The Framers Forum

we dont own a framing shop / gallery and we are a family photography studio....Just wondering how you have found Octobers sales in general? Things have got worse for us this month with sales dropped by around 4k a week! ..not a good time for reduced takings on a Vat month

Hope we ALL have a fantastic November and december?!

As a commercial framer it is one of my best months and the year seems to be the best I have had in 8 yrs. So at the moment I would say things are quite good.

Our turnover is slightly above last year's, but our costs are also higher. Hoping for a good November/December.

I found September very busy but October has dropped off!

4k a week? Thats quite a drop as were three weeks in to October.

The first three months of this year were difficult ,it improved for the summer , we actually caught up and got a tiny bit ahaead, but since all the dire news about Greece and other euro states customers are far more cautious with there money- We have sold a very expensive painting this month but otherwise we would definately be down.

I'm hoping for a good Christmas, but to be honest we don't do anything like the trade we used to in November and December. On the plus side we now take much more in January . Just need to pray it doesn't snow again- could really do without that.

this is my busiest year i have had.

I am actually struggling to keep up

October has been steady, but not as busy as September. People are more careful about spending money.

Our last two Christmas seasons were hammered by snow and ice on the narrow and winding roads around us with many of our customers cut off by road conditions.

I'm hoping that things will be better this winter, but I'm still preparing for a bad one! I'm being somewhat selective what I spend money on at this moment, but I am treating this time as a time to reduce some of my stock and add some new items as well.

In general, I would say that October has not been too bad, considering all the doom and gloom.

This time of year OCT/EARY NOV is always good as coming up for rembrance sunday (we only frame medals) . So nows the time to tempt passers by or 'lookers' with some medals either in frames or on display or even photos of medals with a poppy in attendance - you never know may jog some folk into action.

strange times...some busier than ever and some not....ive found the last 3 - 4 years the worst since i joine the company 20 years ago, weve done 3 for 2 offers and some new products etc, we have some cracking orders but the 40 quid / 80 quid orders pull the average right down

we went through the last downturn and out the other side so im sure we will this one too....i just dont understand how one week can be fantastic and then 3 terrible...maybe we need to invite some richer clients in. Im sure things will pick up and we can end the year on a small profit ...just dont feel like it this week

Thanks for all your opinions on how your all doing..it does give me hope!!

I know how you feel Paul, I have found it pretty quiet this month, I had a visit from a Rep from one of my Suppliers this week and he was saying that he was getting a similar message from many of his customers, as he said Framing is a luxury and when customers are feeling the pinch .... I'm pleased to hear the others are doing OK though

We're pretty consistent, there was a dip during that silly week of good weather but the next few made up for it and that's pretty much how it always is, touch wood!

Something was pointed out to us recently though - the wording on our shop front is our shop/company name "Angmering Framing & Stitches" - what a waste of space! That is in large letters and about 25 ft long, then, to the right of that above the door is briefly what we do, and that's out of date too. "Angmering" - what use is that - people know the shop is in Angmering! "Framing & Stitches" - OK - Framing and ..... stitching stuff.

The customer in question said she'd been driving past every working day for the past 10 years and never knew we did crafts until she heard our radio ad (we switched stations a few months ago)

So we're going to get the signwriter in and make the main sign something like CRAFTS, NEEDLEWORK, PICTURE FRAMING and then above the door will be the shop/company name.

Hey Robo - If you think you got it wrong - look at me - HOT PRESS - it only covers a fraction of what we do - what about all the cold stuff ???

We have had a busy October, mostly with bigger, more expensive jobs helping sales. It looks like ending up on September which was not a bad month. What we are finding which may be contrary to others is that we are selling less items, but our customers are spending more. Where we used to do a lot of "standard" jobs, they are going for more fancy finishes. It is the same with our antiques business, we are selling fewer items than last year, but the items we are selling are higher priced and much better margins.

I strongly believe that to make it through a tough time like this, diversification will help. As well as having another income source when one is quieter, if you have businesses that work together they will help each other. This is certainly the case for good October. We had a customer come in to choose a frame and leave having purchased a 19th century desk. Another came to look at furniture, purchased 2 chests of drawers, but purchased 3 paintings, all of which she wanted framed to match her others. This makes a huge difference over 12 months to our bottom line.

Cheers

Nick

Talking to the reps, framers and galleries around the country, there's a very mixed trading picture. Some are doing ok, some are totally unaffected by the economic circumstances, but the vast majority are having a very tough time and the fact that the moulding wholesalers are finding it tough, means they are selling less moulding. They have more bad debt which means businesses can't afford to pay. Many businesses are living hand to mouth having good days and bad days. Good weeks and bad weeks, but the one thing I hear time and time again, is that there is no pattern to business and that's a worrying trend for many.

The good and bad days / good and bad weeks description and also the lack of a recognised pattern to business is something I would very much agree with, from my own experience.

Originally December and January were generally our best months for business and the traditional months of the tourist season were our quietest months. However since the recession December and January have been difficult months for us, while the tourist season months have been relatively good months.

Whilst I can speculate about the underlying causes of this, the unfortunate fact remains that our highest monthly operating costs are directly related to the increased heating required during the coldest months.

This means that our highest monthly expenses coincide with our lowest income and this is far from helpful.

I am not surprised to hear that our suppliers are feeling the effects of us framers reducing our stock levels, trying to sell a customer something which is already in stock and changing the way we do business due to the recession.

Unfortunately for them, they are not only suffering the effects from our customers being more careful about spending money, but as time goes on, framers are getting better at keeping spending at levels which help to maintain cashflow.

There's some signs of difficulties around if we care to look for them; less manning of sales phone lines, less of the voices we are used to at the other end, more out of stock items, reduced choice in suppliers catalogues, etc. I hope that we don't have a really bad Christmas to make matters even worse!

In the end October turned out to be quite a reasonable month. If anything I would say that the general trend is an upward one.

Recenly, I have decided to generate some extra business from customers with limited budgets and some commercial work too, using Polcore, Emafil, and some carefully chosen budget mouldings. This has been successful and I am achieving this without compromising on my normal mark-up ratios. As a result I am preventing many cost driven customers from taking their business elsewhere.