Bags and Bows Blog » Bags & Bows News

A Signature Bag – Your Holiday Card?

admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:51:40 +0000

Every season I look forward to seeing what the best Big Box stores are using for shopping bags. And from this article posted on newsobserver.com, lots of consumers do the same. A great shopping bag, as you know, is a “walking advertisement”. Customers will keep using them if they look cool, are environmentally friendly, or are just simply a good re-useable size. And when packaging is put together nicely, it is often given with a gift – what a great compliment to your store! Anne Keating from Bloomingdale’s goes as far as comparing it to a holiday card given to her guests. It’s an interesting concept and something for you to think about all year round. It doesn’t have to be expensive either. Take a plain Kraft bag and add you own distinctive ribbon or tissue paper. Add a small gift card for gift giving. At a minimum, choose something that matches your store color. Simply check out Bags & Bows for some great affordable options to get started.

So while Big Box stores give us all a run for our money, think about these easy and affordable ways to stand out and get noticed. Create a “signature” look for your store. You can’t afford not to. Your customers will love it.

Laura Walker

Sr. Product Marketing Manager & Retail Advocate

From “Bags to Riches” . . .

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:41:50 +0000

A colleague of mine gave me that opener. It came to her in a dream one night. My first thought? There is no connection to retail packaging. But then – why not? In some ways, your packaging says a lot about your brand and image. Your name and logo should be on most everything customer-facing, including your bags, tissue, ribbon, boxes, etc. You’ve worked hard to create it, and you should proudly promote it. Your brand and logo says a lot about you, the message you’re trying to communicate, and how customers and potential customers perceive you in your community. To give you some ideas around branding, I’m attaching a brief but compelling white paper titled “developing your brand and promoting it”. In the simplest terms, retail experts say a brand is a promise – it is a promise of what you believe and what you deliver, it is your reputation. And leveraging your brand in the right ways leads to, well, maybe not “riches”, but it sets you on the right path to get there!

Questions you should be asking yourself . . . .

What do customers and potential customers think when they see my name?
Is it what I want them to think?
Am I delivering on my brand promise?
Am I promoting it in the right way to my target audience?

How can Bags & Bows help? Personalizing is critical to getting your brand noticed and your message communicated. See how you can affordably personalize your products with rich foils or colorful ink printing. Do you need to create a new logo or refresh an old one? Here are some easy and affordable solutions to get the logo design that will best support your brand.

Finally, our Bags & Bows exclusive collections are another great way to get your name noticed and your brand remembered, from our Holiday Wish, Joy, Peace and Believe Collection to our Wisteria Collection with elegant purple flowers. Please take a look at our latest exclusive retail packaging products.

Laura Walker

Sr. Product Marketing Manager and Retail Advocate

Free Shipping For All Our Valued Customers

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:58:20 +0000

To all our Bags & Bows valued customers,

Just a quick note to update you on our transition to the new bagsandbowsonline.com. We have received some very positive comments and appreciate all the kind words. However, we do know some customers have been frustrated by a few glitches, which we are in the process of fixing now. Because we value the business of all of our customers and want to ensure your trust, we would like to extend this unprecedented offer: FREE SHIPPING on any web order for the next two weeks, no minimum order required! This is also a great opportunity to order packaging for any holiday events, employee appreciation and event sponsorships! Check out Bags and Bows online to start shopping. Your shipping charges will show $0.00 when you check out.

Thank you for your continued business!

Laura Walker

Sr. Product Marketing Manager and Retail Advocate

Welcome!

admin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:02:44 +0000

Welcome to the NEW and IMPROVED Bags & Bows website, the official source for retail packaging. I apologize to those of you that have experienced frustration while trying to order online. Our goal has always been to provide the best possible online shopping experience ever. Our information technology team has been working hard and fast these last couple of months to improve your experience and we are excited about our new website and hope you will be as well. We are used to being the first and best in the market, and while the Bags & Bows team thinks our website is much improved (although not perfect yet), we’re hoping you could let us know if you feel the same way. If you have a couple of minutes, we would sure appreciate hearing from you — just send an e-mail to me, laura.k.walker@deluxe.com, with your thoughts or any suggestions you might have.

One of our exciting new additions is this blog. We came to realize that it is a great way for us to share relevant and helpful information, beyond just packaging products. Having said that, we want this blog to be fun too, so don’t be surprised when we throw something playful in here from time to time. You’ll hear from our Art Director and Trendspotter, Christine (our very own “Design Diva”), our Retail Advisor, Mike, who keeps up on all the latest economic news, and our guest bloggers and Retail experts that we find credible and trustworthy (the ones that can help smaller retailers vs. the “Big Box” stores). You’ll also hear from me and others on our Product and Marketing team, and hope on occasion that you’ll respond to surveys to help us deliver the right products and services for your business. If you’re interested in being on a Bags & Bows customer panel to assist with ongoing product insights and design feedback, just send a message to the above e-mail address.

Speaking of feedback . . . we just recently completed a survey to our Retail customers and found that many of you are simply trying to survive this economy, manage your cash flow and find new customers. You are not alone. Industry results for August were not that great, but better than analysts predicted. Let’s hope we’ve hit the bottom and things start turning around. To help, one our Retail experts has offered some great suggestions to help you make the most out of the Fall season and stimulate business. As we’ve seen time and again, small things can make a big difference. Check out our white paper, “Falling Into A Fall Promotion Mode”. And Bags & Bows has some great Fall colors and designs to complement the season. A packaging presentation printed with your company name and logo can make a powerful impression at very low cost (and we happen to have a great team of hotstampers that can get you quality printing faster than anyone else). Consumers are likely to be very selective this year about their purchases so be sure they leave happy and impressed, and recommend your store to others. And for low-cost packaging items, don’t forget to check out our sale room for some great deals.

Finally, you may or may not have noticed from our logo that Bags & Bows is part of Deluxe for Business, a provider of products and services that help small businesses run and grow their business. Deluxe has partnered with other providers to bring you a “makeover” sweepstakes, an opportunity to win $15,000 worth of free products and services to help boost your business! The makeover includes web services, full color mail materials, promotional products, packaging products and much more. Click and See!

Laura Walker

Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Retail Packaging Products, & Retailer Advocate