Stampin’ Up!, the direct seller of decorative rubber stamp sets and accessories for greeting cards, craft projects, scrapbooking and home décor, announced that Stampin’ Up! Europe will expand into Austria and The Netherlands before the end of 2012.
Stampin’ Up! Europe has seen exceptional growth and demand for their crafting products outside of the United Kingdom, Germany and France. On average their growth has been 80 percent year on year for the last 4.5 years in the existing trading markets.
Axel Krämer, Managing Director Europe, said: “Our business model is flexible, allowing our demonstrators to enjoy our products as a hobby; and at the same time, it provides the chance to turn their hobby into a part-time or full-time career. Expanding our presence in Europe will increase visibility and opportunities for our demonstrators, allowing more people to connect with our brand.”
Approximately 3,000 Stampin’ Up! demonstrators are currently operating in Europe, and over the last few years Stampin’ Up! has received increased demand from many customers, specifically in The Netherlands. The Dutch market has recently experienced considerable interest in purchasing the English product offering, and similarly, the Austrian market has increased purchasing of the German offering.
Stampin’ Up! will continue to operate in three languages—English, French and German—and will not add the Dutch language. The expansion into Austria and the Netherlands will offer Stampin’ Up! products and the business opportunity to more people than ever before. Under the current business model, product sales can only be made within each specific country by hosting home parties and other events. However, as part of the expansion plans, Stampin’ Up! will now allow cross-market selling and recruiting between the five European countries.
“Our demonstrators’ businesses will now benefit from their extended contacts with consumers in other countries, as by removing the trading border controls, we are encouraging cross border selling and recruiting,” Krämer said.
Stampin’ Up! continues to drive the crafting marketing in Europe and recently announced that the European product catalogue will expand to be aligned with that of the North American market. This change to the Annual European catalogue strategy will ensure that all demonstrators have access to a significant increase in products from October 1, 2012.
For more information on Stampin’ Up! Europe, visit www.stampinup.co.uk.
