By Lorrie Baumann

Jennifer Boake, Senior Buyer for Abbott, is a self-confessed giftware junkie. “We’re really involved in what’s going on in both the Canadian and U.S. market,” she said.

She’s been with the company for 33 years and loves her job. She spends a lot of time in shops, at trade shows, researching online and flipping through magazines, observing and looking for inspiration and then bringing those ideas back to the company’s design team to start to create new items and ranges. Then she goes to work finding factories to make them and following up to make sure that the products are right before they’re shipped to Canada. “We are constantly trend-spotting, constantly looking for inspiration to bring new product to market,” she said. “You have to be nimble. The Internet has changed the way people shop, and that’s continuing to change…. We have to be flexible and listen to customers about what they want to buy and how they want to do business and react to that.”

The Abbott Collection comprises about 4,000 items at any given time, curated by Boake and company President David Abbott, son of the company’s founder, Ben Abbott, to make the collection a one-stop shop full of unique items to attract customers into small, independent gift and home décor shops. “For us, it’s very difficult to get those dollars from the customer, as we are all competing for the same dollar,” she said. “For our customers to attract consumers to their store, they need to have great products, with great window displays.”

The days when a gift shop could get along by specializing in ceramic and glass collectibles is long over, and these days, gift store owners have expanded their horizons to include fragrances, jewelry, candles and more, Boake said. “You name it – they’re carrying everything,” she said. “We’ve followed along that same line. Now we buy everything – anything that we think is salable in a kitchen/gift/decor store – we’re all over it.”

Today, it’s essential for a gift retailer to stay on top of trends and to rotate in new items constantly to ensure that shoppers will find something new every time they visit the store. To help that along, Abbott Collection launches 1,200 to 1,500 new items a year, so that at least 30 percent of the collection is new at any given time. “Customers are not reordering whatever sold well last year,” Boake said. “You can sell less than half the second year of a product – unless it’s a really hot, gimmicky item.”

To keep the new and unique items flowing in, Abbott designs its own products, commissioning new products from designers as well as buying them on the open market, Boake said. “People are willing to pay a little more for well-designed and unique product – as long as the price is still fair. There are a lot of people who don’t have a lot of cash,” she said. “They’ll spend a little more for something they haven’t seen before – $20 or so isn’t something that they have a problem spending.”

Even when they’re feeling cash-strapped, consumers still need to buy gifts for special occasions, and the giftware market remains strong even when the economy dips into recession. “It is true, in a lot of ways, that people will always need a gift, but the definition of gift has changed,” Boake said. “Multiple categories of product are now considered giftware.”

She’s currently excited about stainless steel double-walled wine tumblers, reusable straws and a Swedish dishcloth made of cellulose fiber that takes the place of 15 rolls of paper towels. “Eco-friendly stuff is very hot right now,” she said. “People are trying to do their best, and they’re trying to buy products that make them feel good and like they are doing their part for the environment.”