We are mid show season and I am gearing up to attend the Atlanta Gift Show and the Vegas Gift show. I haven't been to the Atlanta show in years, like 8 to be exact. While I am in that building several times a year, I unfortunately am not there during the show. My job is to set up the showrooms for Peking Handicraft and Art Floral Trading so I am there, months prior to the actual show. I am super excited to attend! I thought this would be a good idea to give you a little peek inside on how I do the shows!
Pre show:
I am a huge fan of reports. It's no secret that I believe that they are your bible and there is some serious magic in the numbers. I will pull reports a week or so beforehand so I can look at what's driving my business as well as, what's not driving my business. I will also look at our open stock reports. This is a non-negotiable as far as I am concerned. Not looking at my sales would be like walking through the show with a blindfold on. I will also walk my floors, to how each concept is holding up. Are we over some concept? Have some stopped selling? If so, what am I dropping so I don't waste precious time looking for things we are not moving forward with? I will make a list based on the reports and the sales floor of what we need as well as listing what holidays I am buying for and set my delivery dates before I even arrive at the show. There is nothing worse than standing in a booth looking at your phone for your calendar and trying to decide when you want to bring something in. On the fly.
I plan my wardrobe and make sure I have backups in case I get there and I hate what I chose (don't laugh, it's happened multiple times🙄). I also will pack a box of bars to keep with me so I don’t become hangry. Eating at the shows is always challenging for me. I don't really eat fast food and there are not a lot of options for healthy meals at most shows so it's important to keep something with me.
Lastly, pre-register! You do not want to wait in line, trust me!
First day of show:
Both Atlanta and Vegas are huge campuses so I will spend my first day just walking and looking at what's trending, what holiday looks like etc...I also like to get the lay of the land before I start to order. It's important so you are not criss-crossing through the buildings. I will run a list of who I want to come back to and what floor and building they are in (this one is important when there are 3 buildings). I will also take photos of specific items that I see as trending with the thought of curating new concepts. The reason I don't write the first day anymore is because I have found that if I start right out of the gate writing orders, by day 3 I am cancelling orders because I have found something I like better. It's a pain in the ass and unfair to the reps.
Day 2-5
These are the days that I write. While I am writing I am also building concepts. I will photograph most of what I purchased so when I see something that I feel like goes well I will cross reference the photos to whatever I am looking at. It's important that not only the product fits in the concept, it's crucial that the packaging flows as well. I will make notes of props that we will need as well as photograph displays that I love or find inspiring.
Each night, I sit with the PO's and allocate or make notes for where it's going and what concept it's falling into. I will also build a delivery board with the delivery dates of the PO's and how much has been spent. I am a fanatic on knowing what I have spent and I need to know that my buys are balanced in the sense of dollars going out and how much product is coming in.
I worked for someone who shall remain nameless but her philosophy was to bring it all in ASAP. This was way before the supply chain issue so before you think that was smart, it wasn't. What happened was, everything came in at the same time. Duh, yes, ASAP but guess what, it was all holidays. Valentine’s Day, Easter, 4th of July etc...and it was also our everyday gifts. ALL OF IT. And guess what, it all sat in a storage unit till the holidays were rolled out. This is a shit ton of dollars going out all at the same time that is all going to sit till that specific holiday rolls around. So no surprise that every time she walked into that storage unit she would become anxious and stressed. She would start reasoning why we should bring out certain holidays months before it was near. The sheer site of thousands of dollars stacked up, not going anywhere is enough to stress anyone out.
Don't stress yourself out, don't let your dollars just sit there. Use delivery windows and with the supply chain issues, put a cancellation date on your order. If not, you are sure to receive Christmas goods in January.
You can thank me later.
Cheers,
M
