Last week the UK Goverment published a bill to outlaw legal highs. One of those ‘legal highs’ is Nitrous Oxide, better known as laughing gas, whippits or Hippie crack. I can hear the cry ‘…..oh yeah, jolly interesting, but what’s that got to do with the party industry…?’ . Well, I will get to the point soon,there is more to come. Apparently, after Cannabis, in the UK, it is the drug of choice. That is to say it is the 2nd most widely used drug. It is estimated that there are over 500,000 (mainly teenagers , early 20’s) users.

So here comes the really interesting bit, the main way of experiencing laughing gas is using latex balloons . Now there a number of implications, but we will come back to them. Once again,bear with me .First of all, we can take a look why latex balloons are used. The main risk is unconsciousness or death through lack of oxygen, this occurs when oxygen used for breathing is pushed out by the nitrous oxide. Balloons limit that risk as they do not cover the nose and mouth.

I am not going to be judgemental, as it serves no purpose, there are risks, although they are considered low, using balloons, but they like any drug or intoxicant do exist. Moreover, the new bill aside , it is already an offence to sell nitrous oxide to minors , if it is thought it is going to be used for personal consumption. The other level of risk comes from where the majority of this ‘ legal high’ is purchased, the net. As a consequence , the users cannot be certain it is nitrous oxide and have no idea whether it has contaminated and if so with what?,

Ok, we can come back to the implications for the party industry. 500,000 people equals 500,000 balloons. That assumes that they only do it once a year. I will leave the maths to the reader. Needless to say we are not talking about a insignificant Your worst nightmare, is if someone buys balloons from you and has a natural latex allergy. Anaphylactic attack, and substances that withdraw oxygen from your system are not good mixes. If you suspect anyone is buying balloons for this purpose, I, personally, would reinforce the natural latex and allergy warning. 

I don’t know if many of you have heard of head shops. They are shops that sell legal highs and associated paraphernalia. In many such shops, there are party sections, and they can be quite substantial. ‘Why?’ You may ask. I suspect it is because the clientele of such establishments are party types , or they are going to parties hence the connection . However, you won’t see many in the party hall at the NEC. Not strictly true, you may stumble across a few.
Where I am going with this and do I have any advice. Nowhere and none, are the answer to both. But the reason for this blog is to flag it up and should any of the media think there is an angle here and approach you, I would propose the ‘…. I know nothing….I am just a party shop that sells balloons like every other party shop, that has been doing so since the nineteenth century…..’ approach.
For those what who want to know the day job of nitrous oxide, it whips cream. Not in a ‘fifty shades of grey’ whipping, but in a jelly or ice cream sundae whipped cream way. So completing the circle. You can have jelly and whipped cream , then round off the party with a short legal high. I said I would not be judgemental.

BBC Watchdog returned, as promised, to the horrendous accident of Claudia Winkleman’s daughter.

They stated that they had contacted every Chief fire officer in the UK showing them the flame tests carried out on a number of fancy dress items . Then they were asked for their opinion. Apparently, the overwhelming conclusion was that the current regulations were insufficient.

They had also approached a number of high St national retailers asking for their approach for Halloween 2015. A few said they would not now  sell such items, others said they were reviewing their policies. Having said that, from seeing the list, I don’t think a number of them actually sell costumes. There were a number of significant players ie discounters, who I suggest were not approached and were probably bigger players when it comes to kids costumes.The further announcement made was that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, was now looking into the efficacy of the current norms.

Should you want to find out what retailers were involved, I suggest you watch BBC Watchdog on iplayer (may 21st).

Nobody can argue with any of this. Yet, I find it quite extraordinary that it overlooks the cause of this accident – the flame. I suspect the chief fire officer’s remarks were and would have been included as part of his conclusions, but were edited. The reality is, that had there been no naked flame, this would not have happened. Whereas, the poor child could have been wearing any manner of clothing and still have been burnt.

The action of the multiples may create another dilemma for our industry. Over the last four years many independent retailers and online operators have kept away from inexpensive kids costumes and left them to the multiples. However, if they are going to offer them for sale or dramatically reduce their offering, there maybe a pent up demand. As to whether you fulfil that demand is, of course, up to the individual operator. If you do decide to do so then may I suggest that either via your web shop, or your store staff, you highlight the dangers of the naked flame. To repeat my last blog , naked flames and small children , in clothing of any type,  are a dangerous concoction .

During Halloween 2014, there was the very sad  and distressing case of the injuries endured by the daughter of Claudia Winkelman(TV Presenter).

For those who are unaware, her daughter was wearing a  witch’s costume that touched a candle and as a consequence she suffered horrendous burns.

Quite rightly Claudia has now brought it into the public arena as she does want anyone else to have to go through this terrible  experience.

The vast majority of the Party market supply base is very aware and conscientious about product safety. This is not purely altruistic but also commercial. Much of the supply base big and small are family businesses and they are very aware that they design and supply a great deal of product that is deemed to be used by children. Within the EU we are , in this case fortunately, policed by a variety of EU regulations designed to protect children. The majority of which come under EN71 toy regulations for flammability.

Certain sectors of the press and media have taken this to task saying it is not strict enough. They are using the regulations for night wear . Yet no clothing is inflammable. The tests involved measure the rate of burn. The test for nightwear is tougher than that of the toy regulations. So the initial reaction is that maybe they have  a point. What is being overlooked is that, as far I am aware, no other form of everyday clothing have any regulations whatsoever and this includes school clothing. They are not subject to any flammability tests nor any other test for that matter.

What caused this horrendous accident was the naked flame. Dark winter nights, small children and naked flames are not a good mix and are repeated once again on Guy Fawkes night the following week.

Apparently, the surgeon taking care of Mathilda (Claudia’s daughter) felt that there was a mini epidemic of this type of accident. Accident statistics showed in 2014 there were 94 incidents involving injuries from burning or melting clothes , 21 were children under 18. Fortunately, it is not quite  of epidemic proportions and we  need to keep them as low as possible,but it will never be possible to eliminate them .

On Thursday, May 14th, the BBC Watchdog programme conducted an emotional but balanced interview with Claudia. Her reason for agreeing to the interview was to try and ensure that no other parent or child should have to go through the same experience . Watchdog then carried out a rather lopsided investigation. On Thursday, May 21st, they are inviting the fancy address industry representatives to respond.

If comprehensive research by the EU found that there is  cause to relook at children’s fancy dress regulations, then I am sure that no established supplier in Europe would baulk at meeting the relevant norms. But the reality is that any form of clothing if exposed to a naked flame is dangerous. One way eliminate this hazard, without waiting for the EU to conduct meaningful research, is to ensure there are no naked flames anywhere near children. Hence, if you are in any doubt during Halloween 2015, make your customers aware of the dangers of the naked flame.

As a safety footnote, not just flammability issues, all major suppliers within the costume and party sector have departments within their organisations ensuring that where relevant all product meets or exceeds the relevant regulations. However, I am very aware that there is counterfeit product coming    from the Far East via some very grey importers on the edge of the industry. This is also true of some traders on eBay and Amazon.  A plea to all online retailers and  bricks and mortar retailers that if you are offered any product from  a source you don’t know and the deal looks too to be true. It probably is. Don’t hesitate to ask for genuine certication and make sure it is upto date. Most of the product within our industry comes under EU norm EN71. The major exception to this rule is cosmetics which come under the norms for cosmetics. However, I will come back the problem of counterfeiting in a later post.

In the coming edition of The Progressive Party magazine, there will be a section on summer festivals.

A couple of years ago in the very same magazine, my wife (Julia Brett) wrote an article highlighting the tradition of carnivals in the UK. That tradition often goes further back than many European countries yet it is very underplayed.

That said there are still hundreds of carnivals and festivals throughout the UK especially in the summer months. It is one of the areas where local party retailers can outwit the Internet. Local retailers should have the ‘local’ knowledge that no online operator can hope to provide. This would be especially true in parts of the south west where there is a huge tradition of local festivals. Many of which  were originally started by purveyors of historical oddities like ‘cure all’ elixirs. They created the festivals in order to bring potential customers from outlying rural areas.

There used to be numerous street festivals in London only dating back to the fifties and sixties. Yet many of these have diminished over recent years. The suggestion would be that the local party store could be a fulcrum for re-establishing these events. The timing is right. Many of these areas are very multicultural and as few of these events have any religious implications, they would be great ways  of developing community cohesion. Notting Hill carnival  was created out of a community wanting to establish it’s identity. Now it is one of the worlds largest.

Many of us in the supply side, who have any knowledge of the European market are envious of the  carnival season. In this months Progressive Party , the editorial recognises this opportunity, even though there is an odd comment about whether our weather is suitable. Not quite sure,to what this refers, as most of this happens in Northern Europe, in February and outside, where it can  be  a flipping sight  colder than it is here (sorry Jacqui!). Where we do currently fall down is the quality of our dress up. Particularly in Germany hundreds of Euros can be spent on buying very well made product. Part of the reason is that the wearer is going to be celebrating outside in early February!

Whilst there is no tradition of this form of carnival in the UK, there is no reason what so ever that we could not try and introduce it. After all we introduced Halloween, we are starting to embrace Oktoberfest , we have taken on Diwali and Eid , and now we are enjoying ‘day of the dead'(see banner image) Bring on pre lent carnival, it may have catholic and pagan origins , but so do we!

The competition for ‘etailers ‘ delivery contracts is intense and very aggressive.

I am very aware, that there are some big online players, within our market, who have some extraordinary deals on parcel rates. The question is how long will this continue?

December 2014 saw the demise of City Link. Yodel despite increasing volumes is still unable to make a profit( or make their customers happy!)Amazon has just doubled the order value that a customer has to buy to get free delivery. This , of course, is one way to move customers to Prime, but there is evidence in the U.S. that Prime is yet to make any money.Ocado took ten years to make an operating profit. The company’s entire ‘raison d’être ‘ is logistics. 

The consumer is beginning to expect ‘free’ delivery. Within every market, when a critical mass is achieved , aggressive players enter the market to achieve market share. Some succeed and of course some fail. As more fail, the remaining players can increase their margins. The question will be , can free delivery be sustained?

Perhaps, more relevant in the party market is will the online players be able to sustain their current delivery options or will they have to consider reduced margins. A third option is looking at the products they sell and eliminating those that do not fit into the costing model. For example , currently there are many party items that have a too lower retail value for them to be sold online as the courier cost, plus market place commissions and VAT make the selling price prohibitive. I believe Amazon now have a minimum charge of £0.40p . If you include operating costs, distribution and VAT this makes any item retailing under £2.50 very difficult to sustain. Should shipping costs increase substantially then this will push up the sustainable retail price point. Some High Street retailers might cheer at this, assuming they can survive on products at this price level.

This may not be a question that has to be considered now, as the current climate attracts aggressive courier pricing. But there will be a point in the not too distant future, where this element of the complex structure of online costing will have to be reconsidered. One possible outcome, is that more players will look at click and Collect options as this would reduce multi point deliveries. However, the other side of this coin would be that the courier market would shrink, leaving less players offering higher costs !

Some consumers would say click and collect is a bit like going to a shop…..something for the independent party retailers to think about…..

Retailers….We need them!

The following appeared in article I wrote for one of the Party trade magazines in 2014. Hopefully, this will reach a wider audience as I believe it becomes increasingly relevant. So many retailers, not only in our market but in most areas of retail, are asking the same question, is there a future beyond the internet.

In a time long ago, when Ford Cortinas ruled the M1, German shepherds were the dog of choice by the local drug dealer and a personal music system was the size of a small kitchen extension, Brits enjoyed partying with a few cardboard hats, some blowouts, a few paper decorations, crepe garlands and a pack of balloons. If you were really lucky you might find a retailer who would sell you latex balloons in the colour of your choice. We did not know any better and we felt we were the Party capital of the world. Then, came the Americans, to our rescue.

Initially, it was a combined wave of latex balloon decoration by Qualatex and Anagram (now Amscan) with their strange foil balloon things. At the beginning we all poopooed these items as American fads……balloon decoration that will never take off here…too gaudy, too American….too expensive…foil balloons ….once the retail is over a £1 they will fail….Wrong, wrong and wrong again . Most players in the market, author included, did not see it coming. It did not happen overnight, but both sets of product started to take hold. The second wave of Amscan and Unique introduced us to party decorations, piñatas, themes, huge ranges of loot bag toys and of course Halloween product.The like of which we had never seen before. This was soon followed in the costume market by companies such as Rubies. The only UK Company that seemed to see this coming was probably Smiffys. Without, the background of a huge home market (USA) it is hard to see how a UK company could have originated similar product ranges. So for all this we have our American Brethren to thank as it is without question that the UK Party (and maybe European) would not have developed in the way it has. Apologises for any company left of the list, it is not supposed to be exhaustive, nor an historical transcript, just trying to paint a picture. Now that’s the praise out of the way.

Traditionally, the distribution chain in the UK, was supplier, wholesaler, independent retailers and a few multiples. Now wholesalers are few, independents are few, multiples are more (in terms of volume), and now we have online retailers. Let’s be quite clear suppliers are not charities, they are there to make a profit. They have to chase the dollar. This can be done in 2 ways. You, either, seek to maximise your volumes, or you sell low volumes at a high margin. Realistically, if you pursue the former, you have to chase the big boys or do you?  If you court and supply the multiples, it is like the first ice cold beer, instant gratification. The results are great. More often than not, the benefits become less obvious. Pressure is put on margins, pressure is put on stock holdings, ranges can be reduced, sales reduced, and the heat is on. A major is lost, even gone out of business (Woolworths, Clintons etc), and all of a sudden life is not so sweet and all of a sudden SmartyParty Pants Plc. is chasing every independent that they have offended and ignored over recent times because the WonderfulRetail store group is long gone, importing their own or has lost all interest in the party market.

Can a balanced basket of customers be achievable? Before answering that question, let us examine why the good independent retailer is important to the Party Market. In a previous article we examined the USP’s of the independent. The ability to spend time with a customer, having product knowledge and local knowledge to work with the customers. All of which in turn will ensure repeat business, hopefully increase the customer spend and spread the word. If you are a good supportive supplier, the good independent is your point of contact with your target consumer. This is the person who will sell your brand and product, secure awareness and longevity not the WonderfulRetail store group, nor cheapaschipsparty.com .  Strong supportive brands are very important to the good independent. If they know they are going to earn money, confident in the product and know they can get supply, they will work for you before your competitor. They are the outlet that will build your brand. Their shop is your Brand shop window.

It is not the purpose of this column to propose marketing plans for the supply industry. Even, if it were, they would be ignored. However, in answer to; is it possible supplying a basket of various customers? Yes, it is, and there are examples even within our market place. But look beyond into other markets. To be quite honest, a lot of other retail sectors have more independents to work with. But it should not be beyond the wit of a good supplier to develop various routes to market. Unless you are Cocoa Cola, you have licensed product, or a very unique (and saleable) product you ignore the ‘Indiepartyshop’ at your peril. The tumultuous supplier cry of…without volume we would not be able to purchase or produce the product at the price we do, even for the independent…..no argument with that, but it not should prevent imaginative supply initiatives.

Just remember your target consumer’s first and last experience of your product. Is it the anonymous shelf of a large multi-product retail outlet? Is it the image on a web site of 16000 other party products? Or is it the experienced retailer who has gone to the trouble of telling the consumer how good your product is, how suitable it is for their purpose and why don’t they try this other item as they were produced specifically to match the original item.

If the good professional independent is not supported and encouraged, their future will be threatened. If they fail, then so will many suppliers. We ignore them at our peril.

 

This is not directly related to the party market, even though  both operators sell party products and what is more, POUNDLAND is probably the largest Halloween retailer in the UK.

I am absolutely gobsmacked that the monopolies commission has found suitable cause to investigate this takeover. I quote…

‘Sheldon Mills, senior director of mergers at the CMA, said: “Without competition from 99p Stores, there is the possibility that Poundland may have the incentive and ability to deteriorate its offer in these areas to the disadvantage of customers that have come to rely on their offer.”

How so ? 

1. POUNDLAND came into existence long before 99p stores, when there were other single price discounters, all of which have long gone. Consequently, they have been operating in areas where they had no competitors . Did they offer less value in those areas ? I don’t think so. 

2. There is a relatively new kid on the block ie Poundworld. Is it not possible that they may want to fill the gap? This is ignoring the fact that there are  at least  four other major discounters (albeit not single price) who may see similar opportunities. 

3. Where were the CMA (competition and markets authority) when UK’s grocery retailers took it on themselves to dominate small towns and wipe out all local competition, leaving the local consumer with little choice ?

4. Not wishing to offend all discount operators, especially the single price outlets, but I suspect much of the expenditure is not essential. Even to the least fortunate in our society, the removal of a competitor selling product at £0.01p less than an alternative player is going to save £0.10p in every £10 (and I don’t believe the average spend is anything like £10). This is not going to make a great deal of difference to their lifestyle.I know this is an oversimplification as there are pack size issues. However, the principal remains the same.

I am no apologist for the discount retailer, but to suggest the merger of 2 of the larger chains are going to substantially alter the offer is about as likely that the new group will rebrand as ‘ONEPOUNDFIFTYLAND’.

If the CMA wants to examine deteriorating offers within the retail sector, there are far bigger and more important fish to fry. The discount sector is the one sector that have actually had some impact in improving the consumers offer and I am quite sure that going forward they will not be any less aggressive in pursuing this objective.

Perhaps I am missing the point. If so, I would be delighted to hear from anyone who feels there are some serious justifications for this investigation.

 

 

 

During March , I travelled nearly 3000 miles , visited over 36 towns, from Maidstone in Kent, through Swindon, Torquay, Manchester, Liverpool to Glasgow , Edinburgh and back. The overwhelming conclusion is that we live in an extraordinarily diverse nation.

Yes, there is an enormous selection of culinary delights, a vast number of different languages and accents, and all combinations of the worlds major faiths plus a large number of lesser known beliefs. Furthermore, there is the enormous variety of landscape, from rolling hills, ancient woodland, through dramatic coastal regions to snow capped mountains.

No , I am not talking about any of this.  I am talking about the diversity of the party market. It is something I have been aware of for some time but when seeing so much in such a short period of time it focuses the mind.

There are two particular areas I would like to talk about. The outlet and the type of product sold.

The outlet

There are party shops, there are costume shops and there are party and costume shops. Within these three, there are big and small, old and new . Beyond these traditional outlets, there are numerous varieties which feature party as a key component of their product mix. The following are some of the more esoteric varieties…

Bong Shops- for those who don’t know, a bong shop is a place that sells smokers accessories, water pipes, herb grinders and various odds and sods that nobody else sells. But often they sell dress up and party items. The other peculiarity is that these shops tend to be in coastal towns. Why party ? Haven’t got an answer to that. The only connection that comes to mind is that the customers in bong shops seek other forms of mental relaxation and then go and party. The reality is that in a number of cases there is no fancy dress shop in the town , and in a seaside town it gives the retailer out of season opportunities.

Discount shops- There are various independent discount retailers who decide to spread their wings into party retailing. In general they do not operate with same discount pricing policy as their original store. It is often the case that they see the opportunity to make increased margins. What some have done is to utilise their retailing skills into Party retailing with good effect.

Dry Cleaners- I have to mention this one , as I have only come across the one but there is a remarkable synergy. This particular operation has been in business for some years. The synergy is that one half of the unit is a dry cleaners the other half is primarily costume hire. Need I say more !

I have seen retailers operate from barns, private houses, railway stations, old houses, new houses, and market stalls . There are supermarkets, card shops that sell some party, online operators that have a retail outlet, and of course, what we know as the traditional retailer as outlined in the first sentence of this section. Some are good some are bad.  The remarkable feature of all them is that they are all quite different, even on the odd occasion where there is more than one in a town . Even more remarkable there are towns of a reasonable size that don’t have any.

Product

For sometime, when asked by a potential customer, for ‘ …your top 50 items…’ I, politely, refuse or rather defer. Of course, there are products and ranges that sell well no matter where, especially licensed product. However, it is quite extraordinary the difference in what does and doesn’t sell even within a small geographic area. It is quite possible to go to an outlet in one town where the owner will tell you they sell a large number of one item . Yet 3 miles away another retailer will tell you they have never been able to sell that product.

Of course, the demographic has a large part to play and within the UK this can change very quickly. Where the demographic has less of an influence, is with online operators. Still, the principle can apply. Even with similar online profiles, you can find huge differences in what one can sell against another.

So what does this tell us ? It tells us that we live and work within an intriguing and diverse market place. It also shows it is disparate and unorganised. It indicates that as independent retailers, you are very vulnerable. On the one hand it makes it a nightmare for an entrepreneur seeking to open a  national chain as a store plan in one town may not (change ‘to will not’)work in another . On the other, it does, in some cases, offer opportunities to the better retailer with good local knowledge and know how, to invest and operate effective small local outlets.

The immediate thought of how different we are to our European cousins, was dispelled on  a trip to Arctic  Norway. Walking into a tourist gift shop looking for some Norwegian memento, I was not surprised to find most of the product came out of the Far East. However, I was surprised to find half the shop selling fancy dress.

The other thought was that the better online operators can easily compile such diverse data as what is sold, where, when and by whom. It is what is done with that data , that is of interest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being my first post, I feel the nagging need to justify blogging  in the first place. However, common sense prevails, as the readership, in the beginning,is likely to be pretty low, should it increase at any one time, I would have to keep repeating the justification. The effect of this would be two-fold :

a) put off early readers from reading subsequent blogs

b) put off new readers, thinking why is the blogger constantly repeating stuff….

Having got that out of the way, there is a need to give an outline of what the reader, hopefully, can expect.

I have spent 90% of my working life within the Party industry (91.5% to be precise!), so for good or bad it is pretty ingrained in my working psyche . I shan’t put that percentage into years as it may scare some potential followers away, simply because they might think it is too long and I should go away and get a proper life.

I shall not bang on about ‘experience ‘ as my belief is there are too many people out there who go on about how many years experience they have within a certain field, but don’t tell you that they failed to learn anything with that experience. It is a little like the misunderstood phrase ‘practice makes perfect’. It doesn’t ! It is only ‘proper’ practice that makes perfect. In the same manner, misuse or misunderstanding of your experiences will make the ‘experienced’ no better than the novice , or maybe worse as they have ill informed  preconceptions .

Back to the Party Market. The UK Party Market, is supposed to be one of the largest in the world per head of population . Yet it provides many anomalies. For example, despite market size it is one of the few Party markets (certainly in Western Europe) where there are no retail chains of any size. At retail, balloons account for the lion’s share the shop take, whereas this is not the case in mainland Europe.The retail Party market is still small against the majority of other retail fields. It is not food and clothing. It is not like cars and holidays , or TV and technology. Yet if it didn’t exist, would it be missed. I think so.

So there is a lot to talk about and on occasion, I shall stray into other retail areas , which may take my interest , but always (or nearly) there will be a reference or relationship to the party market.

I have to declare my hand , in so far as I have a vested interest. I am part of the supply chain, but I shall do my best to be as impartial as possible, naturally there will be times that I may stray. I do not intend to offend, any criticism I make is intended to be well founded and hopefully to be taken in good faith to engender the debate that should be undertaken within this market place.

The one fact that is very evident within this industry, is that are many people working in isolation and have little meaningful contact with other retailers whether they are online or on street. Yet there are many issues that could be relieved or even understood if there was an open discourse. Hopefully, this blog may in a small way help to start that discourse.