August 2012

Even though it’s the heart of summer, our editorial team has been busy choosing the best gourmet gift items for the rapidly approaching holiday selling season, which you will find in the gift guide published in this edition.

This issue is going out to our ever-expanding audience of gourmet retailers in our usual e-zine format as well as be- ing printed and distributed at the NYIGF for new retailers to discover. If you are reading our publication for the first time, we want to welcome you, and invite you to register for a complimentary subscription at GourmetBusiness.com.

For those of you attending the NYIGF/Gourmet Housewares Show in New York, you will also find in this issue the sec- ond part of our comprehensive preview of new products to discover during the show (see our July edition for more). We have done our best to identify the companies and booths where these products can be found to help you plan your show effectively.

What makes a great gourmet gift in our opinion? We do have several criteria that we used to filter all of the great products we looked at while creating this gift guide. We looked for products that were packaged well and clearly demonstrated their intended use and function. The gift should stand on its own, not requiring any other accessories or display assort- ments to make it a useful product for the recipient, and at the same time, enable the product to be easily merchandised by the retailer. We also focused on products that could be associated with the five categories that we feel any retailer can have success in selling: Kitchen Essentials, Serveware, Coffee/Tea Products, Barware and Specialty Food.  We hope you find some ideas that inspire you and help you dress up your store for the holidays.

I would like to extend a word of caution to our readers from members of the supplier community whom I have spo- ken with recently about the upcoming holiday season. Many suppliers found that their retailers ordered conser- vatively last year and were surprised when sales were strong. But, when they tried to replenish, they found that suppliers were out of stock, leading to lost sales. I want to urge you to order early. That doesn’t mean that you have to take delivery early. But, if suppliers have a way to anticipate demand, they can do a better job themselves of properly projecting their inventory position, and everyone wins. Don’t get caught empty-handed, because the holidays do still come, regardless of the current state of the economy.

I wish everyone a lucrative fourth quarter. We hope you appreciate our selections.