ShoeDads Blog

Web Site Changes & New Products!

Hello!

It’s been a few days since my last blog entry and there has been a lot going on around here.

First – please check the NEW CHARMS link at the top of any page. We’ve added a bunch of new styles with a bunch more coming.

THE FISH ARE HERE!

All of you waiting for the highly anticipated salt water fish designs – we FINALLY received them! 6 new "fishies" await your customers' little (and big) feet. J

These look GREAT and we are very pleased with the results. All retailers waiting on the backorders will have their orders fulfilled in the next 2 days…

As we get them photographed, we’ll begin adding them to the site…stay tuned!

The web site has had some upgrades.

Namely, we’re moving AWAY from the PNG format to the more standardized JPEG format. This means that, for some of you, the ugly black boxes that appear instead of the expected images is a thing of the past. We still have more images to convert – but you should surely see some big improvements.

Along the lines of new images, we’ve also updated how the style details pages will look.

The first one is done and is at:

http://www.shoedads.com/style.aspx?StyleID=118

In addition to the new design of the detailed image, we’ve also added embedded links for cross-sell ideas as well as a “description” for each style.

Please drop me a line with your thoughts on the new layout. Subtle, but hopefully more useful and aesthetic!

Attention Retailers! NEW PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT!

Lastly, we are excited to also introduce ShoeDads-brand Charm Bands. These rubbery bands are just under 9” long and are great general enhancements. Use them as bracelets or spruce up a bag or backpack. The bands are, of course, completely compatible with ShoeDads-brand charms.

Drop us a line if you are interested in carrying these in your stores. We are offering a really awesome introductory offer to get you started with these great back-to-school items. Email us for details: sales@shoedads.com.

That's it for tonight - please be sure to let us know what you think of the new web site designs. We always like to hear from you all!

-Dave

Back from Atlanta

Well, I didn’t have the energy to “blog” while doing the Atlanta Gift Show. Truth be told, I was simply beat after working the booth each day.

It was great meeting some of you at the show – it’s always good to put a face with an email name. J

I have good news and bad news to report tonight.

Let’s do the bad news first:

Our salt-water fish designs have ALL been sent back to China. US Customs refused to allow them entry and we need to try again. For those of you that have these on backorder, my supplier has stated they need about a week to fix the problem. At present, we should be shipping these by the 2^nd week of August. As always, we cover the postage costs for all backordered items. Once we get them in-hand, I’ll update you all via the blog. Sorry about this – I went with a new supplier for these and its cost us some time. The designs turned out great, so hopefully, the wait will be worthwhile.

All right – on to the fun stuff.

1. Our next shipment of acrylic displays are due in next week – for those of you that are expecting a display, we’ll be sending them out ASAP.

2. I am excited to announce Shoe Charms, Ltd. in England has officially signed on as our exclusive distributor to the UK and Europe. They are operating from www.shoedads.co.uk and have already started fulfilling orders “across the pond”. For those of you (both retailers and consumers) looking for ShoeDads a bit closer to home – please check out this web site and order locally to save on shipping costs! The Shoe Charms folks are great to work with and I am excited to have partnered with them.

3. We are currently in talks with local distributors in Canada, Australia, and the Philippines. If you are a retailer in any of these countries, please drop me a line so I can pass your name along to the folks that will be our distributors in these regions.

4. I am still behind in loading all the new designs we’ve received over the last two weeks. I have managed to post the Dalmatian, Jack the Pirate, the Rainbow Dandelion, and the American Bald Eagle designs. More are coming over this weekend – the delay right now is getting decent photographs for the web site.

5. Lastly, we are about to embark on our Christmas designs. We have about 6 designs identified, but would love to hear from you for more ideas. Please send an email to designs@shoedads.com with your thoughts on what designs you’d like to see for the upcoming holiday season. We are non-denominational over here, so feel free to send over what you think your customers would like – I may even throw in a Festivus (for the rest of us) design. J

-Dave

Acrylic Counter Display!

Hello and goodbye. We are outta here in the morning for the Atlanta Gift Show.

If you are attending, please visit us in booth #2619 in Building 3, Floor #5.

The other interesting tidbit for our retailer partners is, I've posted images of the ShoeDads acrylic counter display.

http://www.shoedads.com/acrylicdisplay.pdf

You are eligible for the 2-tier version with your first order. We will be selling them from the web site in mid August.

Have a great weekend and keep an eye on the site - I'll be listing a bunch of new designs that recently arrived. So many styles, so little time!

-The ShoeDads Team

Leaving for Atlanta...

Hi.

We are working hard right now to get out to the Atlanta Gift show that starts this weekend.

The big news today is the fact we’ve gotten confirmation two great new designs have made it through customs and should be in our hot little hands this week. I’ve attached them to this blog – a Dalmatian dog (that was originally part of the Fireman series) and a Pirate (that was obviously part of the pirate series).

Both were delayed due to their complexity, but they look cool and were worth the wait.

Once they’ve been delivered, I’ll add them to the web site for you to order.

Also, as promised, I’ve attached the 2 latest designs that have gone off to production – our dolphin and killer whale designs!

That’s about it for today’s post. We’ve still got a huge number of tasks to get done before we leave for the Atlanta show tomorrow, so the next time you hear from us on the blog should be from the showroom floor in Atlanta!

-The ShoeDads Team

ShoeDads is LIVE!

Hello!

Welcome to the first ShoeDads blog posting. Today it will be short and sweet as there are a few dozen housekeeping items that have to be resolved before close of business. :)

The main bit of news is TODAY is the official launch of ShoeDads! Perfect timing given the date is lucky 7/7/7.

This blog is intended for both our loyal customers and loyal retailers. You can expect lots of updates as we continue to roll out the ShoeDads brand of shoe charms.

If you don't already know, ShoeDads (affectionately called "Doo-dads for your shoes!") are soft, rubbery charms that fit in the popular shoes like Crocs and Airwalks.

As of this morning, we have over 50 retailers in over 5 countries. We have officially signed up one distributor (servicing the UK and the EU) with at least 2 more on the way - more info about our distributors coming later this week.

Our product line consists of almost 200 unique styles with more coming every week. As long as we can keep thinking of designs, we'll keep creating new ones!

Since this is a laid back weekend, we're planning a press release announcing our entry into the shoe charms market early next week.

In the meantime, welcome to our blog and we'll have more news (such as upcoming designs) in tomorrow's posting!

-The ShoeDads Team

P.S. The SSL certificate is going in today for those of you asking about a secure shopping cart.