Gifts for Men
Male order
What can customers buy the man (or men) in their lives? How do you get more male customers in your shop? Gifts Today investigates...
I
f you are a gift retailer reading this, it’s a fair assumption that the majority of customers are women. It is a popular assumption that men are diffi cult to buy presents for (hence the prevalence of socks
and underpants under the Christmas tree), but it would also be fair to say that a lot of them only visit shops when they absolutely have to (hence the Christmas Eve dash to the petrol station).
I asked Peter Cross, retail guru and partner of Mary Portas at the recent Top Drawer exhibition at Olympia how gift shops can attract more male customers. He said: “Make it easier for men and they will come. If you market to them, they will learn
that your shop is somewhere they can buy gifts easily and painlessly. “Men fi nd it really hard to lug themselves around John Lewis for three hours, looking for presents. Find a man, sell to him once and he will come back!
“Men will wear the same style of shoes that the buy from the same shop year after year because they like them. There’s no reason why it can’t be exactly the same with gifts. If they know that your shop is somewhere they can buy something for their wife, they will return.” While increasing male customers to your shop is one issue, what your customers will buy them for their birthday or at Christmas is another. The next few pages present some fresh ideas!
Shared Earth
It’s been Shared Earth’s best-selling product for over three years - and sales are still increasing! This spectacle stand, which is especially good as a present for men, can be used either at home or as a desk accessory, and its quirky humour combines with quality craftsmanship. The product is hand carved from shesham wood in a fair trade shop in
India. Shared Earth reports that many customers order three or four to start with, then re-order 20 or 30 because they sell so fast - one small shop sold almost 500 last year, and at £7.99 each (RRP), that’s a lot! Shared Earth also sells a number of other gifts that appeal to men. Particular favourites are cars made from recycled tins in Madagascar, and bottle-openers, clocks and other items made from recycled bicycle chains in India.
Tel: 01904 655314
www.sharedearth.co.uk email:
sales@sharedearth.co.uk
Xystos Peter Cross
For those guys who crave the open road - and a return to their youth - Xystos has added two new motorcycles to its Car Couture range of models. Midlife Tourer (RRP £24.99) features a young male rider and his pretty female pillion passenger, while The Hog, which retails at £29.99, has a Hell’s Angel astride his cool bike. And for those who prefer four wheels to two,
there is the Street Machines range, which offers pedal to the metal turbo-charged, high-octane gift ideas for petrolheads with a passion for power. Xystos has developed a movie/TV theme for this hot line, which may earn some of the world’s best-known fi lms and programmes some new fans. Gotham Cruiser, Striped Tomato, Ecto Buster, Duke of the Road and Time After Time retail at £24.99, while v’A’n Hannibal has an RRP of £40.
Tel: 0191 499 1570
www.xystostrade.co.uk email:
sales@xystos.co.uk
18 gifts today
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