December 3, 2008

 

Entertaining at Home: What's in your stocking?

 

November was an incredible month for so many reasons. In November our consultants conducted almost 65% more parties than they held in October! And October was 25% larger than September. I don't know any other direct selling company in America that can claim growth like this. Our average November party sales increased 3% over last year and the rate of people joining our company increased for the fourth consecutive month. Our consultants are earning record commissions and our leaders are promoting through the ranks and cashing the largest checks of their careers. Now, just in time for the holidays, we're awarding hundreds of iPhones and laptops. And the future only looks brighter for our Consultants. 

 

People constantly ask Robin and me why our company is succeeding when so many other party plan companies struggle in this economy. The answer is simple. We have the right idea (entertaining) at the right time, we have the best people and we've built a better business model. This morning I was reading the Trends In America Newsletter. Here are two excerpts from the newsletter that confirm our belief that Entertaining at Home is a hot recession-proof trend.

 

House Party

From big bashes to small shindigs, consumers are choosing to celebrate at home. Stay-at-home soirées are mainstreaming into many abodes as consumers find new reasons to party in their pads. The casa celebration often cuts costs. Millennial and young Gen X revelers are picking up their parents' potluck traditions to pitch in on expenditures ... and culinary efforts. But it's not all about saving money -- many hosts prefer to stay home to share their sanctuary with friends and family. First-time homeowners need to show off their new nests, and Boomers want to showcase the outdoor kitchen. While invites and evites are still flying for game night and barbecues, consumers are creating nouveau occasions for fetes. Having a low-cost casa get-together can still be high style, and now Martha isn't the only guide for DIY hostesses.

Source: Iconoculture 10/30/08

 

 

 

Gourmet Shoppers:

Cooking up retail opportunities

Television celebrity chefs have helped to usher in a new wave of home-grown culinary connoisseurs. From best-selling books and top-rated shows, to palate-pleasing provisions, home-style gourmet chefs represent a highly desirable demographic that can help boost ailing retail sales at a time of economic uncertainty. Gourmet cooks not only shop more frequently than the average household but they also spend more. Rachael Ray. Mario Batali. Paula Deen. Bobby Flay...these are but a few of the television chefs who have become the newest stars in the celebrity pantheon, introducing the American public to a menu of new foods, recipes, cooking techniques and equipment. Just how popular are these culinary titans? Nielsen reports that the Food Network viewing audience has tripled in size since 2000, carving out an average per minute primetime audience of 878,000 people. The top-rated Top Chef reality TV program posted its best competition ever, closing out season four with 358,000 viewers per minute on average. Home-style gourmet chefs are heating things up in the kitchen and the grocery aisles. Nielsen reports that one-third of U.S. households consume a gourmet meal frequently or occasionally with 37% at home and 22% at the homes of friends or relatives. Peek in the windows at one of every five households and you'll find a budding gourmet chef slicing and dicing their way to a gourmet meal prepared for the enjoyment of a family member (82%), relative (37%), friend (35%) or business associate (3%).

 

Forty percent of amateur gourmands starved for information and ideas consult cook books, tune-in to TV cooking shows or surf the Internet for inspiration. In 2007, Nielsen crunched the numbers to determine top cook book titles, which included: Rachael Ray: Just In Time!; Giada De Laurentiis - Everyday Pasta: Favorite Pasta; Everyday Food: Great Food Fast by Martha Stewart; Christmas with Paula Deen: Recipes and Stories from My Favorite Holiday; and The Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition. Casual connoisseurs shop specialty kitchen stores (16%), use professional cookware and subscribe to a cooking or gourmet magazine (15%), own professional grade appliances (11%) and patronize gourmet stores (10%). Gourmet cook households log five more shopping trips across all outlets each year than other U.S. households and outspend them by 11%, spending 20% more at club stores, 17% more at grocery, 15% more at drug and 11% more at dollar stores compared to all other households. Conversely, foodies are not big spenders at mass merchandisers, under-spending the average household by 11%, or at mass supercenters, where

they spent 5% less. Food is not the only palate-pleasing provision favored by gourmets. They spend 66% more at liquor stores than other households and 66% more on alcoholic beverages as a major department. Other formats manage to attract a disproportionate share of gourmet cook dollars such as the 16% spending differential at hardware/home improvement outlets, 15% more spent online and at office supply stores and 13% more spent at electronics. All households--including gourmet cooks--feel the squeeze from inflation, and make lifestyle changes to cope. According to Nielsen, 52% are eating out less and 51% are staying home more often. Dedicated to the search for better--and better-tasting meals-- gourmet cook households refuse to sacrifice on quality.

Source: Nielsen Consumer & Shopper Insight, 11/08

 

 

 

 

Who can argue with these experts? It's easy to see that all of us are in the right business at exactly the right time. And we plan to get better. 

 

The additions we're making to our product line in January include an outstanding group of food products and a collection of our customers' favorite magazines to provide the entertaining inspiration they seek. Our new name, Entertaining at Home, creates the perfect identity for our business. The new logo and catalog design is already turning heads. We have many more important surprises for you as we enter our first new year together. 

 

Now it's time for you to surprise someone with the best stocking stuffer of all, a chance for a new business opportunity. We shouldn't keep this wonderful company a secret; we need to share our blessings with others. Something great is happening in America this holiday season, it's Entertaining at Home. Help someone unwrap the possibility of a better life. Too many companies promise people the world; reach out and help someone live in it this December. 

 

With great appreciation,

 

Bill