A Unique Source for All Things Design

I have been MIA for MONTHS now, but is a good reason behind it! Last fall, Blue Lotus Company submitted an application to participate in the 2011 National Stationery Show. This is the biggest trade show for all things paper – cards, invitations, stationery, gifts – 900+ vendors and hundreds of buyers, like Papyrus, Hallmark, Urban Outfitters, Barnes and Noble, etc.

Blue Lotus Company received notification that their 6×10 booth was confirmed and the craziness began! Well, it didn’t really begin until a few months later, but let’s just say we’ve had ONE rest day in the past 2 months. We are down to 13 days before the show, which starts on May 15th and ends on May 18th at the Javits Convention Center in New York City. I have learned SO much in preparation for this and I will post more on each aspect of this grand project. It is a HUGE investment of time AND money. We figured if we didn’t do this now, when will we ever do this? And even if we don’t get any orders, we will get a lot of great experience in running a business. Here are just a few aspects of participating in the National Stationery Show:

Booth Design:

Your booth is like a mini store – if you want it to attract buyers, you have to design it well.  In summary, our booth consists of 4 custom made stained tables, 4 custom upholstered stools, distressed cabinet from Home Goods, wall-papered wall panels, lotus pattern and 3 feet logo foam core cut out – sprayed painted in antique gold, ocean, blue and silver – placed over center wood panel, wood grain vinyl flooring, custom floating shelves, and 10 clip on lights.

Product Design:

We needed to come up with 50+ products in order to fill our booth.  We did a lot of research which indicated that a variety of products was good in attracting buyers to your booth.  We also read that producing collections of products is good because retailers like to sell products as a collection because it can be displayed in a cohesive and more attractive manner to end consumers.  Once product designs were done, we had to think about packaging!  We now have over 60+ items total, about 10 collections, and a variety of product, such as posters, calendars, boxed note cards, greeting cards, coasters and magnets.

Wholesale Business:

There was a lot to learn in terms of starting a wholesale business.  Some things you have to think about and set up are:

• Wholesale Pricing and Line Sheets – We researched industry prices to come up with product prices, minimum quantities and minimum order amount.
• Wholesale Catalog – We designed a 24 page catalog to include product photos, descriptions and styles for all products.
• Credit Card Processing – We researched and signed up for a merchant account which will provide the virtual terminal feature for processing credit cards.
• Shipping – We set up a Fedex account, determined estimated shipping costs, and ordered boxes in preparation for shipping.
• Order Forms – Designed and printed 3 part carbonless order forms.

Marketing:

They say you can have the greatest product in the world but if you don’t market it, noone will buy it.  So a few things we did for marketing:

• Media Kit – A kit containing our press release, company bio, products, samples and business cards to be presented at the Press Room at the show.
• Postcards – The National Stationery Show offered a deal to send a “package” of postcards to all buyers attending.  We paid the $1000 to design a 3.5×5 postcard with our product images, logo and booth # to be distributed to all buyers 6 weeks before the show.
• Website – Redesigned look and feel of website with new photos and content to align with the stationery and gift line.
• Best New Product Competition - We entered 5 products into 5 Best New Product categories.  All 5 of our products are finalists and will be displayed at the Best New Product display to be judged on the first day of the show.
• Targeted products to targeted retails - Mailed a few products out with custom cover letters to the products’ target retailer.

That’s just some of what I have to talk about.  Needless to say, we are burnt out! BUT EXCITED!  Stay tuned for more!