The US National Stationery Show in the US, the big trade show of the year for stationery retailers, in May this year will feature a paper crafting (scrapbooking etc) seminar track, Gifts and Tablewares magazine reports.
“The paper crafting seminar track is designed to educate and inspire a broad cross-section of attendees, from veteran scrapbook retailers to social stationery shops looking to expand into this key segment,” said Patti Stracher, show manager. “Both groups will learn how to attract paper crafting enthusiasts, and generate additional revenue from this growing product category.”
The opportunity in in the paper craft / social stationery area in Australia would be similar to the US yet it is a category in which most newsagents barely dabble. We tend to look for suppliers to take care of the category for us. The successful operators I see manage the category themselves, dealing with several suppliers and providing in-store activities which draw in consumer.
Newsagents looking for a category around which they can build a healthier business ought to research paper craft.
Footnote: there is a paper craft / scrapbook event on at Caulfield racecourse this weekend.
hi mark, i am a scrapbooker and have dreamed of having a scrapbook store. i have an internet business but the overheads of a bricks/mortar store make the margins too small. my plan is to purchase an established news/lotto store and establish a well-stocked/priced scrapbook area. i have been advised that lotto is effective for increasing proftability. does this idea seem well conceived to you? i am in wa