|
"The Crossroads of the Gourmet Community” |
Sponsored by:
 |
|
Newsletter #17 | December 15, 2010 |
Holidays Bring Retail Cheer
By Perry Reynolds
In Kansas, Anne Dowell and her chef helper say high-end Le Creuset cookware is selling well this holiday season.
Large stores aren't the only ones cheering a positive start to the holiday shopping season. Smaller retailers, too, report that sales for November and the start of December are up over last year.
And many gourmet kitchenware retailers say the efforts of those vendors and manufacturers reps that offer programs geared for smaller stores, are paying off.
"A lot of vendors are reaching out to us,” says KC Lapiana, owner of Pittsburgh's In The Kitchen. "Many have understood that smaller stores need something this year to offer to our consumers.”
Vendors working closely with Faraday's Kitchen Store have seen upwards of 20 percent growth in their line sales this year, says Tony Curtis-Wellings, co-owner of the Austin, Texas-based retailer. (For more on what Faraday's is up to, see this month's retail profile.)
"We've created a great partnership with William Bounds and we're up 30 percent with them this year. And Cuisinart has really stepped up to the plate. I've been incredibly impressed with Cuisinart's commitment to partner with us on promotions,” Curtis-Wellings says. "Cuisinart people come into the store quite a bit, which impresses me because we are just a single store.”
"We did a good job with three companies: All-Clad, Cuisinart and Wusthof,” says Larry Oates, president of Kitchen Art, in West Lafayette, Ind. "Those companies are really trying to be aggressive in this market.”
Anne Dowell, owner of Apron Strings, in Hutchinson, Kan., praises Le Creuset, TAG, Trudeau and RSVP for "great dating programs.” Those programs have paid off, she says.
"For the month of November my sales were way up over last year,” she says. "This is our third Christmas season. We're spending the same amount of advertising dollars, but sales are up.”
The impact of a sluggish economy varies around the country, and small retailers are on the front lines of local consumer spending.
Dowell says her Kansas community's economy is based largely on farming and notes farmers in her region "are coming off two years of good harvests.” Thus she explains the fast sales of high-end Le Creuset cookware.
In Pittsburgh, however, while Lapiana's store is busy, she says shoppers are very focused on getting the best deals.
That's led to a source of frustration, as customers buy, and then try to return, products when they receive incentives from larger retailers.
"Bed Bath & Beyond is killing me with their 20 percent off coupons,” Lapiana laments. "Consumers are so conscious of their money this year that they are returning everything. Even though the coupons supposedly exclude certain vendors, they still return their All-Clad cookware here, and try for that discount at Bed, Bath & Beyond.”
Lapiana describes spending an hour with a customer and then having that customer walk out after she wouldn't meet the Bed Bath & Beyond deal.
"Another woman tried to return $800 worth of Wusthof knives she had bought here,” she said. After pointing out the discount coupon excluded Wusthof, the woman reluctantly agreed to keep her cutlery.
"That's the merry-go-round,” sighs Lapiana, who adds, "I wish vendors who give discounts to the big stores, would give them to everyone.”
Not everyone wants them. "Discounting creates traffic for large stores,” says Curtis-Wellings, who also describes this year's shoppers as price conscious.
Though Faraday's keeps its margins tight to be competitive with larger retailers year round, the kitchenware store opted not to offer additional discounts for Black Friday.
Instead, Faraday's brewed up some coffee to showcase its coffee centers and spread a locally-made jam onto fresh baked scones to lure shoppers during Black Friday weekend.
"We were up 50 percent over last Black Friday, and 10 percent on Saturday,” Curtis-Wellings says of the weekend's take.
Faraday's even sold several top-of-the line coffee centers.
"Selling several high-priced coffee machines made us smile,” he adds. "The goal is to drive traffic and we took the approach of providing a higher level of customer service rather than discounting, and it worked.”
