Today is the 22nd September, a date that changed Greg’s life. This is because on this particular day, a little-known TV show called Friends was aired for the first time! It’s one of those shows that will pick Greg up when he’s feeling low, especially when his favourite character Chandler is involved. We were shocked to discover that the show started in 1994, making it 22 years old! This was before Iphones, Facebook and Youtube even existed. How old do you feel right now?

Halloween approaches!

There are still a few weeks to go to the big day, so if you would like to stock up on spooky products, feel free to click on the big Halloween banner on our homepage. One thing we’ve noticed this year is that we’re selling a lot more Halloween-themed latex, which could be down to large corporate events. Be sure to check out the range at Balloon Market!

Speaking of Halloween, we have a couple of shows in the making that we’ll be putting out over the next few weeks. One is with Mark from Qualatex, who shows us how to make a Halloween-themed decoration. We won’t tell you what it is yet, so watch this space! We also had a customer chat with Mike and Jane from Reds, who talk about their business in retail. Mike also shows us how to make something to sell at Halloween with a massive margin on it; another reason to stay tuned this spooky season!

A fan-tab-stic addition

Greg has been thinking a lot about customer experience the past few months: When a customer walks into a shop, they can immediately see everything that is available. However, when a customer visits the Balloon Market site, it can be difficult to see everything that we have and if they are unaware of certain things they might miss something important. While he was pondering this, Greg realised that many customers like to buy from a particular manufacturer, such as Qualatex or Amscan. This inspired us to create a search tab specifically for manufacturers on our website, which we hope will introduce you to something you didn’t realise they made. For instance, Gemma International don’t only make partyware; you will be able to find gift wrap and balloons in the Gemma section.

Greg told the website team that the tab would involve making a few subcategories… How very wrong he was! 300+ subcategories, descriptions and images later, here it is for you to enjoy! We have checked and double checked it, but if you notice any typos, broken images or inconsistencies please let us know.

We are always looking for ways to make your customer experience easier, and the manufacturer tab is only the tip of the iceberg! We also try to make it easier to check out by saving your card details, and our Re-order items facility will remember products that you order on a regular basis. Greg often runs ideas past our web developers, so if you have any ideas yourself be sure to let us know!

This week’s new products

First up are the Plastic Hanging Swirls by Unique. These come 8 to a packet, and will make a great cheap-as-chips alternative to helium-filled balloons. Perfect for filling space at an event! These are available in gold, pink, blue, red, black and silver. Next we have our new Shopkins range, which is a big thing for little kids! We now stock some Shopkins balloons from Amscan and partyware from Gemma international. Greg particularly likes the banner and balloons pack, which includes a foil banner and 5 Shopkins latex balloons.

Gender reveal parties have recently become a big thing instead of baby showers, which our new Gender Reveal foil balloon will decorate perfectly! Our new 34 inch Question Mark will also make a great novel decoration, but Greg thinks it will also work brilliantly at a big corporate announcement. They could be dotted all around an office building to create excitement. It’s those sorts of jobs that could potentially sell hundreds of these!

Lastly, we have our brand new Push Poppers! Our long-term subscribers will remember the last time Greg set off a party popper, which was very loud and very messy! These poppers are simpler, as you only need to push the handle to set it off. No explosives here! Greg was hoping that this one wouldn’t be as messy as the last, but no such luck!

Question of the week

With Friends turning 22 today, we would like to know your favourite quote or scene from the show! Greg will start us off with Ross’s infamous ‘PIVOT!’ Let us know in the comments, and we’ll see you next week!

James

As always, you can get in touch with us by commenting below, sending us an email or commenting on Facebook and Twitter. If you would like to receive these weekly video updates, you can either keeping checking this blog, subscribe to email updates in your account settings or you can subscribe to our Youtube channel.