Tag: business

Join Us As We Gear Up for 2018!

It doesn’t seem possible that we are winding down another year – It just can’t be! As is our most important company tradition, I would like to begin this message by saying “Thank You.” No different than when my grandparents founded The Gerson Companies over 75 years ago, we exist because of our customers and would like to extend our gratitude for our continued partnership. All of our associates, living throughout four countries, embrace our company core value of “Our Customers Matter” and work very hard to earn your business every day.

The Gerson Family / Photo Taken May 2016

2017 Year At A Glance

As we all continue to navigate a quickly changing retail environment, we have much to be thankful for this year. We understand the challenges, and greatly appreciate your faith in The Gerson Companies to partner in your success. In 2017, our sales were even with last year, which is both a good news and bad news story. Every year, we set our goals to include sales increases over the previous year, no different than all businesses. So while we are disappointed, I can’t remember a year that seemed to be more challenging with so many changes to the retail landscape, and I have been working here for 35 years!

In 2017, we accomplished a lot together:

  • Giftbeat once again featured Gerson throughout the year as a favorite vendor among independent retailers. In its most recent November issue, Giftbeat published Gerson as retailers #1 choice for Seasonal/Halloween & décor.
  • Evolved and reorganized our Customer Service and Sales departments to focus on enhancing and improving the customer experience.
  • Reinforced our reputation as the leader in our industry by adding 1,828 new independent retailers to the Gerson Family of customers in 2017. Many new retailers were attracted to the company by Gerson International™ and our Lone Elm Studios® product lines, which achieved a combined 30.1% sales increase this year.

What To Expect in 2018

We will continue to be profitable and reinvest in support of our customers and The Gerson Companies’ future in 2018. Our plans are set, and I am very excited for what the next year will bring! We are introducing in a new brand, Flint Hills Studio™, more new innovative product at great pricing, and new technology to help grow our customers’ sales.

In 2018, our customers will experience:

  • Specifically designed technology to support our independent customers. G-Commerce, a new drop ship fulfillment program, will be introduced in January to offer an exciting, “no-risk” way to help our customers grow e-commerce sales and their brands.
  • Our new family members Darryl, Horace, Bella, among many others, will put a smile on your face and dollars in your cash register! Flint Hills Studio™, a beautifully crafted and exclusively designed product line, will debut in Atlanta and Las Vegas this January.
  • New and innovative designs in our seasonal product offering from Gerson International™ – the industry’s most popular and competitively priced seasonal décor offering. We are looking forward to GIL continuing its double digit year-over-year sales growth in 2018.

We have immense gratitude for our relationships with our customers, and look forward to continuing to improve and become more important to you this coming year. We appreciate the faith you have placed in our company by allowing us to support your business.

Have a great holiday season!

Warmest Regards,

Jim Gerson & The Gerson Family

Spring and Summer 2018 Draws to a Close

Spring and Summer 2018 Draws to a Close

We are just finishing up our Spring and Summer 2018 Gerson International seasonal program, and it’s a good time to begin reflecting on the results. First, and most importantly, thank you to all our customers for having the faith in Gerson to supply your inventory for the coming season!

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We do not know our final sales numbers yet, but it looks to be very positive. Our overall sales will be up, and orders received by customer compared to the year prior looks very good as well, which is a metric we watch very closely. I was very proud of our seasonal product offering and pricing for Spring and Summer 2018, and we were given credit for this by our repeat customers and the many new retailers who joined our family this year. We have been working hard to improve our customer experience, which I believe also helped our numbers for the season. Though we still have improvements to make, I am encouraged by our customer feedback.

An initiative of The Gerson Company this year is to improve communication with company associates and with our customers, and our company blog is a great way for me to personally connect with all of the Gerson family. I would love to hear back from anyone who might feel passionate about the subjects I address, or would like to suggest interesting topics you want more information about.

Even with all the changes our industry is going through, at the end of the day, this is still a people business. We want those connected to us to feel good about our company, and this blog will hopefully help by providing a little more insight into our thinking and company direction.

My contact information can be found below, and I look forward to hearing any feedback and ideas that will lead to a stronger partnership with us.

Best,

Jim Gerson

jimgerson@gersoncompany.com / Direct Line: 913.535.7252

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