Free online tools for your business success

February 26, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments

There are a great many success stories about small retailers beating big players in the online world with social networking tools. Check out the Dreamworthy.com story (http://www.prlog.org/10225484-social-networking-helps-small-online-webstore-beat-out-major-retailers-to-win-coupon-contest.html) and New York food cart Twitter presence (http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/05/a-list-of-street-food-vendors-trucks-carts-using-twitter.html). You’ll be amazed at how magical social networking can be. Now is the time for you to jump in and utilize these online tools to create the buzz and attract more business. They’re fun, easy-to-use and most importantly, FREE.

Facebook
Even if you don’t have a company website, you can start with a Facebook page for your business. Ask friends or family members to join the fan base and spread the word. Keep updating them regularly and put all the special store promotions out there. Of course, don’t forget to frequent Evergreen’s Facebook page and expand your network.

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Evergreen flag that makes a difference

February 26, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments

Before I came onboard as the product line manager last September, I had been selling Evergreen flags for a whole decade under a contract basis. My passion for Flags was developed in my early career as a buyer for a department store. Flag, of course, was the most profitable category in my gift department. My first encounter with Evergreen was the frog flag which I put in the sun all summer and it didn’t fade as competitors’ did then. Impressed by its good quality, I started to search for Evergreen flags over the years and brought them into my department.

Over the years, I had carefully watched the flag sale revolution; now I’m part of that growth and continued enhancing changes. Our flag categories evolved from just appliqué, sublimated and appliqué and sublimated together. It continues to expand with promising categories like sculpted blends, feather banners and mailbox covers. I’m very excited to no longer just watch, but plan for the growth and progression in Evergreen’s Flags.

Why Evergreen Flags? What stands out about this product and why choose the Evergreen brand over others?

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More than a Feeling

A little planning and research — and a healthy dose of inspiration — can add up to a successful, profitable display for upscale garden items.

By Cindy Cragg
http://www.lgrmag.com/More-Than-a-Feeling-article9324

Inspiration. It’s the first stage of product development and often motivates the final sale. Find the right inspiration, and you’ll create an upscale shopping experience that transports your retail guests to another place and time. For today’s savvy customers, shopping is not just a means to an end — sometimes it’s even an escape. Create that ideal oasis and loyal, happy customers will follow. Every retailer’s challenge is to create an inspiring retail “destination” season after season. Sound overwhelming? Prepare to be inspired.

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Cypress Holiday Ornaments

February 25, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments

Christmas ornaments didn’t come into a holiday decorating staple until the 19th Century when Germans made, imported and sold those with the highest quality. Now they are an indispensable part of Christmas decorations, be it for the tree or the stockings, Christmas showers or the general décor of the house. The manufacture and sale of Christmas ornaments makes one of the greatest markets worldwide. Despite being increasingly commercialized, the use of Christmas ornaments lends its own special charm, alacrity to the old tradition every year and infuses true enthusiasm in the Christmas celebrations. Anyway, it is the time of the year when people are in a holiday mood and it's probably the best time to forgive and forget.

What Evergreen offers this fall/winter is a wide array of traditional and new collections. As indicated in its name, “Traditions of Christmas” collection pays tribute to those hot sellers from our historic orders. They usually come as 2 assorted sets featuring the classic red & green color combination and a variety of materials from plastic, glass, metal, paperpulp and ceramic. No matter how the fashion comes and goes, crimson and fresh green never seem to be out of date. But this year they’ve been given a modern touch with inscribed Christmas wishes or hand-painted floral. Since more people spend the holiday at home to get the warm and cozy feelings, mild tones gradually give way to rich colors, which combine to light up the homey entertainment atmosphere.  

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GiftBeat Ranks Evergreen Number One in Two National Charts

February 25, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments

GiftBeat, a monthly publication that trends production in the gift industry, has ranked Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. as number one in two national charts. These charts reflect the most innovative designs in the retail industry from new products worth watching to those that end up on the discount table.

Evergreen Enterprises took the top spots in both the Patriotic Gifts and the Summer/Seasonal national charts and placed number six in Monograms and number ten in Kitchen-Related with their New Creative product line.

Evergreen Enterprises is ranked number one in the Western region for Summer/Seasonal.

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Retail Tips on Pre-booking

February 25, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments

We use the term pre-booking to describe the process of booking orders for goods, well in advance of their intended ship dates. The term helps us to differentiate between those orders that are needed immediately, and those orders that are intended to fill future needs. As a vendor, pre-booking allows us to better plan our inventory and production needs for major seasons, particularly the Fall/Xmas period, and the Spring outdoor season. By securing early commitments from a substantial portion of our account base, we can lessen the impact of our required lead times and more accurately assess demand for our products.

There are some important elements in securing a successful pre-booking.
  • Promotions must be structured to incentivize customers to pre-book…..the best terms are available at the earliest points in the process
  • As a retailer, it’s incredibly important to pre-book: this puts you first in line for the “what’s new” shipment. It’s always important to be the leader of new in your area.

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Jewelry pieces you can use every day

February 24, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments

Personal Best is a home-grown brand of Evergreen with only one and half years’ history. Inspired by owner Ting Xu’s tour around the world, it’s a collection of distinctive personal accessories for the individual, home or office.

The chunky and fun concept, which has been around for years, is no stranger to the fashion and design world. At the same time, when Evergreen looks into its existing customer base, it finds small jewelry sections mushrooming inside gift stores, from street-side mom and pop shops to big names like Hallmark. Personal Best was thus born to reach those fashion lovers within a certain dollar range. They’re personalized jewelry pieces with chunky, fun and costume designs, but at a cheaper price than quality jewelries. It resonates well with those who aspire to self-expressive art pieces combining elements like monogram, functionality and free-styling.

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2010 Challenges and Opportunitities

February 24, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments

In 2010 and years down the road, we’ll see further consolidation in the wholesale and retail sectors of home and garden business. There will be changes on every facet of the gamut: room to room lifestyle collections, one-stop shops, back to the roots and back to personal definition in terms of fashion and products.

Retail stores will provide not only solutions but also more characteristics and personality to accompany the brand. You will see very strong niche players with a variety of spectrum. This is an area we need to fortify or leverage through our distribution channels for our retailers to be a whole lifestyle provider.

We owe our success under this economic situation to four founding principles, which stood the test of time and united Evergreen people together.

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Artists meet the producers: A trip to Ningbo Evergreen

February 24, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments

Jeff Mora, one of our graphic designers from the Product Development  team, spent two weeks travelling to Ningbo Evergreen to work and refine the poly-resin procedures with our China Manufacturing team. This trip aims to build a better business partnership between our in-house designers and our Ningbo production team. For Jeff himself, though, it’s not only a training session to let arts meet production, but also an eye-opening foreign experience.

On the first day we arrived at Ningbo Evergreen, we took a tour of the factory and met all the staff. Mark (veteran garden product designer) and I were fortunate to arrive just in time to be a part of the flag department’s exercise break. After working out a good sweat, we continued our journey through the wonderful world of Evergreen.

The Evergreen facility in Ningbo is nothing short of awesome. I felt so proud to be a part of the Evergreen family and privileged to represent the corporate office in China. Factory after factory… flags, resin, oil bottles, floor mats, melamine, napkins – WOW – unbelievable how efficient the facilities operate.

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Sculpted Artistic Blend Flags

February 24, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments

Evergreen prides itself in offering our customers outstanding variety: variety of products, styles and designs. Our Flags are no exception. Evergreen has the widest assortment of decorative flags that will fit any season, holiday, occasion, event or lifestyle. We are “The Greeting Card of your home”.

One of our newest Flag products is the Sculpted Artistic Blend Flags, a unique one that combines the artistry of our Silk Reflections flags with the craftsmanship of our sculpted appliqué flags.  This marriage creates a flag that you will be proud to greet your guests with.  To appreciate the new sculpted artistic blend and what sets it apart from our competitor flag products, you must first understand its creation process.

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Acquisition of Just the Right Shoe(JTRS)

February 24, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments

Just the Right Shoe (JTRS) is an 11-12 year old brand started by a California company called Willits and acquired by Department 56, a well-known wholesaler in the collectible market. Their business model is quite different from Evergreen’s; in the collectibles market, every product created is usually numbered with limited editions and brand popularity must catch on very quickly to have a following. Once you have established your core customer base interested in your product type, you have a built-in customer base established for the production of continued variances of additional products in that collectible line.

The collectibles’ market really comes to its own with big names like Disney and Warner Brothers. A great number of production artists are from California, as is Lorraine Vail, the JTRS artist. These product design artists focus a large percentage of their product development time on product details and facets. You will only be making a certain amount, and the intricacy is crucial, not the speed, efficiency, or cost saving in the production.

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A Personal Touch

An engraved stone or monogrammed planter is worth much more in the eyes of your customers, who often feel an emotional connection to their gardens. By stocking up on unique, personalized garden gifts, you can set yourself apart from the competition.

By Darhiana Mateo
 
For many of your customers, gardens serve almost as a living autobiography. From the plants they choose to grow, to the overall design and landscaping schemes, gardens are a reflection of their owners’ personality, tastes and lifestyle. Offering customers an opportunity to further personalize their green spaces by carrying engraved, monogrammed or otherwise customized garden gifts is one way to encourage customers to truly make their gardens their own — and dig a little deeper into their pockets.

Selling Sentimentality

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Cypress Home, Easy Recipe For Success

February 22, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments

Cypress Home has gone a long way to have a variety of items. It started with core selling items such as ceramic crocks, mugs and melamine serve pieces with licensed artists and mostly in-house assortments. Now we’ve expanded the line to use some outside factories, which made a big difference in our quality and offering to our retailers. Our direction has gone from functional and serving items to gift and entertaining products with the brand statement Cypress Home, Easy Recipe for Success. The brand is geared towards Stylish Gifting, Easy Entertaining for our retailer’s consumers.

In the table top and giftable category, this year’s trend would be new, color friendly, trendy, functional and entertaining. It must be new and trendy to sell in this economy. And with that being said, more and more consumers are entertaining at home.

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Retail Tips on Managing Inventory

February 18, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments

Consumers are shopping less. They are not spending as much time on their quest. If a retailer doesn’t have an adequate selection to satisfy the consumer, that store is unlikely to get another shot at that consumer anytime soon. The big boxes have reduced their on-hand inventory model over the last year. Consumers are seeking selection and availability. Retailers that go against the trend of shrinking inventory will benefit.

As retailers strive to keep their inventory investment manageable, they have been keeping their on-hand balance lower. Their orders tend to be closer to immediate demand.  If we can’t ship them when they need it, they lose sales.  Also, we are in an industry driven by hot and new products. If a retailer is out-of-stock on the highest demand items, their business suffers.

Managing inventory always comes down to balancing the need to answer the demand, with the necessity of keeping your total inventory investment manageable and active. Goods that don’t turn prevent investment in goods that do. Keeping availability on the active goods while avoiding being encumbered with “dead” goods is the challenge.

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Retail Tips on Displays

February 17, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments


If product is the steak, the display adds the sizzle. Effective displays communicate the feel, image, and value of the product to the consumer. They can also help to maximize square footage efficiency in the retailer’s space.
Here are some tips to help our retailers better utilize displays.
  • Place in store to maximize visual impact.
  • Make sure that there is adequate space given to provide consumers the opportunity to properly shop display.
  • Keep neat and orderly.
  • Keep well-stocked. Nearly empty displays don’t sell merchandise. Psychologically, consumers are reluctant to buy the last piece of anything.
  • Don’t overstuff the display. Make sure that product is easy to see and comprehend.

Tom Steinmetz
Director of Sales

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Evergreen Mailbox Cover

February 17, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments


Top Reasons Why Evergreen Mailbox Covers are the best in the industry.

If you look closely, there’s no seam on this cover, which gives the total impression of hand-crafted, hand-painted mailbox. It’s also backed with a full-surface magnet. When placed on a mailbox, it creates a smooth, seamless and flawless look of a delicately hand-crafted mailbox. Moreover, Evergreen also provides customized sizes by perforating the edges for a tear off strip for smaller mailboxes. If one side hangs out a little bit, you can fold it a bit and simply tear the strip off to give you the customized fit. Just a simple tear seam, no scissors needed, like with our competitors’ customized fit. As any retailer knows, with products that require consumers’ craftsmanship, even with scissors, there are bound to be problems, confusion, and product returns. So we make it very easy. Just fold it twice and zip it right off for the perfect customized fit.

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New Creative March Collections

February 16, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments


In the seasonal release of New Creative this March, we closed out most regional New Creative inventory, what the market has told us to sell and offering new. Although former New Creative artists had established their own companies, we still have them as “retainers”, which means that we have the right to buy first, the concept and garden things. They know well about our customers and what we need. So we worked successfully on our last everyday catalog.

Blossoms & Breezes is the No. 1 new collection we introduced. In the fall catalog, 4 items are already in the 15 top selling items, even before the new release, which is a very good indicator of the strength of the line.

We also introduced Lori Siebert, who is featured in this catalog and has had a long-term friendship with us. Lori would thank God for the simple moments every day with her friends and family that would make her smile or touch her heart. That’s how the collection’s name was inspired. We also have two nativity collections by Lori with the large three-pieces on the New Creative No.3 selling items. The largest piece is 35 inches tall, with a sweet and spiritual design.

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New Creative Enterprise (NCE) acquisition

February 16, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments


It was not until March, 2009 when Evergreen acquired New Creative that we expanded our garden lines to Evergreen Garden and New Creative.

When we first looked at New Creative, we wanted to preserve who they were since Creative they had many great products as our largest competitor in the flag and garden category then. Some of our customers even prefer the fine detail of New Creative’s hardware. So we made sure to incorporate those elements in our offerings while not overlapping with the Evergreen Garden product line. We tried out a quick catalog immediately after the purchasing New Creative inventory. Quick and efficient.

Gradually, we began to explore where we wanted to take the line. We had several branding meetings to ensure Evergreen and New Creative lines would not overlap; it’s important we justify to our customers why they would buy two garden lines from the same wholesaler. The Evergreen brand is becoming more practical, functional and is offering greater depths of assortment while New Creative brand has become a more collection-driven line.

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What's in store for Evergreen 2010

February 15, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments


2009 marked a great year of opportunities for Evergreen and the credit went to our focus on growth regardless of the difficult economic time. We did not make any excuses or waste the crisis, which, as it turned out, helped our team to be more resilient and solidified.

Looking into 2010, the challenges are the same:
  • How to scale up business without costly investment on skus and headcounts;
  • How to sustain the growth, which comes at no cheap price;
  • How to take advantage of the explosive growth on E-commerce and social media phenomenon.

Evergreen gained an upper hand in 2009 even under a dire economic situation. The implication for 2010? Counter attack! Retreating or cutting back alone shall not save us. Our strategy follows a 4-4-2 model:

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The Evergreen Story

February 15, 2010 Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. 0 Comments


As a family business, Evergreen’s story began with a Chinese girl’s American dream. 24 years ago, Ting Xu (who became my wife later on) came to the States to study Computer Science at Old Dominion University in Virginia, with only $600 on hand. After receiving a master's degree in 1989, she went to work for the Virginia State Health department as a computer programmer. In 1991, with the goal of helping her parents to have a second career after coming to the U.S., the three started Evergreen Enterprises, Inc. in their two-car garage in Richmond's west end.
After obtaining my bachelor's degree in business from Fudan University, I served as assistant professor in a major Shanghai think-tank before joining Ting, my fiancée and college sweetheart in Virginia in 1987. Then I went to Old Dominion to get my master's degree in economics and built a successful sales career with Prudential just three years after graduation.

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