Results from the eighth annual survey of specialty store retailers, based on the responses of 160 retailers representing over 300 stores, appeared in the June issue of Gifts and Decorative Accessories. Derived from the results of this survey, the Benchmarking Worksheet is available at "GDA Interactive" on http://www.giftsanddec.com/article/CA6450504.html, as a free down-load and can be used to measure your own store's performance against those who responded to this year's survey. This report includes information not previously published, concentrating on the characteristics of the store's merchandise mix, with particular emphasis on price-points. Lowest and highest price points, along with best-selling price points, were tracked this year for each of 31 different gift and decorative accessory product categories. Other sections of the report deal with sourcing, Internet presence and some basic store operations. Three-fifths of the stores surveyed describe themselves as gift specialty stores. Another one-fifth called themselves home accessories stores. The remaining one-fifth ran the gamut from direct-to-consumer retailers to bookstores. Almost all were independently or family-owned, with the majority of respondents reporting owning just one store. As for sales volume, one-half of the stores generated less than $250,000 in sales a year. Just less than one-third had sales between $250,000 and $750,000, while the remaining one-fifth churned out sales between $750,000 to more than $5 million. |
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