Industry Retailers Make NRF Stores Hot 100

August 11, 2011 By 2 Comments

Stores, a publication of the National Retail Federation, has released its Stores Hot 100 list of the country’s fastest growing retailers – and several craft-related stores made the 2011 list. The list is ranked based on year to year sales growth from 2009 to 2010. All retailers with domestic U.S. sales of over $300 million were eligible.

Salt Lake City-based Overstock.com, an often overlooked player in the crafts retail market, landed in the number 10 spot on the list by posting 23.8% growth from 2009 to 2010. Stores attributes this to the growing portfolio of markets that company has expanded into, including travel (by selling discount hotel rooms). A ranking penalty incurred by the company from Google over accusations it manipulated Google results by embedding links in school websites in return for promised discounts has left Stores skeptical that Overstock can repeat those year-to-year growth results, however.

Both home shopping networks made the list. HSN ranked highest, coming in at number 44 with 9% year-over-year growth. Known for its promotion of lines like Cricut, Anna Griffin and Martha Stewart Crafts with custom created bundles during its on-air craft specials, HSN is definitely a force in the new model of retailing and their growth reflects that. Although nearly twice the size of HSN in total sales, home shopping network QVC was further down the list at number 85 due to experiencing a smaller (but still impressive) amount of year to year sales growth (5%).

Near the bottom of the Stores list we find two craft chain stores. First up is Jo-Ann Stores. That chain placed in 95th on the chart with 4.4% sales growth, on $2.079 billion in retail sales from 751 stores. The other craft chain on the list, Hobby Lobby, came in at number 96, also showing 4.4% sales growth in the surveyed period. Privately-held Hobby Lobby’s sales were reported as $2.093 billion, surpassing Jo-Ann Stores, and with only 497 store locations. Hobby Lobby’s growth numbers were undoubtedly helped by opening of new locations – it experienced store growth in the covered period of 5.7%, while Jo-Ann Stores only expanded their locations by 0.7%.

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Top Scrapbook News Stories of 2009

December 31, 2009 By 4 Comments

It’s time to say goodbye to 2009…here’s a look back at the top scrapbook industry news stories of the year.

Paris Hilton Does CHA

The CHA crowd is used to having the likes of Vanna White and Martha Stewart grace the show with their presence. But the show has never quite seen a spectacle like happened at CHA-Winter 2009 in Anaheim when Paris Hilton strutted onto the show floor trailed by a posse of burly bodyguards and foreign paparazzi.

paris-arriving-webWell, now I can check “getting elbowed by German-speaking paparazzi” off my bucket list at least.

Creative Memories Files Bankruptcy

Although the bankruptcy of Creative Memories was technically filed in late 2008, the disposition of it continued into 2009. The court approved the company’s bankruptcy plan on January 9th, but former company officers still face legal action from former employee shareholders over their actions in regard to the bankruptcy plan.

CK Media’s Financial Problems

Stories stemming from the underlying thread of CK Media’s financial issues were a recurrent theme in the scrapbook news in 2009. First Digital Scrapbooking was shut down, and shortly afterward Simple Scrapbooks magazines was closed as well. Scrapbook Update broke the news in February that CK Media had called in turnaround/bankruptcy firm CRG Partners to settle its debts with its creditors under threat of a bankruptcy filing.

In early July, the sale of CK Media’s remaining publications to New Track Media became final, triggering major layoffs at the company.

CHA Craft Supershows

There was something else new at CHA-Summer 2009 besides the venue – the addition of a consumer event that operated the weekend after the trade show. Although controversial when first announced, the Craft Supershow was a massive success in Orlando, and CHA is continuing the event in conjunction with CHA-Winter 2010 in Anaheim.

IMG_6073

Big Names Depart from Creating Keepsakes

As the company foundered this year, a lot of big names departed Creating Keepsakes and its parent company to work on other projects. The departures went all the way to the top of the company, when Creating Keepsakes founding editor Lisa Bearnson announced she was giving up her role with the magazine. Other popular well-known names who departed the company included Becky Higgins, Ali Edwards, Cathy Zielske, and Jessica Sprague.

Stampin’ Up Angers Demonstrators With New IDA

In early fall, Stampin’ Up issued a revised IDA (independent demonstrator agreement) to all of its demonstrators that included new restrictions on their online activity. Stampin’ Up originally interpreted the new guidelines as meaning Stampin’ Up reps couldn’t link to anyone online who linked to anywhere else that sold or promoted non-Stampin’ Up products. Many reps threatened to resign rather than live with restrictions that would force them to remove themselves from a large portion of the online community, and Stampin’ Up was forced to loosen the guidelines.

Memory Makers Ceases Publication

In early May, Scrapbook Update broke the story that F+W Media was planning to shut down Memory Makers Magazine with the Sept/Oct issue. This news was confirmed by the publication the next day. The magazine’s remaining subscriptions were picked up by Northridge Media for digital fulfillment with an all-access pass to its titles.

Melody Ross Departs Chatterbox, Company Shelved by Ultra Pro

In early July, Chatterbox founder Melody Ross revealed that she had departed the company back in April. At CHA-Summer, a rep for Chatterbox parent company Ultra-Pro confirmed to Scrapbook Update that the Chatterbox brand’s product lines were being discontinued. Ten years ago, the company was revolutionary in the industry. Now, it no longer exists.

Lenders Attempt to Force Wilton Brands Bankruptcy

After holding company Wilton Holdings breached covenants of loans it owed, the parent company of EK Success and K&Co was called into bankruptcy court by lenders who filed a petition to force the company into bankruptcy. The issue was eventually settled out of court by the lenders and Wilton. Later in the year, Wilton’s CEO resigned, saying that the new ownership should have an opportunity to select their own management.

Gypsy Introduces New Era Of Scrapbook Electronics

Shortly before CHA-Summer, Provo Craft started executing a viral marketing campaign to raise buzz on its new electronic accessory for the Cricut called the Gypsy.

The campaign was successful at raising buzz on the Gypsy, which is a handheld device that lets users create designs from their cartridge library and then cut them via their Cricut machine. Probable future plans for the device include the ability to purchase individual cut designs from an iTunes-style store, instead of having to purchase entire cartridges.

The Gypsy debuted with an HSN package and a 30 day exclusive run at Michaels. Although the MSRP is $299, over the holidays the street price seems to be hovering around $250.

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Provo Craft Launches Cricut Gypsy on HSN

September 25, 2009 By 2 Comments

At Midnight on the 24th, Provo Craft went on HSN for what was described as the “worldwide launch” of the Gypsy.

The Gypsy has actually been available for pre-order at Michael’s since August 15th. Those orders were supposedly available for pick-up on the 24th, and the Gypsy will be on Michael’s shelves on October 4th. Other retailers will be able to start selling the product during the second week of November.

Provo Craft’s Jinger Adams presented the Gypsy package, which was the limited deal of the day. The package’s regular HSN price was listed as $349.95, but the day’s introductory price was $299.95. The hosts kept pointing out that $299 was the MSRP for just the Gypsy and its accessory sleeve, and that when the machine comes to stores it will be a coupon-excluded item.

Gypsy HSN packageThe package had an MSRP of $483.96 and included: the Gypsy, slipcase, HSN-exclusive carry case, various power, computer & cartridge connection cords, car charger, two full-content cartridges that are exclusive to the Gypsy, and the Don Juan cartridge that previously was only available on the Cricut Create machine.

Buzz about the Gypsy launch was all over the social media sites as midnight eastern approached on the evening of the 23rd. Scrapbookers on Facebook and Twitter were talking about their excitement about seeing the product demonstrated on-air, and about being able to buy one. On Twitter, at least, all this excitement had apparently unexpected effects for the company’s PR efforts.

On Twitter, Provo Craft was directing people to a TweetChat room where all the tweets tagged with the hashtag “#gypsy” would show up to facilitate communication and create a community event even though all the attendees didn’t follow each other on Twitter. So many Cricut fans were tweeting using the #gypsy hashtag, however, that the tag made the list of trending topics that appears on each Twitter user’s profile page.

Experienced Twitterers can predict what happened next: spammers who didn’t understand the meaning of the hashtag and thought it sounded possibly less family-friendly than it was started using the hashtag to get their messages seen by the people who were using searches and tag monitoring. And many of those spammers’ profile pictures and tweets were NSFW (geek to english translation – Not Safe For Work: meaning containing adult content). Understandably, this didn’t sit well with the online Cricut swarm (or should it be band of Gypsies?)

Spam Complaint
It didn’t seem to completely the disrail the evening’s festivities online but certainly put a damper on them for many participants. The frustrating thing was that most of the spam was coming from only a few accounts, and if Twitter were closer to “real time” in banning spammers the problem would have disappeared before it really disrupted the event.

After the midnight to 1am hour, Provo Craft’s Twitterer said that they sold over half their available stock for the day in that first hour. After several more scrapbooking segments in the next 12 hours that featured the Gypsy package, the noon hour segment began with the announcement to viewers that there were only 680 units remaining. The package was sold out by 12:40pm.

By my count, the HSN event makes the fifth “debut party” for the Gypsy. There were 3 such events the week of CHA-Summer – the online unveiling, the evening invitation-only Gypsy Gala in Orlando, and then the unveiling in the booth the following day. Then there was the buzz the day that pre-orders started to be accepted at Michaels stores, and now this HSN event. There will be a couple more big days in this promotional schedule too, when they Gypsy arrives on Michaels store shelves and is released for general sale. You have to hand it to Provo Craft. They certainly know how to build buzz around an item and sustain it for awhile. Other than the misstep early in the campaign when the response to questions that arose over how the device worked were somewhat bungled, this marketing program has to be judged a textbook example.

People are talking about the Gypsy, and initial demand was good for the item. The question is will that demand for a high ticket item be able to be sustained leading into the holiday season in a poor economy? The answer to that will be of interest to many companies in the industry beside just Provo Craft, because it has far-ranging implications.

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Provo Craft makes Gypsy FAQ available; HSN to get Gypsy

August 28, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Provo Craft has made a very comprehensive FAQ available on the Gypsy website that answers pretty much all of the questions that I have heard asked about the Gypsy (and some that I haven’t).

The Gypsy FAQ discusses in detail the computer compatibility of the device, how the cartridges work with the device and with Cricut machines, and even hints at future plans for the expanding the Gypsy’s capabilities. If you are planning to or are considering buying a Gypsy to use with your Cricut, the FAQ gives an excellent overview of the device’s capabilities and usage.

And if you don’t want to buy it at Michaels, according to the FAQ there is another place that you will be able to get it on the 24th of September – shopping channel HSN.

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