew criticism from consumers.)
Lesley Tweedie, the co-owner of Roscoe Village Bikes in Chicago, introduced an online marketplace for small retailers, Little Independent. “There’s been a response from people who value a different style of shopping,” she said.
Ms. Tweedie was so annoyed when she saw consumers using smartphone apps in her store that she began a “Buy It Where You Try It” campaign on Twitter and Facebook.
“I can’t tell you how often that happens in the store, where someone is asking my advice and then actually says out loud, ‘I wonder if I could find this on Amazon,’ ” she said. “I think that some people never really thought about the ethics.”
Amazon said it is helping small online businesses stay afloat by allowing them to sell on Amazon, through its Marketplace program, and take advantage of Amazon’s large customer base, technology and marketing. Sellers pay a percentage of revenue in return.
“For a lot of these small and medium businesses, this isn’t something they would be able to scale up and provide themselves,” said Peter Faricy, general manager of Amazon Seller Services. He added that third-party sellers’ items were included in promotions like Price Check.
Yet some small retailers with e-commerce sites say that no matter what consumers say, supersites’ prices are just unmatchable.
Mike Stewart opened Feather & Fly, a sporting-goods store in Chattanooga, Tenn., eight years ago. As online stores started to pull away his customers, Mr. Stewart began selling some products on the Web.
Online, he found, “there’s no way I could compete against a big-box type store that could have massive inventories or cut deals to get better rates,” he said.
“We did have good customer loyalty here,” said Mr. Stewart, as he boxed up the inventory left over after his going-out-of-business sale, “but the Internet is a killer.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|