Home Again Home Again

It's good to be home! I got back earlier this afternoon from my 10 day stint around the country which ended with the Chicago tradeshow. I'm tired and my computer is running out of juice so I have to keep this short but just wanted to say that the tradeshow was a HUGE success. We more than doubled our results on any other show and, interestingly enough, made 400% more in the last three days then I made in 2006. Definitely reason for celebration. But celebration has to wait until after I get all the orders out the door! It's going to be a really really busy next week (or more if it takes more time!).

On the plane I was thinking about the fact that last year at this show the majority of my orders were <$75 per order while at this show the average is - at first glance - most likely around $150 per order. The difference is due, I believe, to the fact that I created "sampler" packages for retailers. For example, let's say my company offers chocolate fudge, vanilla fudge, and mint fudge. At last year's show I had minimums for each flavor so if retailers wanted to bring the fudge into their store they had to buy, for example, a dozen of each flavor. Many retailers were hesitate to bring that much "untested" fudge into their store so would choose to only bring one flavor in. This time around I offered retailers a few sampler packages (of varying sizes) which enables them to bring in all three fudge flavors without having to buy the minimum of each. For retailers it provides piece of mind that they can bring in this "untested" product without spending a significant amount of money. But the sampler package costs cost more than simply the minimum of one fudge flavor so rather than paying $30 for one dozen fudge pieces the retailer is paying $75 for 28 fudge pieces.

Ok, I'm not sure that math totally makes sense but you get the idea I hope. Anyway, very good show and I'll be busy for the next few weeks! By the way - I do not make or sell fudge. But I'd love some if anyone has a good recommendation!