National Gift and Home Indices Confirm Industry Sales Recovering
Lakewood, CO — Brandwise, an application service provider well known in the industry for its software solutions, and the Gift & Home Trade Association (GHTA), the industry’s leading trade association, have announced the release of the Gift and Home Index for the 2010 Atlanta, Dallas Winter Market.
The index, based on data derived anonymously from hundreds of unique suppliers, shows that at each of the markets, more orders were written and the average order size was up. Increase in total dollars ranged from a 3.5% growth in Atlanta to a 13% growth in L.A. compared to 2008 market data. Dallas had the greatest increase in average order size at 58 dollars while Chicago saw its in-territory average order size increase by over 12%.
“Now we finally have some definitive, hardcore numbers that we can rely on to show the reality of what is going on,” said GHTA President and Alexa’s Angels Owner, Beth Lang. “To have data trending upward is really important and this shows us that we can have some cautious optimism. I applaud the actions of the GHTA data action group for making this invaluable information available.”
“It was refreshing to see that the Index confirmed the positive vibe from Atlanta showing a year over year performance that was nearly flat vs. the significant drop-off the industry experienced during the Atlanta Winter market in 2009,” said Todd Litzman, President of Brandwise. “We have more and more GHTA members asking about the indices immediately after the market’s end. Clearly the information contained in the index is proving valuable to many in the industry, both large and small, agency or supplier. We look forward to seeing if this trend continues at the summer markets.”
The Gift and Home Index reports provide subscribers with valuable data in the form of pie charts and graphs, never before available in the industry. Brandwise provides the unique ability to display statistically relevant industry trends based on their aggregated data structure and substantial national client base. Data reported in the individual market indices include:
- percentage of total order count year-over-year
- average order size
- total revenue percent year-over-year
- unique buyer percentage year-over-year
- trending of suppliers within the index, up, down and nominal change
The Territory Index by market includes much of the same data but presents out-of-territory vs. in-territory sales. The Index is released twice annually after each of the major markets where a relevant sampling of data is available. This list currently includes Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, and Los Angles.
The Index is free for vendors and sales agencies who are both GHTA members and Brandwise clients. For those who only fall into one category a special price of $250 is available. For more information on the Index, how to subscribe, and additional pricing details please visit the GHTA website at www.giftandhome.org/cms/Home/Show_Index.php, or contact Brandwise at (877) 435-3225, ext 2 or visit either www.brandwise.com .
About Brandwise
Brandwise is an Application Service Provider (ASP) delivering hosted software solutions to manufacturers and their sales channels within targeted industries. The Brandwise product suite integrates a series of industry-specific tools that help manufacturers and sales reps sell more products to their customers, combining Order Capture technology, Business Intelligence tools, Decision Support and Customer Relationship Management (CRM to enhance the coordination and communication of information between manufacturers and their sales channel), as well as e-Commerce. For more information on Brandwise visit www.brandwise.com or call (877) 435-3225.
About the Gift and Home Trade Association
GHTA is the gift and home industry’s non-profit professional trade association formed to help vendors, sales agencies and industry affiliates work together to improve relationships. GHTA’s mission is to lead and transform the gift and home industry to ensure its long-term health and viability. GHTA has four major initiatives: to educate sales professionals; to understand and educate the industry on opportunities for technological efficiencies; to support and cultivate the industry’s independent retailers; and to understand and educate the industry on showroom/trade show costs, statistics, schedules, opportunities and preferences. GHTA can be reached at 877.600.4872. For more information on the GIFT AND HOME Trade Association visit www.giftandhome.org.
