The End of an Era

I got a postcard in the mail today telling me that the 14 year old scrapbook store north of Seattle is closing.  My gut tells me that if they can't make it, no one can with a bricks and mortar store.  They are in a great location - right next to the huge regional mall and they have tripled in size in the last 9 years or so.  The owners say they are retiring - which I believe because they are in the right stage of their life to want more freedom.  Honestly, though, if you have a "cash cow", you either sell it to retire or hire a really good manager so you hardly have to be there.  Closing is a last resort since you don't get any financial benefit from doing that.  

About a year ago, just before CHA, they sent out a bizarre email to all their customers defending the store from a comment made by a customer.  It was odd because, of course, 99.99% of the people who received this email didn't hear the comment.  Maybe they thought OTHERS were thinking what this customer said.  Apparently, a customer came in just weeks before CHA and pronounced the store, "EMPTY" and walked out.  The owner got upset and sent out this email telling everyone that the store wasn't empty on purpose - they were gearing up to order a bunch of new products at the upcoming CHA show.  It might have sounded reasonable to the average scrapper but it sounded like "spin" to me.  Knowing what I know now, I believe it WAS "spin" for a store that was limping along.  In all the years I have lived her, I have never seen that store feel like it was empty.  But, the last few times I have been in there, it felt that way.  

They really gave it a good run and I'm sorry they're closing.  I have been very critical of LSS's over the years but this one always seemed to shine while others failed.  They added some digital elements.  They added a scanner for photos.  They had great classes and fresh products.  The staff was friendly and helpful.  I never had any criticism for this particular store.  In fact, I believe it was the reason so many other smaller stores in the area failed.  No one else could match their selection so scrappers would often just head there first.  

But, their closing also re-affirms my belief that a bricks and mortar scrapbook store is not for the faint of heart.  Even the strong can't always survive.  

We love Social Media!

Do you follow PhotoBooks{etc} on Twitter or are you a fan on Facebook?   We love social media!  It's so fun to get to talk to our customers more often than our monthly newsletter.  We love the feedback we get from the new age of instant communication!

Check out THIS ARTICLE about how our new businesses use Social Media to grow and keep in touch. 

Still looking for info on running a Scrapbook Business?

Did you miss out on the sale of our remaining ScrapBiz Business Start-Up Guides?  Well, take heart!  It's being revised and updated and a newer version at a lower price will be available later this year.  If you want to get notification of when it's ready to order, sign up for our email list in the left column.  

But, for now, I was cleaning out my office and came across TEN of our "Best of ScrapBiz" books.  This book is a collection of some of the best articles taken from our very popular members-only monthly newsletter called "ScrapBizness".   They are full of tips, tricks and ideas for helping you run your scrapbook business!  It's a great resource if you need a little inspiration!

Normally, we were selling this book at over $20, but I'm going to let the rest of these go for half that - just $9.99 each.  Shipping $4.90 (Priority Mail).  I am only shipping in the U.S.  If you REALLY want it and live outside the U.S., email me and I can calculate international shipping for you and send you a Paypal invoice for the full amount with shipping.  

Click the button below if you want one of the last copies of The Best of ScrapBiz.  We won't be having any more of these printed - when they're gone, they're gone!

Starting a Scrapbook Business? There's still time to get our book!

We have FIVE THREE TWO ONE!!!    ALL GONE!  ScrapBiz Business Start-Up Guides left and we are selling them for the fantastic price of just $39.95 plus shipping.  The guide has been the "how-to" book for hundreds and hundreds of women who have started successful small businesses in the Scrapbook industry since 2002.

This book normally sells for $99 but we are letting the last five go for less than half that price.  We don't know if we'll ever sell this book again since we are closing ScrapBiz on December 1.  So, if you're thinking about starting a scrapbook business of ANY type or could just use some additional insight, hurry and get this book before it's sold out!  

Our members have referred to this book as their "Business Bible".  It's the only book specifically aimed at starting a home-based or small retail business in our industry.  You can see an excerpt of it HERE and read more about it HERE.

Click on the BUY NOW button and grab yours before it's gone!!!  There is only 5 ONE of them!

Digital Scrapping and the Traditional Retailer

Recently, I did an informal survey about scrapping habits.  It consisted of one question and I posted it on both traditional and digital scrapbooking message boards.

 

The results, as informal as the survey was, should be noted by every traditional scrapbook retailer who has felt a downturn in business and a loss of customers in the past 3-5 years.  Then, those same retailers should think about how to win back the hearts of those customers.

The question was this:  Choose the one statement that best describes your scrapbooking RIGHT NOW.

The options were:

• I have only scrapped traditionally
• I have only scrapped digitally
  
• I was a traditional scrapper but now do only digital
• I am a traditional scrapper who dabbles in digital
• I am a traditional scrapper who is thinking about digital
• I am a hybrid scrapper who scraps both traditionally and digitally
• I started out digitally but moved to paper scrapping

 Of the 100 answers I got, 51% said "I have only scrapped traditionally".  Okay, that's good.  But, that still leaves 49% of the respondents.  

 

4% said they have only ever scrapped digitally and another 4% said they converted completely from traditional to digital, but then the water gets muddy.

 

The remaining 41% said that they were either a traditional scrapper who dabbles in digital or a traditional scrapper who is THINKING about digital. or a hybrid scrapper who regularly does both.  That's the area that every traditional retailer should be concerned with.  Forty-one percent of your customers are on the verge of moving to digital and never looking back.  AT MINIMUM, you have lost some revenue there because that 41% is buying or going to be buying LESS from you over time since part of their scrapping is digital.  

 

So, your job is to capture some value from the shift in scrapping activities among your customers.

 

Figure out how to incorporate digital scrapbook products.  Set up a section of "digital scrapbook products" that includes albums, slick writers, mugs and frames to alter, rub-ons to embellish, software, etc.  

 

Add a photobook component to your store through PhotoBookBiz.  Many use the big names like Shutterfly, but they don't necessarily have the best quality, lowest prices or coolest software!  

 

Scan photos for those wanting to go digital.  Scanning is time consuming and there are some really fast scanners out there that most customers won't put the money out to buy.  

 

Most of all - tell your customers (the 41% who are flirting with digi) that you are DIGI-FRIENDLY so that they won't feel the need to leave you.  

The bottom line here is to pull your head out of the Bazzill and understand that nearly 50% of scrappers are wandering down the digital path.  They may not convert completely, but they will buy fewer traditional supplies from traditional retailers just by the mere fact that they are dabbling in it. 

 

I Wear Your Shirt Guy Scraps!

I Wear Your Shirt Guy scraps for the very first time ever (and I'd say not the last time - he really seemed to be enjoying himself). October 7 was sponsored by my friend, Sandra, of The Memory Workshop in British Columbia.  Her kits are SO GOOD! 

It was funny when he was doing his live video later and making another page, a bunch of us were on the chat giving him directions on how to do it.   When he pulled out a Sharpie, we all gasped!  We also got a good laugh when he stuck a random radish sticker on his page.  After he was done with his page, he made a card.  He couldn't stop scrapping!  He was blowing through the adhesive like there was no tomorrow by coating the back of everything.  It was really funny.  What a good sport he was and a what a smart business owner Sandra is.  Enjoy the video!

Carrying On the Work of Helping Women Start Businesses

As I look towards a new angle of my business, I have found a way to keep my passion of helping women start businesses alive.   Please read my PhotoBooks{etc} blog to see how I am going to use my own business to help others start theirs.  Then please consider making your photobooks and custom photo products through my site so that we can enrich the lives of others together.