Gifts for girls
Lotus fl ower aromatherapy candle from Yankee Tel: 01454 454500
Snowman, shaped mini dishes from Portmeirion Tel: 01782 744721
Gifts for Girls as long as a piece of string by Peter Hancocks
of numerous other markets, the most notable being jewellery, cosmetics, fragrances, handbags, clothing and the like. It just goes on and the ‘how long is a piece of string’ syndrome leaps instantly to mind.
I Then you have the additional
problem of defi ning ‘a girl’ as many girls considers themselves women, so what upper age limit should be put on the feature?
I then faced the further problem of baby girls and ‘were they to be included in the feature’? enquired a forward thinking PR girl/lady/woman! As you can see ‘Gifts for Girls’ rapidly became a minefi eld of indecision for yours truly and this, on my return to editing Gifts Today after a spell of some three and half years. In the end I decided that in the terms of the feature ‘Gifts for Girls’ would include product aimed at girls from birth, [to the delight of said PR girl/lady/woman] up to and including the age of 15. So there you have it; Peter Hancocks has opinioned that girlhood ends at 15! Naturally I prepare myself for a deluge of correspondence, emails and telephone calls on so chauvinistic a comment, but hey, there has to be a cut-off point. Therefore, featured in the following pages are a goodly array of product falling within my chosen age group and, should I have strayed, you can put it down to my advanced years. Talking about the jewellery market,
34 gifts today
thought that I’d start the ‘Gifts for Girls’ feature by determining the monetary value of the market per se, but of course such an act is completely impossible as said ‘Gifts for Girls’ is made up
Sarah Whatmore, a director of Fatlip Ltd advised me thus: “Despite a great start to the year at Spring Fair, 2011 has been, as predicted, a tough year. After embracing the need to introduce new and on-trend stock for the spring, retailers have been very careful with stock-holdings and we are seeing more frequent, smaller re-orders. “As trumped in the media, it does indeed seem that this year is the fi rst for the permanent sale on the high street as you cannot go more than a few metres without seeing a window emblazoned with a red and white sign. “When times are tough, marketing is key, and it is not just about clearance sales. We’ve been experimenting with different methods and promotions to see what works best for us. And we’ve defi nitely been even more careful than usual with our sourcing for autumn/ winter. I think the summer will be hard but with a good dose of sunshine and a bit of creativity, we’ll get through to September.
“Despite positive seasonal spikes for new range launches in the autumn and again next spring, it will continue to be tough and I have my hopes pinned on an uplift mid 2012. “We are lucky in this industry
that there will always be Christmas, birthdays and other gift occasions, and we need to reaffi rm the basics; ensuring we offer the right products at the right price with outstanding customer service.” Talking quality
porcelain products aimed at the younger market, Carol Wright, group marketing manager, Portmeirion Group advised me thus: “Little girls love characters from their favourite books. As such Portmeirion’s multi-award winning, ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’, remains as popular as ever and a fi rm favourite with little girls.” She continued:
Saskia fi breglass necklaces from Fatlip Jewellery Tel: 01905 612955
“Spode’s Paddington Bear range is also a favourite – Nursery, perfect for the wee ones and London which will appeal to the
more ‘grown up’ little girls. “For girls of all ages, Royal
Worcester has beautifully boxed mugs – the ‘Heartfelt’ collection in particular makes a great present. Featuring charming designs with delightful girly messages such as ‘I love you’ and ‘Happiness is time spent with a friend.” Talking more about the market in general she said: “From Portmeirion Group’s perspective, the last 12 months have been exceptional in terms of our national and international business. All our brands, Portmeirion,
Spode, Royal Worcester and Pimpernel are doing very well. The Royal Worcester commemorative collection for the recent Royal Wedding has further boosted profi ts this spring and the reception for all our 2011 new launches has also been excellent making us cautiously optimistic for the remainder of the year. However, we are very much aware that the current economic climate and issues with consumer confi dence will make trading challenging for all of us. The key criteria for Portmeirion Group, is to continue to provide a comprehensive choice of quality products that are in tune with the way we live today.” Talking about fragranced
products, Clive Harper, managing director, Yankee Candle Europe said: “I believe we are still in a challenging environment whereby retailers are looking toward responsible and proactive manufacturers to tell them what they should be doing and how they should be doing it following the doom and gloom in the retail industry. We at Yankee Candle accept that responsibility fully.” He continued: “There is a busy consumer market out there, they are spending money and all we have to do is ensure they are spending it on our products, in our market sector.” He concluded: “I feel the remainder of this year will be a similar story unless we do something about it and manufacturers take a responsible attitude. We should all be looking forward with a positive approach to manufacturing and sales ensuring we are offering the retailer everything they need to entice customers and increase sales.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60