The recent GCA Speed-dating with Dragons event gave 60 card publishers a great opportunity to pitch to leading greeting card retailer buyers. Head of group buying for Frosts Garden Centres, Alexis Hayward was one of the ‘dragons’. Here she gives her top tips on how publishers can help buyers
My top advice: “The industry is fuelled on new designs and so rapidly updating the ranges will always help with successful sales. Having reliable representatives or agents with a real enthusiasm for achieving sales is vital. We see such a difference in performance where a good rep is involved.
Publishers could also help by being super responsive to orders, especially where timeframes are a bit tight – this is especially pertinent to seasonal sales such as Easter or Mother’s Day cards.”
I saw a much wider range of cards designs than I would normally see. Reflecting on why this is, I think sometimes at trade fairs we attend with our ‘blinkers’ on – we can become a bit ‘snowblind’. It was refreshing to see the newness.”
What we took from the GCA event: “ We were so impressed! We will be bringing in a display of ‘NEW’ into our Woburn card area as a result of this event. It will have four or five of the suppliers from the event as a test to see how well they perform in a commercial environment.”
