Ramblings about the SARCDA show at Gallagher in March 2010.
These are the days when you have to think quickly and act just as fast to regain your market share. We booked the SARCDA show months before and had a fair idea of what we wanted to accomplish.
Objective 1: Sell out the Kidz Storage Solution range and discontinue the range. The problem that we faced was that there was not enough of the range left to make a full impressive display. Now you can imagine the result we ended up with. Just a general lack of interest and no benefit to us as Silver Hills Gems. Why did we stop the range. We were tired of the many orders that went unpaid and is still clogging up our store room. One order still has over R11000 outstanding. This order takes up a load of space.
Objective 2: Determine the market share in findings at the show. Big mistake! Nobody even looked at the findings. Findings is such a personal thing. So many people need findings and have the time to sit at home and buy them on the internet. At a show there is no time to browse. There are so many people to see and the larger stands with the visually appealing stuff takes up all the attention. I always say that a show is the best place to do market research. The things that people touch and buy gives you a good idea of what is currently in fashion. As a wholesaler I need to be in step with the current trends. I buy timeless pieces that must not date quickly. As an artist I have a unique talent to recognize beautiful items.
The first two days quickly showed me that I have to take aggressive steps to salvage the show. On Saturday morning we made arrangements with the organizers to change our display. I left home at 7:00 and worked hard to update the display. It all worked out fine. The people started pouring into our stand and by the end of Saturday we were almost sold out. You only have a few seconds to impress your clients. Use all means at your disposal to impress them.
I have the best news. Our container arrived today. The next two weeks will be challenging. We go on our next buying trip in 2 weeks and want to relist as much of the stock before we go. So please watch our What's new page daily.
We will keep you updated on our progress as the days carry on. I seriously suggest that you join our facebook page to see our new profile updates. I will be up loading new photos to this page daily of the boxes as they are being unpacked. You can also join twitter as we tweet along about our doings. We love to keep you informed.
I have changed the colours on the website to be more readable. The reds were a bit difficult to read against the black background. This was quite a mission that took me about 3 hours to get right. Feedback on problems that you face would be appreciated. We have added an overnight service to our postage module. It is rather expensive, I apologize for that. It is just so difficult to get reasonable rates. I have an overnight delivery service for Pretoria and Johannesburg for just R100 but we have not included this option on the website. Should we? I like to hear from you.
I have listed the remaining wall clocks from the Kidz Storage range. The prices are very low. Buy one or buy ten. Sell them or give them away as gifts. I am sure they will sell well.
Just a word of warning when you order something from China. I ordered 3000 printed bags from a suppllier. I proofread the words and found a few mistakes. I left the office in China with a good feeling. I said to myself that we will be able to pack the customers goods in a neat printed bag. What a joke! They added a R to the gems and now it reads Germs. We have just become Silver Hiils Germs.(notice the double ii) Second mistake. It is great of them to rename my company. R4000 down the drain. So beware. Rather do your printed bags locally.
Just watch our updates pages over the next few weeks. I know that many of you are waiting for specific things. I ask you all to be patient. It will take time to list all the new items.
Blessings
Gerdus