The importance of a gift show probably depends on what type of merchandise you carry in your store. If you are primarily a florist with few gifts, I think you can get away with depending on your wholesalers for your containers and ribbon, etc.
I, myself, would be mortified if I couldn't go to the gift shows! I mainly attend the January market in Atlanta and try to get to UMAGA in Minneapolis once when they have the temporaries going. I purchase for the whole year in January. We order from our regulars (Sullivans, Melrose, Allstate, Raz, C&F....) and often get some really good show specials like dating, free freight, or discounts. Keep in mind, I have 5 stores to buy for and can hit some amounts that most single store shops could never reach.
We usually go with a little bit of an idea of our themes for the year...but with hopes of seeing new things to put a new twist on it. Display ideas are my favorite! Most of the showrooms do an awesome job of showing their product and we get good ideas and take lots of pictures.
I find that when I buy new product that I've never carried before online or from a print catalog, I'm often disappointed in the quality, color, detail work, etc. There's nothing like ordering an item and then seeing it in person and realizing the red isn't quite right or it has no weight to it or the glaze doesn't cover the whole item. That has happpened to me more times than I can count.
Our wholesalers don't usually carry very trendy or current stock. And if they do have, I have to pay more than if I ordered it directly from the company.
I feel if I only relied on the sales reps that come around then I'm going to have exactly the same stuff as the shop down the street. At the gift shows I always find some good stuff in the temporaries-which in most cases means it hasn't hit the mainstream yet. Also, I often notice that some of the Christmas items I order at the the show never make it to the catalog (I like to go back and mark the items I ordered so I remember what they looked like!). If I relied on the catalog, I would never have even seen these items.
I anyone is interested, we ordered a line of lip balm and skin care products
http://www.honeyhousenaturals.com/ made with beeswax-sort of a smaller scale Burt's Bees type product. All natural, American made, and it really works! I got one of the Bee Bars from a co-worker for Boss's Day and it saved my hands through Christmas. The lip balm is also fabulous. I think it's a great product line for any florist and/or garden center. Not a huge investment either.
We also ordered a line of firepots called Windflame that ship out of Minnesota so the shipping shouldn't kill us. It was one of the few lines that also carried the gel to put inside them...most of the other pots we saw had no source for the gel. They were also reasonably priced compared to most of the other ones we saw. You need a password and login to look at the website, but you can contact them if you're interested.
Another great idea we got from the show....little funky holiday headbands and hats were all the rage! C&F Enterprises had them, Raz had them, Melrose had them, as well as many other showrooms. I wish I could find an online image, but I can't. They were head bands with a big pile of stuff on top of them....for Halloween some of them had little mini witches hats attached with feathers, tulle, mm balls, silk flowers etc. They reminded me of the fancy hats that milliners made years ago but these were very whimsical. Lot's of witches hats with all kinds of stuff on them....very fun. We decided we're going to have a class in early Oct. for ladies to come in and make their own "Bewitching" witches hat. We'll supply the basic hat and they can purchase all the little extras and baubles to put on them. Then they'll have their own custom made hat to wear out on Halloween or to use as a decoration.
Burlap was also hot at the show. Picture frames, containers, lampshades, table runners, ribbon...you name it! You could find it in burlap! Look for it to show up in weddings in the next year. Casual ones, of course!
Sorry to babble, but I've been wanting to share with all of you some of the fun stuff I saw at the show...especially for those of you who can't attend.
P.S. Atlanta is a daunting market....really, really huge. Sometimes I like going to UMAGA where I can buzz through in a day and always find a new nugget to take back home! Go with a plan, a strategy, and a budget.
