Product Pick: I Heart Guts

We love these award-winning plush organs and anatomy gifts by I Heart Guts! A selection of 47 different organ plushies make great post-op gifts, turning that struggle into a snuggle. Each adorable organ comes with a silly pun and a bit of info about the human body. Hospital staff love the cute colorful organ pins for some badge-reel bling. Best sellers include the uterus pin, heart pin and brain pin! Check out their hilarious organ socks, organ stickers, organ magnets, posters, kidney slippers and more. We love this line for hospital gift shops. Sure to get patients, staff, and families laughing. Because life takes guts. Visit their wholesale page or on Faire.

Q. Gift market stipend and travel expenses?

Q. What is the best way to justify the expense of attending a Gift Market? Is it possible to receive a stipend from a current vendor towards the cost of your trip? – Janis Farrington. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital Gift Shop/Trinity Health Systems. Melrose Park, IL

♡ Connect. Share. Grow. ♡

A few creative ideas to increase sales

We grabbed a few of the better ideas found in a recent article on increasing sales from Smart Retailer. Click below to read the full article. Here are the Cliff Notes:

SOCIAL MEDIA

Expanded social media presence by going live regularly with a What’s New Wednesday that features new arrivals in store.

Friday Reads segment focuses on great books to check out over the summer for traveling, etc.

When writing posts, be your authentic selves and just create community and find people.

Share the stories behind the products, giving personal stories or testimonials about the products, messaging or sentiments on the selection that is meaningful,

Engage and build the relationships with customers through social media so they trust and like shopping with you.

It’s easy to get discouraged when you don’t see immediate results on growing an audience, but just keep showing up. Consistency is key.

BUYING

Keep an eye on current television shows for what’s being shown to help guide buying decisions

Check out sites on Facebook, such as Better Homes & Gardens, to get an idea of what colors, patterns, and decorating styles designers are choosing.

Consider purchasing certain items from Amazon as the prices might be comparable to wholesale costs. This approach is advantageous if space and capital constraints prevent buying in quantities that would lower per-item costs enough to compete with Amazon.

SOURCE: Smart Retailer

UPCOMING HOLIDAYS

Winter 2024 Dallas Market: Editor’s Pick

See all the editor’s pick from the Dallas Total Home & Gift Market by the Editors of Gift Shop Plus. Early reports are that show attendance is up 17% compared with last year. See the full list of 26 picks.

Retail sales grew in 2023 holiday season

During this holiday season, U.S. retail sales, excluding automotive, saw a year-over-year increase of 3.1%, as per initial findings from Mastercard SpendingPulse. This data covers both in-store and online retail sales from November 1 2023 to December 24 2023, encompassing all payment methods and is not adjusted for inflation.

Online retail sales increased 6.3% in 2023 while in-store sales were up 2.2%. Spending online is increasing at a faster pace than in-store but shopping in-store remains a considerably larger portion of total retail spending.

Apparel was one of the top categories for shoppers this season, up 2.4% year over year.

DECEMBER 2023 NEWSLETTER: ISSUE #647
Did you miss last month’s articles, surveys, and discussions?

DISCUSSION

BADGE REELS

Does anyone have a recommendation for good quality badge pulls, that they don’t receive a lot of returns from defects? – Julie V. 12/11/23

Outside The Box. We only buy the ones that are not interchangeable. Great selection, Glitterific collection are best sellers for us. – Anne S

We use the same brands, but offer interchangeables. – Lori H

Outside the Box!!! Selection, interchangeable, pricing. Glitter badges are best sellers and staff loves all styles. – Terri D

I second this! They have a great heavy-duty interchangeable reels. I started with a small swappable selection and have now tripled the offerings. They have been so popular! Easy to reorder on their wholesale site which I always appreciate. – Holly V

Outside The Box, interchangeable and a small selection of fixed badges. – Andrea M

Outside The Box, we sell the interchangeable and carry the heavy duty reels. – Greg H

Wholeheartedly agree. We sell every sort from Outside the Box. Donna Bowden is the owner and she is awesome to work with. We have even had her design several badge buttons for us if she didn’t carry a particular design that we have had requests for in the past. – Angela Q

Outside the Box. We can’t keep the Sparkle and Shine displayer filled! – Katy S

Outside the Box. We sell the acrylic interchangeable badges. Our customers love to change out and buy seasonal badges. We buy the heavy duty reels. Also, sell the jelly fixed badges. – Lynne H

I also use Bonitas. A little pricier than Outside The Box, but good quality. – Brenda S

SOURCE: Hospital Gift Shops Facebook Group

♡ Connect. Share. Grow. ♡

CANDLES

Q. Where is everyone getting their candles these days? We have been carrying Village Candles for several years. They sell okay but I am wondering what other companies you may sell. Freight is just so high on candles and I am considering changing but wanted input from others. We are a 199 bed community hospital in rural North Carolina. There are few shopping options in our town other than Walmart. – Angela Q. 10/16/23

• We sell Tyler Candles and the Tyler wash. It was a big investment but has been sooo with it!! – Jenni D
• Here are a handful of candle brands that we either currently carry or have in the past. Some of these are on the higher price range of the category, but are well known and sell themselves. Capri Blue, Voluspa, Broken Top Co, Illume, Candelfy, Mixture, Archipelago, Paddywax, LAFCO. Hope this helps! – Jordan A
• Swan Creek has always been our favorite! – Lori H
• The Women’s Shoppe at Kennestone Hospital in Matietta sells the Bridgewater brand of candles and the fragrance Sweet Grace has been a big seller for us for the past several years. We also sell Votivo brand and the fragrances Red Current and Icy Blue Pine are big sellers in the Fall and Winter as well. Hope this helps. – Lynne H
• Swan Creek Candle Co. – Jenny T
• We just got these in and everyone loves them! Susan We did the prepack of 36! Six of each scent! Retail around $30! Crossroads Family of Companies – Heather P
• Thompson Candle Company – Brian Ali M
• Swan Creek has done great for us! – Lanie R
• Crossroads Candles – Jaci G
• Swan Creek & Candleberry (offers several free freight events throughout the year.) – Jen M
• Swan Creek and Candleberry are our best sellers! – Dawn S
• Swan Creek out of Ohio. Great quality vintage looking glass containers and the prices are fantastic for the quality. – Anne S
• We just brought Woodwick back this fall. They used to be huge sellers for us years ago, before Yankee Candle bought them and nearly destroyed the brand. They were selling to discounters, etc., but my rep is telling me they are pulling back from that and now focusing on the gift shop market again. Enesco is representing them. So, I took a chance. Hope I don’t regret it! We also do well with Swan Creek, Candle Cottage Duo candles. We have very price-conscious customers who will buy online in a heartbeat, so we have to keep our selection fresh and new to keep their interest. – Melinda S

SOURCE: Hospital Gift Shops Facebook Group