A newsagent showed me a line of stationery they were pressured to take with the pitch they are on-trend, that they will help compete with Typo. The stationery is not selling. The products are not on-trend, there is no professional marketing the prices are too high.
Compared to notebooks in Officeworks (see photo), the products forced on the newsagent are more expensive and not of as good a quality.
Too many suppliers say they have products for competing with Typo and similar. Most don’t know what they are talking about. Take care. Buy carefully. Educate yourself about what Typo and others have. Knowing your competition is crucial.
Totally agree Mark, “on trend” is a horrible description for anything. To me its a description of lines found in Big W, Kmart, Officeworks or any other mass market mainstream retailers. A term used endlessly by second rate, want to be noticed designers from the plethora of (surprisingly enough) mainstream commercial Television shows revolving around house renovations . Any supplier suggesting they are “on trend” is behind the curve before they start.
Good retailers set the trend and don’t follow it.