Son Gray and I attended the Dallas Gift Market this past week. It was my first time to go in years and I was curious to see if e-retail had affected the wholesale side of consumerism. The answer is yes.
The crowds and the vendors were smaller, but I still found it educational. For instance, I didn’t know that Easter was competing with Halloween as the second largest retail season, behind Christmas. We found lots of gift ideas for men, unlike years in the past. And ladies, this is not anything flagandbanner.com will be selling, but fringe earrings and pleated skirts are everywhere! And old gold is the color for 2019.
As far as people-watching, Texas really is a whole other country. It has a look, feel, and style all to its own. One night while eating out, we started a game we named “counting blondes.” The numbers were staggering, and I felt there weren’t enough men to pair up with all these beautiful women. We ate lots of Tex-Mex and some variation of Rotel was on every table. I was in Hog Heaven (had to bring a little Arkansan talk to Texas).
I say this in so many blogs; traveling is grueling but worth it. It broadens your understanding of people and cultures, which broadens your understanding of business and your customers.
Though the web has taken consumerism by storm and changed the way we shop and learn, there is no substitute for the spontaneous knowledge that happens from experiential shopping.
