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Object leads the way…

We were delighted to be asked to give our opinion on fast-selling products, in a recent Forecourt Trader feature.

See below for the full article…

Spot Promotions has over 20 years experience in forecourt retailing, providing profitable and fast-selling products for retailers. Spot own the Object brand, and are also the only UK distributors of Patch Panda, a lifestyle mobile accessory brand.

Asiffa Gadatra, Joint Owner of Spot Promotions, shares her views on gadgets and gizmos with The Forecourt Trader

“Being ahead of trends is vitally important to us, it’s what we do well as a business. We have to be able to make the right decisions on what is likely to be the latest must-have product alongside the products that generate ongoing sales week-in-week-out. Gadgets and gizmos account for a huge part of our product range and helps drives sales and profitability for our customers.

The team in our Manchester Head Office spend time looking for emerging trends on social media and at events and exhibitions – they then share their findings with myself and Shiraz (joint owner) and we look at their viability and how best to source them. Sometimes it’s hard to take the call on when a product is emerging and how big we think it could be, and also when to stop supply as the trend comes to an end…sometimes the decision comes down to plain gut instinct, other times it is more data led – but either way there is an element of risk taking from our side. Take the fidget spinner for example, we took a huge risk by ordering a vast quantity of spinners but caught the trend as it was just emerging, and were one of the only suppliers in the UK with stock for a period of time – which meant we could supply one of the must-have products to our customers last Summer, who then saw it fly off the shelves.

Wireless

This year we are expecting a growth in wireless products, from earphones, mini-speakers through to ear-buds. Due to the popularity of the Apple Wireless AirPods – we knew we had to offer a high-street alternative at a competitive price whilst still offering good quality. Our Object ear-buds are available now and will retail at £9.99 with healthy margin for retailers.

Fitness & Health

Health is still going to be a key priority for consumers this year, and we have extended our fitness range to include key popular products often found in fitness stores or in a large retailer, and includes Bluetooth and wireless headphones, sports bracelets, smart watches, water bottles and mobile phone arm bands. Latest research from Mintel* finds British consumers have helped drive sales of smartwatches and fitness bands/bracelets to an estimated 4 million devices in 2017, up +18% on 2016, with fitness bracelets leading the way in that growth. We offer both a smart watch and a sports bracelet, both are great sellers, but like the market trends, we are expecting stronger sales of the fitness bracelet in 2018, with consumers looking for a reasonably priced way to track their fitness or as a gift for their loved ones. Our Object sports bracelet retails at a very reasonable £12.99 with an impactful neat counter top unit for till placement – this is one product that will do well in 2018 but it does need to be displayed at the till if retailers want to optimise this growing category.

Mobile Accessories

Consumers are always in need of key emergency phone charging products, with margins of up to 50% retailers simply should not ignore this huge ongoing opportunity. Consumers expect to find mobile chargers and key accessories such as power banks, in a prominent area in the forecourt alongside the obvious till placement. We are seeing fast growth in the Type C cable as well as regular high sales for all the iPhone chargers and accessories. Our new Patch Panda range spans across functionality and lifestyle, bringing to market a fun mobile accessory brand that we believe will be the latest 2018/2019 ‘must have’ in the gadget arena.

We are proud to offer free point of sale with many of our products to help boost awareness, sales and profit. With countertop units and free standing floor displays which allow smaller stores to create a great eye-catching display without compromising their existing planogrammed shop layout. We have also seen significant sales within forecourts that have designated a good-sized display section devoted to our key top-selling regular products alongside ‘for the moment’ gadgets and gizmos.”

Customer Testimonial

We are proud to trade with Fraser’s Retail Limited, and delighted that Mark Wilson, Chief Operating Officer at Fraser’s has shared his views on working with us…

“FRL have been trading with Spot Promotions for over 10 years, it’s been great working with an innovator such as Asiffa who continues to look for new products to bring to the market ahead of the competition giving us the window of opportunity to maximise sales and be the first on the street with new lines. We look forward to another 10 years with Spot Promotions”

If you would like to list the Object brand in your retail outlet, we would love to hear from you. Please call us on 0161 223 7655 or email info@objectproducts.co.uk