Whenever we haven’t had a regular BMTV for a while we end up with loads to talk about!

Balloon Market in Europe

First off, if you are in one of the following countries: Republic of Ireland, Poland, The Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, you can now order on the website. To not be charged VAT, you have to go to “your account” on our website and find your addresses. Enter your VAT number there and you will automatically be VAT exempt when you place an order. In the past you would have to ring us to tell us what you were after and we would then issue an invoice but now it’s so much simpler! You can still use the discount codes as normal, free delivery, £15 off etc. We are planning to roll this out to the whole of Europe in the future but are testing the water with those 6 countries first, let us know what you think and we will increase the list of countries.

27% Cheaperz

Next, all the Orbz, Cubez and Diamondz have been reduced in price, on average by 27%. This isn’t just on the plain colour balloons, oh no, it’s on the licensed ones as well. This isn’t a sale either so the prices aren’t going to go back up at some-point, they are staying at 27% cheaper! If you’ve not heard of the Orbz, Cubez or Diamondz ranges before, these are foil balloons from Amscan that inflate to giant shapes that make a great impact. We particularly like the Orbz range as they are completely spherical.

The next big thing…

The new big thing for us is the 2ft balloons! These are made by a company called Belbal and we have stocked their 10 inch and 12 inch latex balloons for years and years. We love their balloons and have found them to be great quality at a great price so we have now decided to stock their range of 2ft balloons. The 3 great things about these balloons over 3ft balloons are; they are a lot cheaper, you can buy them individually rather than in packs of 2 and there is a reduced helium cost to fill them. Now you may be thinking the helium requirements for a 2ft balloon would only be reduced by a third compared to 3ft balloons but in fact it’s closer to 2 thirds. This means that you can inflate three 2ft balloons for the same helium it would take to fill one 3ft balloon! You can see that they are still large balloons and still create that great impact but you can keep your costs down at the same time. We think they’re great so head over to the 2ft section to take a look.

Just around the corner

Now Easter is just around the corner and is becoming bigger for balloons each year. We have our classic foil shapes such as the sitting bunny and Orbz balloon (27% cheaper than this time last week!) but also new designs this year including, my favourite, the Chocolate Bunny. We also have bags of Easter latex and stuffing balloons with bunnies and flowers on.

We have started to see a real resurgence in stuffing balloons over the past 6 months or so. This is where you inflate a large balloon and keep it inflated while you put gifts inside like teddy bears, tissue paper or smaller balloons. We have asked Mark to come in and show us how to do some great things with the Super Stuffer Machine so keep an eye out for that.

Marketing at wedding fairs

Speaking of Mark, wedding season is upon us and Mark is coming in a few weeks to show us some wedding designs. Knowing Mark they are going to be incredibly creative so look out for that in a couple of weeks! Many people who sell balloons market themselves at wedding fairs and if you want to look really professional, then something like these flyers would help.

We are selling these for £5.00 for 25 flyers, if you were to print your own flyers you are looking at about £1.90 per flyer whereas we are selling them at just 20p each! These are printed by Qualatex and contain all their wedding foil balloons as well as a complete latex colour chart. This is great for handing out to happy couples who are planning their weddings as brides can be very colour conscious! They can circle the colours they like and get back in touch with you via the space on the back which is left blank for you to add your contact details via a stamp or sticker.
If you want to try these out to see if they will work for you, add the comment “please add a wedding collection flyer” with your next order and we will send one out to you free of charge!
That’s it for this week, see you next time.

Rob

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