Vendor Spotlight 5 New Lines We Love

vendor spotlight

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New Lines We Love

These new additions to the Darrah & Co. showroom are sure to thrill your customers.

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FANCY PANZ

Dress up your pans!

When Jane Casey and her sister Charlene Yeager found themselves stuck in the kitchen scrubbing pans after Thanksgiving dinner while their family enjoyed themselves, they knew there must be a better way. Jane looked online for a disposable option that could be dressed up enough to present on the holiday table or at a potluck. When she came up empty handed, she created her own solution: Fancy Panz, a stackable, BPA-free decorative cover for unattractive disposable foil pans. She took her idea to her sister and a neighbor who had her own “rags-to-riches” invention success story. Within a week, the sisters had filed a provisional patent. “People were really eager to help, other women in particular,” says Jane, who had no history of inventing products.

Today, Fancy Panz, which is proudly made entirely in the USA, continues to add products to its growing line of entertainment solutions. A recently introduced deviled-egg tray with built-in ice pack, for example, flew off the shelf.

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LUCKYBIRD CLOTHING CO.

Where art comes first

When developing lines, most vendors start with a garment or product; LuckyBird starts with art. The family-owned business partners with artists to inspire its apparel and home accessories — 80% of which are made in LuckyBird’s warehouse in Corinth, Mississippi.

LuckyBird offers distinctive, recognizable styles that stand out in any store. Its threequarter-sleeve raglans are a constant customer favorite, but the company is also known for custom localized designs. In January, LuckyBird introduced one-button pillows and pillow swaps. Demand has been so high, the company is now closing in on 100 pillow swap design options for every occasion, season and style. “Who wouldn’t love to change up your space with a 20-second pillow swap?” asks cofounder Jan Patterson, who says they are expanding the interchangeable art concept with the launch of handmade wooden trays and tray slides that can be used as dining table décor or trendy, unique charcuterie boards.

Patterson says LuckyBird partnered with Darrah & Co. because of its “reputation of having a supportive atmosphere and both administration and sales representatives who care about their customers and the products they sell.” In the changing landscape, the company is “so excited to make new friends and meet new customers.”

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NATURAL INSPIRATIONS

A full line of natural body-care products

Natural Inspirations Founder Julie Ekelund fell in love with the body-care category in the 1980s while working with brands such as Calvin Klein Cosmetics, Claire Burke and Vitabath, but she had her own vision: a gorgeous, indulgent, natural bath and body line that women could afford. Her vision became Natural Inspirations, which celebrates its 10th anniversary next year.

The brand is a complete line that ranges from hand creams and lotions to scrubs, body butters and body oils. “I don’t know that anybody goes as deep into full body-care as we do,” says Julie.

Its range is just one thing that sets the brand part. Another? Truly natural products. “We dive much deeper than the average company in terms of the ingredients that we don’t allow into our products,” she says. “We’re very cautious, and we work with one of the top natural formulators in the world.” The result is a line of premium, spa-like products including light, fresh hand creams; dry body oil that fans “cannot live without”; balm that refreshes dry feet; deluxe lip products and much more. Every product is available in all of the company’s fragrances, including its newest: Cyprès, a deliciously warm, woody unisex scent that will be introduced at the summer market.

When Julie asked customers and reps around the country to recommend a strong partner in the Southeast, they universally named Darrah & Co. “We have not been disappointed and could not be more pleased and complimentary of the team that Lindsay and Vicki have put together,” she says. “The reps have been fabulous and so welcoming. We can’t wait to get to Atlanta and have some time in the showroom!”

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T. JAZELLE

Quality jewelry with a message

“From the first bracelet I made, each piece has always had a story — whether it was the meaning of the stones I was using for strength or healing or the meaning of the charm,” says Tiffany Narbonne, founder of T. Jazelle. Each is still handmade in Cape Cod (though now that the brand is in hundreds of stores and selling out on QVC, Tiffany does have some help) and paired with a card that explains the special meaning of the piece.

Some favorites are Waves of Life, ideal for ocean lovers; Family Circle, a symbol of family connection that Tiffany says is especially powerful these days, when not everyone can be with loved ones; and Unbreakable, a constant reminder that “you can get through anything.”

The bracelets are crafted to last with gemstones and quality sterling silver or gold-plated sterling charms. Many fans stack multiple bracelets to truly wear their story. “We’re turning into our stores’ #1-selling brand because people are coming back and getting more to stack. We’ve received messages from people who have literally over 100 bracelets. It’s definitely become kind of a collectible, and we’re always creating new pieces.” Look for new opal pieces at the Atlanta market.

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SAY IT WITH A STEP

Unique non-skid stair and floor décor

Safety doesn’t have to be boring! That’s why Say It With a Step offers 108 stair and floor tread designs to add personality (and grip) to any slick surface. The peel-and-stick designs range from greetings to industrial messages plus custom options — “If you can say it or think it, we can make it,” says Cindy Miller, whose woman-run company is always adding new designs.

The functional safety product can be sold as a gift product, a hardware product or a piece of home décor, and every piece is made in the USA. A popular new option is the “add on” category, which allows shoppers to join phrases to truly Say It With a Step.

“I have always been aware of the strong and professional presence of Darrah & Co., and I’m honored that such a quality group has put their faith in our product line,” says Cindy.

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Cash Is KingNot

The payment landscape for retailers is changing faster than ever. Here’s what you should know about contactless payments, digital wallets, realtime payments, BNPL options and more.

BY KIMBERLY TURNER

They used to say, “Cash is king.” Somewhere along the way, the crown was passed to cards. In 2021’s rapidly changing payment landscape, it’s safe to say that “convenience is king.” More consumers are looking for — and in some cases, expecting — payment options that offer them the greatest level of convenience. For some shoppers, that means digital wallet compatibility at the register or other contactless options. For others, convenience could mean BNPL (buy now, pay later) plans or real-time payments.

The pandemic accelerated the transformation of a payment landscape that was already evolving at an unprecedented pace. Recent research by Paysafe indicated that 59% of North Americans and Europeans tried some new payment method in the past year; that number goes up to 77% when you only look at 18- to 24-year-olds. That’s a lot of novelty and willingness to change. Today, about 38% of consumers say they feel more aware of the payment options available to them than they did before COVID-19.

So it comes as no surprise that 48% of retailers expect to increase their investment in payment options within the next two years, according to the ACI Retailers’ Guide. After all, adapting to changes and customers’ desires is key to staying competitive. Giving them their preferred payment options increases their loyalty to your store, reduces abandoned carts during online purchases and increases the convenience of the shopping experience.

DON’T TOUCH! THE RISE OF DIGITAL WALLETS & CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS

If there’s one thing we’re all trying to do less of these days, it’s coming in contact with surfaces touched by thousands of strangers. Although scientists have discovered that you’re unlikely to contract COVID via surfaces such as pin pads, the same can’t be said for things like the flu or common cold. Many shoppers find it much more appealing to pay with a wave of their card, phone or even their smartwatch — bypassing pin codes, signatures, swipes and cash payments.

But hygiene is just one reason contactless payments and digital wallets saw a spike in popularity in 2020 — and continue to grow today. Some others? Speed, ease and (here comes that magic word again) convenience.

When it comes to tap-and-go contactless card payments, the U.S. has lagged behind many other nations (in Australia, for example, over 90% of face-to-face transactions are contactless), but that’s certainly changing in our COVID-aware world.

In 2018, only 0.18% of point-of-sale purchases in the U.S. were contactless, according to A.T. Kearney. During the pandemic, 51% of Americans started using contactless payments, according to Mastercard. These stats are important because shoppers will take their business to retailers that give them a great customer experience by offering the payment methods they prefer. In 2020, 40% said they’d be more willing to do business with merchants who had contactless payment options, according to a Gartner survey.

Today, all new cards from American Express, Bank of America, Chase and Discover offer contactless payment capabilities. Wells Fargo, Citi, Capital One and Mastercard offer cards with the capability. Visa expects to reach 300 million contactless cards in the U.S. by the end of the year.

Consumers who don’t yet have a contactless card can still pay with a simple tap by adding their card to Google Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal or a mobile wallet from a bank or favorite retailer. Mobile or digital wallets were used by 41% of American adults in the past year, and the $5.5 trillion digital wallet spend in 2020 is expected to reach $10 trillion by 2025.

GO CONTACTLESS: HOW DOES IT WORK?

All of this waving and tapping and invisible paying seems like magic, but it’s

usually a type of radio-frequency identification (RFID) called Near-Field Communication (NFC). NFC allows objects to “talk” to one another when they’re in close proximity (which still seems like magic, right?). An NFC receiver in your terminal registers the signal from your customer’s card, phone, watch, Fitbit, etc. then validates the transaction via a microchip in the terminal that stores the financial information. Tap, pay, gone!

Fun fact: In addition to payments, some larger retailers have started using NFC to provide more information to consumers. Clothing, for example, can have a small NFC tag that, when scanned by shoppers via their phones, shows reviews, washing instructions and more. NFC tags at the door can display weekly ads, coupons, loyalty program sign-ups, store directories and more.

If you see this trend coming down the road (and it absolutely is) but you haven’t set up your business to accept contactless payments and digital wallets, it’s time to start making a plan. Consider calling the rep for your payment processor to ask about next steps. You may be able to upgrade your credit card reader to one enabled with NFC capabilities for less than you think (it might even be free).

There are also other options. Square, for example, offers an inexpensive way to start accepting contactless payments: a $49 NFC reader with a 2.6% fee plus 10 cents per tap, swipe or dip.

Quick response (QR) codes are another possibility for contactless checkout. COVID-19 prompted some P2P (peerto-peer) payment companies, such as Venmo and PayPal, to launch QR programs for retailers. More than a million merchants are using PayPal’s inexpensive QR option, with another added every 28 seconds according to PayPal CEO Dan Schulman. He notes that the company processed nearly $6.45 billion from QR codes and in-store card payments during the first quarter of this year. Many larger companies with their own apps, including Starbucks, Walmart, Target, CVS, Macy’s, also use QR payment technology.

When it comes to implementing contactless payments for your shop, find out which wallets and technology your customers want. Then implement based on that answer.

QR codes make paying easy.

FASTER THAN EVER: REAL-TIME PAYMENTS

Another trend for smart retailers to watch is the move toward real-time payments (RTP), or payments that are settled almost instantly. As consumers have come to expect instant payments via P2P apps, they have become less tolerant of long payment processing during retail experiences.

Target Senior Vice President and Treasurer Corey Haaland wrote, “We receive negative feedback from guests about the length of time it takes to complete these transactions, whether it is a purchase, exchange or return. Consumers have experience using peer-to-peer payment options and don’t understand why the same speed and efficiency currently do not exist for consumer-to-business transactions.”

Again, the U.S. lagged behind when it comes to this payment evolution, in large part because of our diverse financial landscape and shoppers’ resistance to change. Last year, Americans made 41% more real-time payments than they did the previous year, according to an ACI Worldwide study. By 2025, North America will be the world’s fastest growing region for real-time payments, bolstered by The Clearing House’s RTP network,

ECOMMERCE & FEES

If more of your sales have moved online, remember that card-processing fees will apply to a greater percentage of purchases, and take that into account as you budget. You might also consider trying to negotiate better fees from your payment vendors.

As of this writing, your card fees for online purchases are likely higher than those for purchases made at your physical register, but that could soon change. On March 7, the Federal Reserve Board released a notice stating that the Durbin Amendment to the Electronic Funds Transaction Act should apply to card-not-present transactions (online purchases). The amendment states that it’s illegal for banks to limit routing of transactions to a single network, but banks have been doing just that when it comes to e-commerce.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) has been advocating for merchants’ right to route through all payment channels to “bring meaningful competition to online debit routing and save merchants hundreds of millions of dollars.”

“E-commerce has grown exponentially over the past decade and even more during COVID,” says Austen Jensen, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at RILA. “And big banks and the dominant card networks are not following the letter of the law by preventing a merchant’s right to route debit transactions. The Fed’s notice acknowledges that banks’ and dominant card networks’ treatment of e-commerce transactions are in clear violation of the law. Retailers have been saying this for years. There is no valid reason for retailers to be hit with higher fees when a purchase is made online instead of in a brick-and-mortar store.”

launched in 2017, and the Federal Reserve Bank’s FedNow project, which will bring every financial institution into an RTP network expected to launch in 2023 or 2024 with “uninterrupted 24/7, 365 processing.”

Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard said, in a press release, “The rapid expenditure of COVID emergency relief payments highlighted the critical importance of having a resilient instant payments infrastructure with nationwide reach, especially for households and small businesses with cash flow constraints … We believe the Federal Reserve is the only service provider that can achieve nationwide reach within a reasonable timeframe by connecting financial institutions through existing master accounts using the FedLine service.”

The Retail Industry Leaders Association is all for speeding up payments and supports the Fed’s plan to update and improve the nation’s payment infrastructure. The organization points out that the up-to-72-hour delay in processing transactions can “cause stress, an over reliance on credit and higher fees paid by individuals and merchants. Faster payments mean merchants and consumers will have access to their money in real time, giving them more control and clarity over their finances.”

Since retailers can’t be required to join a real-time payment network, it will be up to the Federal Reserve and The Clearing House to convey the advantages of speed and cost-effectiveness to business owners when the time comes. It’s not likely to be a tough sell — 82% of retailers polled for the ACI Retailers’ Guide 2018 said that they believe real-time payments can enhance the customer experience. About 80% expected RTP to save them money, and 77% said they expected RTP to replace cards over time. It’s a topic worth watching during the next few years.

Tap, insert or swipe: Offer options.

BUY NOW, PAY LATER

Another hot topic in the world of payment right now is BNPL (buy now, pay later). Deferred or installation payments, usually offered at 0% interest to shoppers, can encourage customers to consider bigger-ticket items and are especially popular with Millennials, who are untrustful of credit cards.

According to a Forrester webinar, nearly “36% of American adults online are interested in, currently use or have used a BNPL service for a large purchase. Visa, Mastercard and PayPal have all started to offer BNPL services to meet demand for flexible payment options — particularly during the pandemic, when many people’s financial circumstances became more challenging. PayPal processed more than $1 billion in BNPL with its Pay in 4 program during the first quarter of this year alone, according to Payments Dive, an increase of 36% from the previous quarter.

PayPal CEO Dan Schulman reported that 50% of consumers who used BNPL used it again within three months and 70% used it again within six.

John Rignall, IT director at Missguided told Internet Retailing that “[Retailers] need to make sure we’re offering the payment methods that our customers want … and we absolutely have seen a shift over the last couple of years into pay later or slice multiple payment-based payment methods for our customers. I think it’s around 30% of our share of checkout at the moment … it’s clearly what our customers are looking for.”

BNPL plans are not for every retailer, but they can certainly boost sales and increase your average purchase if they’re right for your business. Virginia-based women’s clothing company The Slay Brand, for example, reported that its sales increased by nearly 40% after offering BNPL options.

Several third-party BNPL services, including Afterpay, PayPal, Klarna, SplitIt and others are available to help retailers implement installment payments. Be sure to understand the terms if you do decide to incorporate BNPL. You will pay higher fees since the BNPL vendor accepts the risk of nonpayment, so weigh the pros and cons of this option.

NO MORE ABANDONED CARTS

If you’re like most retailers, you’re conducting more of your sales online than ever before. E-commerce is expected to account for $1 out of every $5 spent on retail by 2024 according to Juniper Research. When it comes to online payments, there are hundreds of options. Understanding which ones your customers want and implementing those is as important for your online shop as it is for your brick-and-mortar one.

Worldwide, as many as 75% percent of online shopping carts are abandoned without a purchase. You can bring this number down for your business by making it your goal to every possible obstacle between your customer and their purchase — whether online or at your physical retail location.

One way to do this for your ecommerce shop is by offering some of the most popular online payment options. Buyers have become accustomed to quick, convenient one-click payments on sites such as Amazon, but only 27% of online retailers provide quick-pay formats such as Apple Pay or Google Pay, according to a report from parcelLab.

Another way to create a frictionless shopping experience and reduce the incidence of abandoned carts is to allow shoppers to check out as a guest rather than forcing them to spend the time to create an account. About 17% of retailers force shoppers to create an account before they can make a purchase. Don’t be one of them.

Darrah & Company, Ltd.

Atlanta Gift Mart 40 John Portman Drive, Suite 1818 Atlanta, GA 30303

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