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Want
to Make Money from Thin Air?
by
Jan Iiams
Balloons are
very much like high tech greeting cards. They evoke emotion with
color and design and express feelings in the magic of a lighter
than air message. Balloons bring out the kid in people of all ages
and are a delightful way to increase your average sale amount on
a daily basis. Using both foil and latex balloons can be an easy
and beautiful way to elevate your profits, build relationships with
your customers, and enhance merchandising and add-on sales. Here
are some great tips from industry experts that will streamline your
efforts and keep you current with trends in purchasing, inventory,
inflation, training and display, even if you're a balloon veteran
or simply considering adding balloons to your store.
Purchasing
Power
Today's smart buyer wants to save time and money. Many wholesale
distributors have a presence on the web as well as full line catalogs.
For special sales and the new products they offer, check distributor
web sites for fast information and easy ordering at virtually any
time, day or night. For distributor referrals and to see the newest
products being unveiled, check manufacturers web sites. Conwinonline.com
also offer educational information on their equipment and design
instruction.
Today the best
technique for ordering efficiently and getting the most value for
your money, is to order more but less often. You'll save on shipping
costs and manydistributors offer freight incentives and discounts
for orders placed in quantity. Check with your distributor about
their volume discount criteria. You'll find that many now allow
you to add smaller quantities of items together to achieve a volume
discount.
Intelligent
Inventory
The ideal inventory would be having just one of every item left
on the shelf just as your order arrives to assure you that you hadn't
missed a single sale. Since that is just a wish and not a reality,
you'll find the following tips will help you inventory smarter.
Spinner racks
are one of the most efficient ways to store your inventory. Although
they were initially introduced and work well for display purposes,
some busy stores are now using the spinner rack as storage for their
balloon inventory. At a quick glance, you can see what items are
low without digging through drawers, files or shelves that often
damage balloons to see what's due for reorder.
Don't get into
an inventory rut. Your repeat customers love to see new things,
and there's nothing like a beautiful new balloon pattern to inspire
your staffs creativity. Note which patterns are your bestsellers
and which ones you can afford to change out periodically or seasonally
to keep a fresh look to what you sell.
Display
Today
The spinner racks mentioned above are a great way to display your
balloons. Retail customers shop for them in the same way they shop
for a greeting card. Because the spinner rack inventory is packaged,
product stays clean and fingerprint free, and it doesn't require
a sales person to "baby-sit" the customer through the entire sale.
The small extra cost for packaged balloons more than makes up for
the labor costs involved with older display methods, and the rack
takes up a minimum of expensive retail floor space.
Pioneer, Betallic,
Anagram, CTI, M&D Balloons and Classic Balloon companies all
offer various spinner balloon displays. Tim Vlamis from Pioneer
Balloon Company who manufactures Qualatex balloons recommends their
42 hook spinner rack for foil balloons that was noted for its small
size and efficient display area by the Civil Disabilities Act. Pioneer
also offers Qualatex racks that display latex balloons. Lisa Nye
from Anagram described a new addition to their spinner, a new display
option for inflated balloons with attached weights. Steve Casso
from Betallic Balloon Company said the spinner racks they manufacture
include spinners that are designed to display packaged foil balloons,
and another that displays balloons and matching accessories.
Betallic's Balloon
Corrals display helium inflated balloons in framed netting suspended
from the ceiling for easy cash and carry sales. The most visually
impressive trend today for displaying your selection of foil balloons
is to display air filled balloon on the wall near your service center.
Foil balloons are designed to look most impressive when inflated.
Stands that that show each balloon flat, on a plastic covered page
similar to a flip chart is a very dated display method that doesn't
show balloons at their best and requires more expensive time from
the sales person.
Anagram's new
Show and Sell Kit includes hanging tabs, monofilament and magnets
that can be secured to the metal frames between ceiling tiles. This
is a great method for displaying inflated balloons without damaging
walls with adhesives.
Easy
and Efficient Inflation
Things have changed! At one time everyone had a simple tank and
filler valve to inflate balloons with. Today, there are a myriad
of choices for equipment to make your balloon work a breeze and
substantially more profitable.
The newest inflators
do more than just inflate balloons, they precisely size latex balloons
and automatically stop when foil balloons are full. Crystal
Narramore, CBA, said the latest equipment trend for busy stores
that inflate bouquets using both types of balloons is the Duplicator
2 automatic sizer. This small piece of equipment sits on a counter
and can actually be located several feet from the helium tank. Crystal
also described a completely new inflator, the Mini
Cart Combo which was designed specifically for retail stores
that merchandise with helium filled balloons. This little cart and
tank can be wheeled to areas where balloons are displayed and quickly
refill those balloons that have begun to deflate. When the ribbon
is tied below the self seal valve, its incredibly easy to stretch
the Cart's 10-Foot Extension Hose
Inflator up to each balloon to insure your balloons always look
fresh and ready to sell.
Service
Center
Here are a few items that are simply a must for an up-to-date workspace
that your staff can create professional balloon arrangements with.
Super Hi-Float for long lasting latex balloons. Your customers will
love you for it and your competition is using it. Ribbon in a variety
of colors. Tie on two colors for an incredibly inexpensive way to
increase perceived value of your balloons. Professional equipment,
tools and displays insure your staff can work faster and their work
will look more polished. Don't skimp on these one time purchases.
The best is simply the best!
Techno
Training
Training new staff used to take days or weeks and mistakes were
costly. There are excellent and inexpensive videos
from Conwin and Pioneer Balloon Company that help the new get
started right and even experienced retailers to work with balloons
better. What a great way to train new staffÑpop in a video and let
them learn from the experts.
Final
tips
Safety is not only important, its the law. Portable
safety stands are much safer and appear more appropriate to
a retail setting than hooks in the walls for chaining helium tanks
to secure them. The newest, top-of-the-line choice for safety is
a tank covered with a crisp, clean Cylinder
Tank-Top Cover that is firmly seated in Conwin's
4 Wheel Hand Truck with an Add-on Workbench to increase work
space and provide maximum safety, professional appearance and flexibility
in your busy shop. Finally, you have so many more choices today
than in past years as you can see from the suggestions here. Check
your distributors marketing materials, and look at manufacturers
magazine ads and web sites to find the products that will increase
your sales and make your shop more inviting.
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