An Inside Look at The 2009 Atlanta Gourmet Market

I was privileged to serve as one of the judges for the 2009 Atlanta Gourmet Market’s Best of Atlanta competition. For those unfamiliar, The Atlanta Gourmet Market is an annual trade show that highlights a range of wholesale and retail food items from around the best of 2-revisedcountry at AmericasMart in downtown Atlanta. In the “Best of Atlanta” awards, 10 gourmet categories are evaluated by an independent panel of judges,. It’s a great, fun-filled and educational event that would definitely be on the radar of Atlanta’s foodies if they could attend.

The cooking demonstration alone would be worth the price of admission. This year, local star chef Shaun Doty ( SHAUN’S) doty-revisedconducted a one and a half hour, interactive session set in the intimate , contemporary studio located in the middle of an entire floor dedicated to the culinary arts. Think Iron Chef without the drama.

The culinary arts floor also includes upscale cookware displays, gourmet teas and coffees, wines and cocktail purveyors as well as prepared specialty food items, all set in slick display rooms. The setting reminded me of a giant food festival with free samples being offered almost at every turn.

As one of the judges for this year’s event, I was limited to sampling the wares of the contest participants, who represented a very small percentage of the vendors in tomato pickles-cropattendance. But I can say that that if the other vendors’ offerings were just half as good as the contestants’, they had some very good stuff! The  tomato pickles and the 7 seas sea salts were just two of the great products that were featured.

And that’s why I hope the event will have a public component in the future. Because as an educational and entertainment event, the Atlanta Gourmet Market is a hidden jewel  on Atlanta’s dining scene. There were so many products on display that it would take hours to do them all justice, but exploring them and interacting with the vendors who sell them would make a great adventure for families and foodies alike.

Look Who’s New for October Apparel!

Oct09_Apparel_250x250

The Atlanta Apparel Market will dazzle with fabulous lines in October from both familiar favorites and brand new entities. Here’s a glimpse at some of the new permanent and temporary lines to look for in October:

Permanent Exhibitors

Prime Trading LLC                                 MJK Global Sourcing, LLC

Mad Style                                              Terry’s Collectives

Corky’s Footwear

Temporaries

2K By Gingham

Accessories:

Amo by Amanda Liantonio

Balbianello

Barrett House

Black Diamond

Black Inc. Buddha Happy, Inc.

Caro’s Jewelry

Civil Society

Cuggly

Dating Clothing

Debonair

Dia Linn Jewelry

Dream Saks

Escapism

Eye Design Inc.

Fashionatia, LLC

Focus Fashion

Freeway

Gold tag Denim

Golden Triangle

Hype

Izabella

Jamie Lynn Designs

Josephine In Vegas

Ken’s Handcrafted Jewelry

Key Closet

Key ladies

Konquest

LeTarte

LoveTree Fashion

Lynn Davis Designs

Marc Joseph New York

Max Studio

Maxim Cossoguy

Meda Import Export, LLC

Monoreno

Muk Luks/ProjectARt

Mur

Nima Accessories, Inc.

Nuvula

Oka b

Outpost Trading

Parasuco

Playboy Denim

Pong

poo-pourri

Ringspun

Rivet De Cru

RpGene

Sisi Amber

Sixth Alice

Smitten by Smith

Soone

Spark

Spectrum Home Fashions Inc.

Staccato

Sucker Jeans

Sun Art Design

Together

Troubador

True  Grit

Twelve Symbols

And many more!

Permanent exhibitors are open Oct. 15-19; Temporaries are open Oct. 16-19. Come to Atlanta and experience all that’s new for October!

All That Glitters… in The Gardens

Mills Floral in Living. Indoor/Outdoor.® The Gardens® introduced a new line of crystal ornaments and crystal display trees. Together, they’re an eye-catching combination, but you can use them separately or mix-and-match to create your own color scheme and style.The crystal ornaments are available in multiple shapes: almond, sphere, tear drop and fancy cut.millscrystal2 Each is perfect for adding color and sparkle to anything from Christmas trees to chandeliers. Not only do they clearly sparkle, the crystals also come in a variety of vibrant colors.

The crystal trees lend themselves to a multitude of décor themes and make a beautiful table-top display for any festive event. They’re offered millstree3in two sizes: a 60-inch tall version and a smaller 24-inch version.

Stop by the Mills Floral showroom in Building 2 WestWing on Floor 10. Mention this blog to any showroom manager and receive an additional 10 percent off any order of $100 or more.

For more information, please call The Living. Indoor/Outdoor.® The Gardens® help line at 404-220-2030.

Simon Chang featured designer for Montreal Collections

SimonChangMontreal Collections’ featured designer at the Style Runway Fashion Show is Simon Chang, debuting 30 styles from his Spring 2010 line. Chang’s background includes a degree from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, a ready-to-wear collection for Clothes to You and International Typhoon, and licensed design for Brodkin. In 1983 Chang, together with Phyllis Levine, created Simon Chang Concepts. 

Garments of vivid colors and attention to detail characterize Simon Chang’s “look” portrayed through his designs. His collection and licensed product include men’s and women’s apparel and accessories, evening wear, social occasion, premium denim, swimwear, outerwear, lingerie, leather and fragrances. 

Simon Chang designs, along with dozens of other lines from Montréal, will take the stage on Saturday, October 17 at 6:30 p.m., preceded by a cocktail reception at 6 p.m. in the 15th Floor Fashion Theatre at AmericasMart Atlanta.

See who’s here in Accessories, Shoes and Personal Care this October

ethandmerWith the October Market approaching, we are getting more and more great lines for Shoes/Accessories/Personal Care & Spa. In Accessories, you must check out Clay Cox’s line Rain—this has been a sellout! Suzy Shaw Berardo has Ollipop rings again, and these are flying off the shelves. Don’t forget to stop by our senior exhibitors, Susan Shaw, Sue Cox, Ethel & Myrtle, Anthony Alexander, Artistic Expressions and Bonnie Leigh Accessories, who have been here 10-15 years.

October will also have some great new accessory additions including: Amo by Amanda, Golden Triangle, Buddha Happy, Pretty Persuasions, VSA Accessories, Barrett House, Caro’s Jewelry, Cheng’s Boutique, Seasons Jewelry, Jamie Lynn Designs, Josephine in Vegas, Major Fashion, Magic Scarf, Meda Import Export, Nakamol, Nikita Lynn Designs and Nima Accessories. ethandmer1

As for our Shoe category, we have a fabulous lineup as well. October shoe lines include: Frye, Poetic License, Naughty Monkey, Sam Edelman, Bronx & Diba, Marc Joseph, Zigi NY, Restricted, Volatile, Fergie, Sugar, Yellowbox, Rampage, Bongo, Olem, Mukluk, Jack Rogers, and Alegria and many more.

Additionally, we have a small Personal Care & Spa category, including Izabella and Poo Pouri.

Check out the NEW TO ATLANTA Young Contemporary Exhibitors on the 3rd floor!

YC lineStaccato, Together, and Sun Art Design are three lines making their debut at the Atlanta market this October. Staccato is a fabulous Young Contemporary line specializing in the most up-to-date trends at affordable prices. Together is a great new line that you can find right off the elevator! Sun Art Design has awesome heat transfer tees and printed t-shirts. Make sure you stop by the 3rd floor to check out these new exhibitors!

NEW LINES on the Premiere floor for OCTOBER!

Premiere Floor 1_150Market is less than a month away and the Premiere Floor is excited to announce the addition of fabulous new lines.  Be sure to check out Boy Meets Girl, LeTarte, Trobadour, Nuvula and HYPE! Check back daily for more hot lines being signed up!  

Also, a men’s area on Premiere is in the works…..stay tuned!

September Inspired Gardens Buyers

napabuyer

Napa Home & Garden

Buyers came from as far as Ontario, Cananda; California; Kansas and Missouri to take advantage of early-buy programs and to stock up on holiday essentials during the Atlanta Fall Gift & Home Furnishings Market in September.

Lotus International

Lotus International

Although Saturday and Sunday were the busiest days on the Living. Indoor/Outdoor. The Gardens. floors, many buyers returned Monday to take another look around and finalize orders. Despite gloomy weather outside, buyers were upbeat and happy to be at Market.

magnetworksbuyer

Magnet Works

QMTbuyer

If you missed the opportunity to come to Atlanta for Market, the Living. Indoor/Outdoor. The Gardens floors (9 and 10) in Building 2 WestWing are open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Many showroom specials are still in effect through the end of the month. Showroom managers are available throughout the floors with a complete list of the specials, and they are ready to help with your shopping. Please call the Living. Indoor/Outdoor. The Gardens Helpline at 404-220-2030 for more information.

Social Media 101: Facebook, Twitter & and How They Will Help Your Bottom Line

We had an amazing turn out for my Social Media 101 seminar at last week’s show.  As promised, here is the slide deck and some useful links from the presentation.

http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=americasmart-socialmedia-090918124418-phpapp02&rel=0&stripped_title=americasmart-atlanta-social-media-101-presentation

For those of you that weren’t able to attend, here are a few key points and some notes to keep in mind when deciding if social media is the right thing for your business:

  • The content you put out there is much more important than the platform (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) that you put it on
  • Even though brands and big companies are involved in social media, you’re really dealing with people — speak accordingly
  • Ask yourself the important questions before jumping in headfirst:
  1.  
    1. Are my customers using social media?  If so, how?
    2. What are they talking about and what’s important to them?
    3. Is social media an important marketing channel for my business?
    4.  What are my marketing and sales goals?

Know Your F-words:

Friends — People you’re connected to on Facebook

Followers People and companies who track your Twitter updates

Following People  and companies who’s Twitter updates are tracked by you

Fans – People on Facebook who become a fan of your brand’s page

Tips for Measuring Social Media

  1. Use tracking codes and promotional coupons specific to the platform
  2. Tag your links with tracking that can be picked up by your analytics tool
  3. Test different content around your offers
  4. Monitor how many mentions you have and how engaged people are with your brand
  5. Track your fans and followers to understand your audience

Know Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

  1. Cost per Lead (CPL) = Campaign Cost / # new leads    

     This gives us a single number that tells us how much each new sales lead cost based on the total cost of your campaign

  2. Cost per Sale (CPS) = Campaign Cost / # sales Based on the campaign, this tells you how much each sale cost.  This number should always be greater than or equal to your CPL.
  3. Estimated Revenue per Site Visit (ERSV) = Avg. Sale Volume / # visits    

     This KPI is important to know when you’re determining how much to invest in your online channel.  If it decreases, you may have an issue with your sales values dropping or too many visits not producing enough sales.  If it increases without an increase in Sales Value, watch out… you may be losing visitors!

Links and Resources

Major Platforms:

Facebook – www.facebook.com

Twitter – http://twitter.com

Cross-platform Twitter Applications:

Tweetdeck – www.tweetdeck.com

Seesmic – www.seesmic.com

Twitter Resources:

Basic Twitter Backgrounds – www.twitterbacks.com

WeFollow Twitter Directory – www.wefollow.com

Web Analytics Packages:

Google Analytics  – www.google.com/analytics

CrazyEgg – www.crazyegg.com

Mint Analytics – www.haveamint.com

Yahoo! Web Analytics – http://web.analytics.yahoo.com

Omniture – www.omniture.com

WebTrends – www.webtrends.com

Social Media Monitoring:

HowSociable – www.howsociable.com

SocialMention – www.socialmention.com

Twitter Search – http://search.twitter.com

Google Trends – www.google.com/trends

URL Shortening:

http://bit.ly 

http://is.gd

http://tinyurl.com  

http://twitpic.com

This is a post by AmericasMart guest blogger, Greg Asman. Greg is Director of Digital Analytics and Social Media at Aspen Marketing Services (www.aspenms.com), the largest privately-held marketing services firm in the US. He has more than 18 years of Internet strategy and development experience and holds International Business and MIS degrees from The University of Georgia as well as an MBA from Emory’s Goizuetta Business School.