Today, I went up to London and spent the day at the Big Stamping and Scrapbooking Show at Alexander Palace - or Ally Pally as it is commonly known. All in all, it was an okay day. There were some highlights and some extreme lowlights.
The highlights first:
If I were able to give out awards, there is one particular stand I would give one to. For me, if it were a movie, it would've one the Oscar for Best Film. Remembering that the stands at these events are temporary, haphazard and need to attract attention because there is a lot of competition, www.laviniastamps.com had an amazing stand.
The stand had a great flow. There was a demonstration table at the front stage left of the stand with the products ranging around the back of the stand and the register at front stage right. So, once people were attracted to the demo, they could work their way around the stand, picking up product as they went and pay at the register at the end. Right next to the register were a selection of tiny, mini stamps that have probably been fitted into the waste space on the sheets. These were priced at £1 each, so someone could pick up three or four for not a large outlay. Additionally, across the top of the back of the stand were hundreds of samples. The stamps required to make up the stamps were directly underneath those samples - very clever. The stand was packed. While I was there I could hear people all around me saying "I need those stamps to make that card, and those stamps to make that card". No sample used less than 7 stamps. The only downside was the stamps were pricey. Probably 20-30% more than I would normally be prepared to pay for an unmounted, acrylic stamp. But the demonstration being done was simple with impressive results. Even I, in my cash-strapped state, walked away with three stamps.
The award for best customer service has to go to www.decoupatch.co.uk. Again, their stand was clear and it was obvious what they were selling. Although they had no demonstration going, it was obvious from their samples, what you could achieve with their products. They were selling papier mache items that could be covered with their bright colourful papers, using glue and a brush. Once you had made your selection, it was clear where you needed to pay and to whom. The lady in the queue in front of me was buying a small papier mache giraffe. "that's £3.95, or you can select two sheets of paper and we'll give you glue and a brush for £7.95". The woman accepted. Brilliant. She walks away with everything that she needs to get started and they've doubled their sale in 20 seconds. OK, it didn't work with me, who said "No. I'm going to ink them", but her response was "Ooh. That sounds interesting, if I include our business card in your bag, will you send us a picture when it's complete?". Has she won me over, or what? Their only mistake, I believe, was not checking out the competition. They were selling wooden cutout words and had LOVE in a square, a la Making Memories for £10. The stand directly behind them was selling almost exactly the same item for £4. Did they not notice when they were setting up? If they didn't, hmmm. If they had and it had been me there, I would have either brought the price down (not necessarily to match, but closer) or pulled that item from the stand.
The lowlights:
The award for the worst stand goes to a company tucked down the back of the hall. They also were selling only acrylic stamps. But a huge difference. No demonstration going on, no samples to speak of and then hundreds and hundreds of stamps crammed onto hooks, with each design butted right up against the next. Admittedly, they were grouped by theme, but just looking at the display gave me a headache. My friend expressed an interest to look and I just said I couldn't concentrate. Too Much Information...
The rest of the show was a bit of a disappointment for me. Although I think footfall was down from the last time I went (which was pre-recession), it still felt very crowded. This made it very difficult for people with mobility issues to get around. They do get an extra half an hour before the show opens, but that is nowhere enough time to see everything before the walking hordes arrive. I felt most sorry for one woman behind me at one stand who was in a self-pushed wheelchair and therefore didn't take up as much space as someone in a mobility scooter. But this made her less noticable and there were people stepping in front of where she was trying to go, oblivious to her plight and no one with her to back her up.
I felt that the number of show offers was down considerably. It used to be that nearly every stand was offering a deal of the weekend. Only a couple were offering anything at all. One stand offering stamp sets for £8.50 each, or three sets for £24.00. Hmm. £1.50 off? Really? Considering that most of the shops will get more footfall over the course of this weekend than they might get in a normal weekend (even taking into account that most of them will have closed their businesses back home for four days), or in fact a month of weekends, they can afford to do better deals. It encourages repeat business. Two positive days at this show are better than thousands worth of advertising. Just being there means I learned about half a dozen companies that I didn't even know existed and some that I thought had gone out of business were still there. The good ones will probably get business from me in the future. The bad ones I will actively ignore.
After the show, I met up with a lovely group of people from the Yahoo Group, All Things Tim. While fanatics for all things that have Tim Holtz's signature on them, they were enthusiastic about lots of other things and we had a great opportunity to share the spoils of our spending sprees!
