These Little Piggies Went to the Gift Market

Well, we really aren't little piggies, but we are planning to go to the Gift Market in Dallas in January.
It occurs to me that some people don't really know what the Gift Market is.  So here goes.....
We purchased Sweet Tooth September 1, 1992.  Somehow we found out that there was a Gift Market in Dallas and it was open for a few days in September.
Off we went with no clue whatsoever as to what we would see or what we could do. And we have been attending the Dallas Gift Market 3-4 times a year for 20 years.
The Dallas Gift Market is equivalent to the biggest shopping mall you have ever been to.  The Trade Mart is now 4 stories and the World Trade Center is 14 stories, full of showrooms and booths of vendors selling to retailers.
In addition, there is a building called Market Hall where the famous Cash and Carry vendors sell.
In the Trade Mart and World Trade Center we visit approximately 10 floors of showrooms.  Some showrooms represent one vendor only, but most have dozens of vendors with their wares displayed.  Our job is to visit all these showrooms, talk to the sales reps there, decide if we want to place an order....how much of an order....and when we want it to ship to our store.
The January Gift Market will have merchandise for the entire year.  In fact, we have already ordered some merchandise for Christmas 2013.
Each vendor establishes a minimum order for their merchandise.  It can be as little as $100 (wholesale) or much higher.  Sometimes vendors offer "specials".  For example, order $500.00 of merchandise and receive free freight or a Net 60 payment plan.  There are often a variety of ways to entice retailers to try out a new vendor.
Get out your credit card!!  These days many vendors want retailers to pay for the merchandise with a credit card.  Going out of style is the vendor who grants a retailer a Net30 account...30 days from shipment to pay for the order.
Going out of style also is actually attending the Gift Market.  The internet has changed the way retailers do business...both on the front end, where we order and on the back end where consumers order. 
It is expensive to attend the Market...travel, hotel, food and of course, the amount of merchandise we buy.  We remain the retailer who wants to touch and see the merchandise before we buy it, talk to the vendors to get information on the line so that we can answer our customers' questions.
Next blog:  Preparing for the Market.  Stay tuned.