Retail Business 101

As many of you know I am new to the retail world - an airline catering veteran am I - but came into the retail world via Tony - the master. So all this is quite new to me.

My full time position is running our wholesale division. I create and manage the production of our line of printed cups, koozies, greeting cards and the like. It is my job to get retail stores, like T. Hee Greetings & Gifts, to purchase our goods and sell them around the nation. To date we have around 450 retail stores coast to coast that carry our items.

The retail world works on two major cycles. In January retailers will travel to one of the major market centers of Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, etc. to attend an 8 day "market" where they will shop for items to sell in their stores during 2nd & 3rd quarters. In June/July they return to market to shop for the holidays and1st quarter. For each of these markets we present new products, new designs, etc. to get retailers excited and to hopefully win over new customers. So for the past 2 months I have been designing spring and summer stuff while preparing thanksgiving dinner and putting up the Christmas tree - very odd.

This week I will be travelling to Atlanta to train our sales reps in that area how to sell our January release and will return to Atlanta in January to work in the showroom selling to hundreds of retailers nationwide. The same will happen in Dallas the following week.

This January will be our first occassion where we will be both buying and selling. We'll be selling our cups, etc while shopping for fun and fabulous stuff to sell in our store - let's just hope we keep our buying and selling hats straight.

It's a lesson in process to be sure...but it sure is fun learning!