Giftware Company (Marketing & Sales)
Marketing & Sales
Market Analysis
In the last several years the major giftware companies such as Todd', Druki, Bruin, and Otaki, have generally transitioned away from social expression products to lifestyle products such as home and decorative accessories, and furniture related products. Concurrently the major greeting card companies such as Hallmark, American Greetings, and Recycled Paper, have also transitioned back to basic greeting cards, stationery and party goods. With the exception of seasonal holiday gifts, many of these companies have totally abandoned the personal and expression gift category.
Ten years ago, the market for personal and expression celebration plates and ceramic giftware was saturated with many companies offering many products. Over time, all of these companies sought out ways to differentiate and focus their product lines, and today there is hardly anyone left offering strong design and expression products for this market category. The result has been a considerable lack of well–designed personal and expression gifts. At the same time, consumers have not relented in their purchasing desires. Subsequently, an opportunity has been created that Jenni Frey Designs intends to address. Personal and expression bow ties and scarves, the first products in JFG's new product line, have already begun to catch on:
When two of finance's best known firms, J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs, announced recently that every day would be casual dress day, a bittersweet smile crept across the faces of well heeled Wall Street men. Bitter because their sole outlet for sartorial expression, the tie, had been declared dead. Sweet because a much maligned heir had come of age. "People are getting more daring with bow ties and scarves," says Robert Cullen, who manages the Manhattan store of one of hosiery's bolder designers, Zachary Wilson. "Even the conservative customer is looking to express [themselves] a little bit."
With all that Oxford cloth and khaki walking around out there, most offices are as bland as a convention of Banana Republic sales clerks. Bright bow ties and scarves show you still have personality. What's more, they serve a practical function, and they're harder to spill soup on than ties.
