Phoenix Trade Interview

Sue Summersgill is holding Phoenix Trade stall at the Vernon Park Art & Crafts Fair. They are situated at the end of the run of stalls as doesn't seem to be holding interest for very long. This could be because its stall is placed near the cafe and as the rain wasn't holding off for very long, people may have be more inclined to take cover for the indoors. The stall has a huge range of cards, but they all look too similar. It also has homemade cupcakes, which you would think would draw attention to the stall but with a cupcake stall being situated just a few stalls down I don't think they were selling too well.

Are you an independent stall holder?

I work as a Trader for Phoenix Trade an independent card publishing house, that sells work from multiple designers.

Do Phoenix Trade sell their work through outlets as well as through independent stalls?

No, Phoenix Trade only sell their cards through direct contact.

How many designers work for Phoenix Trade?

There are roughly 78 designers working for the team.

What are your most popular designs?

At Art & Craft fairs the cards with a more handmade style sell well. In this season (Autumn) our Christmas Card ranges sell well too.

How many designers work are on this stall today?

There are 25 designers work on this stall, ranging from 12-16 cards per collection.

Can anyone submit their work to Phoenix Trade?

Yes as long as they are presented well. We receive samples off designers and they get work through commission.

What is the price range?

£1.20 each or £1 each for 10+ cards.

Has Phoenix Trade ever got involved in fundraising?

Yes we have raised over £500,000 for charities since we have been established (for 14 years) through our exclusive christmas card range, to charities such as Cancer Research and Childrens Hospice UK.

Have you had much interest in your stall today?

Yes we've had a lot of interests and sales have been okay.

Do you have a website?

Yes you can find us on www.phoenix-trading.co.uk

Phoenix Trade are in the Top 10 Publishing Houses in the UK.

Cards are recyclable as they don't use any chlorine chemicals or other adhesives. Although printed on the back of every Phoenix Trade card says "paper from sustainable forest sources" Phoenix Trade say that this isn't entirely true as there isn't a sustainable forest source in either Europe or the States as legalisation is so tight.

Their cards are normally blank inside so that they can suit any occasion.

Interviews

Ideally I would like to interview people within the Stationary industry. I'm keen to talk about numbers, profit margins, overheads, publishers, card production, retailers, material suppliers, market strategies, cliental and tradeshow experiences as this is all very relevant towards developing my understanding in that market and setting up my own business is something I would like to achieve myself in the next year. As I would like to sell other products as well I see it as just as important to interview other businesses as any information is potentially going to help me further my knowledge.

Vernon Park Arts & Crafts Fair 12th Sept 2010

Vernon Park Arts & Crafts Fair in Stockport was held on the 12 Sept 2010, open to the public 10am - 4pm. It was funded by Stockport Council. There were 17 stalls, ranging from cards, cermanics, handmade toys, wooden decorative pieces, jewellery, printed and handmade interior products, paintings, homemade cakes and charity stalls. Some of the stalls had 'Lucky Dip' which cost a £1 to play which kept the children amused.

I worked as a runner from 9am - 4:30pm helping set up the stalls, doing tea runs and making sure the stall holders were happy. There was a good mix of stall holders. I noted the most popular stalls were the cake stall, which had a constant gather of people, and while the handmade toy stall hardly gathered any interest at first it became the most popular stall from around 1pm onwards. I think this was because interest sparks off more interest as people don't like to miss out. The weather wasn't good which didn't help with the turn out, but by 1:30pm it had dried off and there seemed to be a lot more people just in time for the 2pm live band playing in the parks band stand, this helped keep the customers in the park for longer as there was entertainment. Also the cafe provided a sanctuary when it rained and kept the customers well fed. Inside Vernon Park House is an underground museum to the history of Stockport as well as ancient artefacts like a mummy and history behind insect species. On the top floor is an gallery, with work submitted from locals of Stockport, there is a variety of work ranging from £25-£400 as well as beautiful grounds to walk through with its own Lilly Pond and maze providing and excellent location for an Arts & Crafts Fair.

It was a good opportunity working at Vernon Park as this provided an insight as to what is needed in holding a fairs, how they work, what makes it work and how to run one properly.

Working there also gave me the opportunity to talk to stall holders who have set up their own business and are establishing themselves in the industry. I'll upload the individual questions I asked appropriate stall holders on a separate post.

Trend Report

I feel the majority of society are influenced heavily by these three things, which shifts trend patterns.
> Fashion
> Music
> Global Issues

While individual people are influenced by personal issues which can't be summarised to fit a market. I've studied the current climate and have come up with predictions that are going to shift trends in the market.

Fashion suits a persons mood but we are all influenced by each other, as Rock music is becoming a more acceptable genre to listen to it is becoming more popular to dress that way without causing a fashion faux par. Last year high street leading competitor Topshop introduced Glam-Goth and Rockabilly fashions into their store. These looks are due to make a comeback with Winter around the corner and more suppressed moods are set upon us. Cosy sheep fleece are returning.
Leading radio shows such as Radio 1 which play the latest in current popular music cover rock music more and more so every month. They featured new-age 'screamo' band Rolo Tomassi 5 months ago which came as a huge surprise. While leading festival such Glastonbury have invited a large majority of popular rock bands to play at the festival, with their audiences getting bigger every year, giving evidence to the fact that this trend is shifting.



Major celebrities have risen from this style, such as Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, though it would be fair to say Lady Gaga is also influenced by Japanese culture.

Subjects I have been taking photos of and drawing are around this theme and I would like this project to have a nogalistic and provocative theme through out looking at Timorous Beastie as my secondary research.

Summer Project

For this project I want to research into 3 themes,
people
society
marketing

Each theme has a different focus, I'd be looking at what's interesting society at the moment, what is society talking about and then focusing onto certain people, what are their emotions, what are their likes/dislikes and then finally how this could be produced into that societies market.

I plan to stem my drawing and images from what I find from looking at society as a whole and people, this way I hope that my final outcome will have an appealing interest to the general market.

Work Experience Vernon Park Museum and Pure Innovations

I contacted Vernon Park Museum as I'd heard they needed volunteers at their crafts fair which will be held in Sept. There I will be runner, helping set up stalls. I thought this was a good way of making contacts and through doing this I've been given permission to submit some work to their gallery for free. I was also put in contact with Pure Innovations where once every 2 weeks I will be helping adults with Learning Difficulties learn art skills, with my first visit I'm planning on teaching them how to hand craft cards, I plan to sell these cards at the Vernon Museum crafts fair and all money will go to the funding of Pure Innovations. Each session I plan to do this, I hope to get printing permission for these as I would like to then digitally print each card and sell them online giving a cut of each sale to Pure Innovations. Discussions with Pure Innovations about this are tomorrow!

I had my interview with Pure Innovations on Friday, it was really well and they were excited to hear about my proposal of selling the clients at Pure Innovations work on to Art & Craft fairs, particularly because the team had been in discussions about doing this to help funding a few days before our interview. I've been researching card outlets and Card Factory are interested in being involved with charities, so I'm going to wait to see how the sessions go at Pure Innovations as they start in a few weeks and discuss with the team whether to contact Card Factory with a campaign regarding the clients at Pure Innovations to sell their work through them. I feel Card Factory would be the ideal company as they are the number 1 leading card company in the UK for their competitive prices and they reach out to a broader market, particularly those who already donate to charities and funding.

Work Experience UKSkate

Through my experience at North Cheshire Studios I managed to get the opportunity to design 4 flyers and 1 poster for UKSkate's Jam being held this end of August, there were 4 themes, rollerblading, rollerskating, BMXing and Scootering with a final poster with all 4 sports together. We got a photographer in to capture motion pictures and I was asked to work with UKSkates colour theme but the layout was left to me. I produced about 10 designs in total and the final one was tweaked according to the picture and sport. It was interesting working along side the UKSkate team and the sponsors as some of the sponsors wanted to make sure the flyers and their logo were to standard before printing proceedings.



Flyer Update: The flyers have been sent off to Rollernews and B-Mag, both leading skate magazines to advertise the UKSkate Jam, should be published in the next few weeks.

Steve Bass owner of UKSkate has come up with a brilliant idea to help fund their £150,000 deposit for a bigger skatepark located in Stockport. Steve Bass has contact with over 6000 people through Facebook that are customers and fans of UKSkate and people who have submitted their email address to him when buying merch of his website, he has emailed and mailed all 6000+ people asking for £50 to help towards the deposit for a better skatepark and for that they receive 3 years free membership to the park. He only needs half the 6000 people to pay this to reach the £150,000 goal. Seems like a rather clever strategy to me!

Working for UKskate has improved my CAD skills which is important for my Negotiated project as the designs will be digital. It has also given me insight into a market I'm already interested in. Steve Bass has a lot of advice and he's clever with his business strategies so it helps that I've been given a bigger scope of knowledge, which I want to take with me in creating my own business. I will be spending the next few months researching more into this market and business strategies, so the knowledge and experience I have gain from this is all part of that. I have also gained experience in working in a larger team, collaborating with others to put together the flyers as well as working closely with the cliental.