With the holiday season upon us I thought I’d share a bit of inspiration for your holiday displays with an example our trends editor, Becky Tyre, shared with me. The shots below are from A. Dodson’s, a store in Suffolk, VA. I love the stop-you-in-your-tracks creativity this store displays by wrapping the tree branches in yarn for a soft, snowy look and hanging ornaments from them. I also applaud the use of silver, white and blue, all trendy colors this holiday season.

Kick up your creativity a notch and create a display that passers-by will just have to stop and check out.

I'll be speaking this winter at the Las Vegas Gift Show on in-store Visual Merchandising and I’d love to have you join me. I’ll be presenting 50 plus ideas to give you fresh, new inspiration for your in-store visual merchandising. The time and date of the seminar have yet to be set, but the show is January 30 to February 3, 2012. In the meantime, please visit the show’s website for details, dates and travel information. I look forward to seeing you there!

For more merchandising trends and holiday tips make sure to check back here and follow us on Facebook.

When I start to feel the crisp chill of fall in the air, I automatically start thinking about the holidays and the holiday trends for the year. Consequently I’ve been reading up on trends for this year and thought I’d share with you some of what I’ve found. I hope it helps inspire ideas for decorating your store with what your customers may be looking for to deck their halls in 2011.

Themes: Unconventional opulence – A new kind of opulence is en vogue this year; it’s a way of transforming your space into a place of comfort and well-being away from the harsh economic and political realities of our modern world.

Giving trends: Sustainability – A new type of sustainable gifts will be popular this year. Customers will be looking to give gifts that are not only eco-friendly, but also made with quality to be long lasting and not disposable.

Colors: Silver with light green – Pair light green with silver this year for a look of frosted greenery. I’ve also read that a wide variety of blues will be popular, along with the traditional red and white.

Tree decorations: Forest animals, like birds, deer, squirrels and owls, as well as more and exotic animals like peacocks will be popular tree decorations this year.

I’d love to hear what trends you're seeing for this holiday season.

Today's guest post is from Becky Tyre, Trends Editor of GIFT SHOP Magazine.

As always, the NYIGF was full of fantastic finds for the gift retailer. Walking down the aisles, it’s hard to whittle down the wonderful selection to a few choice finds. Here's part two of what I loved at the show—and what you will too!

Stroke Of Art
Best known for her watches and clocks, Minnesota artist Debra Dresler has added book vases to her line of products made from vintage found objects. These vases are fully functional and hold water to display live flowers and are one of her best sellers at this summer’s NYIGF.


Fred’s Top Banana
You can count on the Fred and Friends Booth at any market to be full of fun and laughs. One of their new product introductions is the Top Banana Wine Bottle Stopper. Once you’ve uncorked a bottle of wine, you just “slip” this stopper in, peel side up, to keep your wine fresh. The Top Banana merchandises perfectly with the Wine Monkey bottle cover introduced earlier this year.


Zing Artwear
Made from flexible, washable and eco-friendly material, these bracelets and necklaces are created to look like body art. Their NYIGF booth was buzzing with customers trying them on and placing orders.


Game Board Pillows
During the NYIGF show, pier 94 offers a wide selection of decorative pillows. Kevin O’Brien Studio featured a line of printed cotton pillows that looked like vintage game boards. These fun, yet sophisticated pillows represent eight games including checkers and darts.


Knotty But Nice
Continuing their mission of designing and manufacturing unique, high quality products that bring smiles into the lives of others, the Inspired Generations booth at NYIGF was a bit “knotty and nice”. The knotty bowls come in single, double and triple versions. The double bowls are ideal for wedding gifts.

Today's guest post is from Becky Tyre, Trends Editor of GIFT SHOP Magazine.

As always, the NYIGF was full of fantastic finds for the gift retailer. Walking down the aisles, it’s hard to whittle down the wonderful selection to a few choice finds. Here's part one of what I loved at the show—and what you will too!

Paulette Rollo
This small acorn purse hooks onto a belt loop or handbag. Made from 100% hard leather, formed by hand, these small coin purses come in several color combinations and sizes. Also available in apple and heart shapes.

Oclaf Barcelona
Brand new to the NYIGF show. Is it jewelry or is it a scarf? The answer is both. Fashion necklace scarves are made of the softest fabrics and incorporate a piece of hand-made jewelry. From Spain.


Soggy Doggy
The makers of the original Soggy Doggy doormats are introducing the Soggy Doggy Super Shammy. Made of quick-drying, highly absorbent microfiber chenille, these new pet towels have convenient hand pockets for easily drying any size dog.


Mad Party Mats
Carefree, convenient and classic party mats fold up into a neat 10" x 20" packet that ties securely with handles for easy transport. Measures 54" by 6' when opened fully. Take them anywhere in the sun, salt water and rain. These mats are waterproof and stain proof. Made from recycled plastic bottles, packaging and bags. Available in three color combinations. A fair trade company.


EZ Sox
The “I can do it!” sock. Fun learning socks for kids. Reinforced loops give tiny fingers a strong grip for pulling over tiny toes. Cute animal faces act as a guide, showing them which way is up. They help to build the confidence that pre-schoolers need as they learn to dress themselves. Available in a variety of cute designs.


Be sure to check back tomorrow for five more finds from the NYIGF.

I was interviewed recently by the Wall Street Journal about the specialty retail market, and for the first time I was able to provide concrete data about our industry.

Specialty Retail Report commissioned the first ever study about the specialty retail industry from Alexander Babbage, an independent market research firm who specialize in the retail and shopping industries. The results cover more than $600 million in sales from more than 5,800 cart and kiosk retailers in North America over the past two years.

Here are a few noteworthy pieces of data that I pulled from the report:

• Specialty retail holiday sales grew by 10.6 % in 2010 — more than three times higher than the GAFO sales growth of 2.9% for the same time period.
• The toy category was the fastest growing area of year-on-year in category sales growth in 2010 with a 35.5% increase.
• The holiday category saw a 40.9% jump in the number of reporting units.

I am excited by the results of this report as it confirms that specialty retail is thriving and outperforming the big box stores. It also indicates that savvy entrepreneurs are still earning profits and specialty retail is worth noting. It can’t be ignored based on this record performance

SRR is committed to the industry and will continue to offer updated reports on a quarterly basis. Click here for more information or to participate in the next round of the study.

A very big thank you to the Max F. James Family Foundation for sponsoring this report.

One of my favorite questions to ask retailers is: what are your top selling products? I think it's a great way to find out about mini trends, fads and products that stand the test of time. This is also one of the most popular articles in our print magazine and on our website.

We track retail trends at the magazine based on search traffic, and I noticed that there was tremendous interest in the press releases we have posted on Pillow Pets for the past two months. (I was also thrilled to see we had record traffic in November and December, averaging 20,000 unique visitors a month!)

Do you sell Pillow Pets in your store? If so, how are they doing?

Gucci is planning to open pop-up stores in two to three weeks in seven cities (including New York), where they'll sell 18 sneaker styles. According to Gucci's CEO, this retail endeavor will achieve an important marketing objective—"An initiative such as this one will simply serve to enhance the brand's reputation as a fashion authority and innovator."

It's exciting to see Gucci rolling out such a niche product-focused store on a short-term basis. Not only will they benefit on a marketing level, but I anticipate it'll create an urgency to buy—consumers are fickle and hesitant to spend money on luxury goods, so they'll probably close a lot more sales than if the shoes were sitting on a shelf in a permanent Gucci store.

I hope they'll also use this opportunity to collect more email addresses, and to drive traffic to their permanent store locations.

I just read a fascinating article in Business Week that revealed a major shift in baby boomer spending may happen sooner than originally predicted, due to the current economic environment. Right now baby boomers make up about a third of American consumers—as this shift occurs, boomers will drastically cut back in all areas of spending.

Here are four things to think about as you make important strategic decisions for the upcoming year(s):

1. Who is your average store customer now?
   If the answer includes a high percentage of customers who are 60+ years old, then you should think about shifting your product selection. Start tracking who's buying what merchandise by age, so you can start to get a better understanding of which lines are most popular by age group.

2. Make sure you analyze which price points are most popular.
   This will help you get a feel for the average ticket sale, and the average price per item by age group.

3. Think about shifting some of your marketing methodology.
   If you're not already, start embracing new technology including a store website, Facebook, Twitter and email marketing.

4. Expand the scope of product lines to attract a broader demographic.
   Two growing target markets are tweens and teens.

Have you noticed any shift in buying behavior by age group in your store? Share you experience with us.

Last week I found out about a great non-profit organization, the 3/50 Project, from a fellow retailer I connected with on Twitter. This organization has put together a wonderful flyer that you can distribute to your customers promoting how and why they should (continue to) shop locally. (They are also in the process of partnering with the Chicago Market to create window clings about the project.) To request one for your store, visit their website and register as a supporter.

I believe that the essence of an effective buy-local campaign is to have literature and signage that supports why buying local is important for the economy. This flyer achieves that goal and more—it empowers and challenges your customers to take action by giving them a feasible way they can contribute in their own community. It's a brilliant marketing piece that I encourage you to use in your store right away.

I'm feeling inspired to go shopping tonight—how about you?

A few weeks ago I attended Christmasworld, an international gift fair in Frankfurt, Germany. It was interesting to see that overall show traffic was quite good despite a slowed international economy. While many exhibitors reported that sales were down from previous years, there was quite a bit of optimism since orders were being written—similar to Q1 show sentiments here in the US.

One thing I loved about the show was that management invited three industry experts from a local trends agency to research and present trends in decorating, fashion and design, and since the trends are definitely parallel to what we're seeing in the US, I'm going to cover them here.

The four trends discussed by Claudia Herke, Annetta Palmisano and Cem Bora of bora.herke were airy, sweet, comfort and obsession.

Airy
This trend was described as a style which, "radiates modern lightness: fragile, gentle, transparent, yet very contemporary." The color palette for this trend includes pastels, ranging from cream to rose to light gray, and is always in combination with lots of white. This trend may be expressed through the use of translucent materials, cut glass, fine line drawings, flowers, reliefs, embossing, engraving and the use of light and shadow effects.

An exhibit was set up for attendees and exhibitors to walk through and see the tends translated into products. This photo illustrates the trend "airy" through the use of glass. I thought it was very creative that the ornaments were hung from the ceiling in a group—it could make a great store window display.

Sweet
Sweet was discussed as a trend that is "feminine, sensual and with countless accessories." The color palette ranges from sand, aqua and turquoise to violet, lime and slate gray. Products that fall into this area include "sugar-coated" surfaces, candied and glazed, and materials such as plastics, lacquer and tulle.

This photo illustrates the use of feminine touches on a teapot set, and a few ornaments with a glitter sugar coating.

Comfort
Comfort was described as "modern style with traditional elements." One example would be a display that uses lots of natural stone combined with metallic finishes, such as chrome and aluminum, or mirrors and glass with lambskin, leathers and corduroy. The color palette includes muted colors like slate gray, graphite and caramel combined with crimson. Products in this category might have a touch of futuristic combined with traditional elements.

This photo illustrates the comfort trend—aluminum vases combined with a more traditional element, ie., the felt runner.

Obsession
Obsession was described as "feminine elegance and exclusiveness." The colors include mahogany, shades of violet and gold illuminated with rose quartz and mauve. Products in this category would be made out of lead crystal, marble and fine woods.

This photo illustrates the obsession trend—opulent colors and materials, including an ornate chandelier, gold walls and purple accent ornaments.

I observed my own German product trends as well—stay tuned for those.