Can you keep a secret??

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Entropy

The elves are busy as usual around here. I thought I would let you in on something we are working on at the moment which we think (and hope) will be popular. We are creating ‘themed’ gift bags that will make buying a present even easier. There are around 40 themes – for example; princess, mermaid, fairies for girls, and robot, monster, pirate for boys. Each gift bag contains between 3 and 5 items around this theme, and suitable for a particular age group. We gift package all the goodies up in a reusable cloth bag and decorate it with a gorgeous Entropy ribbon. Voilá, your present for a loved one is sorted. These gift bags will retail for between $69.95 and $89.95. We are busy getting photographs done at the moment, and expect to have them ready in the next few weeks.

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Woohoo – we’ve made the finals in three categories of the AusMumpreneur Awards

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Entropy

How awesome – Entropy has made the final in three categories of the Bio-Oil AusMumpreneur awards. As Chief Poobah I am super pleased to have made the final of the judged category for Rising Star of the Year. This is for mumpreneurs that have been in business for between 2 and 5 years. It’s a really competitive category and I am thrilled to have made the final, up against some awesomely talented mums. I’ve got a phone interview next week with the lovely judges from Connect to Aussie Mums.

Entropy has made the final in two categories of the People’s choice awards – for best customer service and best boutique. This is voted on by you people of the public, and we would really appreciate your vote. It’s easy to vote – you just have to become a member of the Connect to Aussie Mums community (which is free), then follow the links to the People’s Choice awards, then click ‘like’ underneath our photo.

Thanks so much

Deborah

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Finding your niche in the market

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Entropy

I’m often asked in store how we manage to compete with the two majors. The reality is that we can’t, but more importantly, we don’t. This is because precious few items we stock can be found in the majors. Now is a good time of the year to look at this in a bit more detail, as the majors all have their mid year catalogue sales. I’ve looked through all four of the majors’ catalogues online, and in all those pages of specials, there is only one solitary item that we also sell. We have around 3500 items in store, so that leaves plenty of scope for choosing outside the mainstream. Don’t get me wrong, I think there are some good value products in these catalogues. If you are looking at a sturdy outdoor play set then this is definitely the time of year to buy. However, there are also some less than attractive things on offer. For example, for the life of me I cannot see the attraction in these ‘dolls’.

I think a young girl would get much more pleasure from the stunning Les Cheries range from Corolle. What do you think?

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The power of marketing on a six year old

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Entropy

I was reminded today of how perceptive and readily influenced children are. Master 6 said to me – “Mummy, there was a commercial on TV this morning that didn’t tell the truth”. By way of background, my children watch very little TV, but given that it is school holidays at the moment, I cut them a little slack. Turns out he was watching one of the kids’ channels and there was an advertisement for some new beaut commercial toy. “You know Mummy; at the end of the commercial it said that it was available at all good toy stores. That’s not true Mummy, because we don’t have it in our shop”. Ah, how sweet of him to realise. Given; he has grown up exposed to good quality toys his whole life; and knows the difference between a plastic throwaway and a keep forever toy. But even at the tender age of 6 he was astute enough to pick up the marketing ploys companies use with children.

It’s a juggle this week with school holidays; but there has still been time to unpack plenty of new products in store (the junior elves have all been in working hard). I am super pleased to finally be able to bring you the B. range. I know, it looks like I made a typo; but this range from Battat is really called B. (b dot). B. is a toy gift range which looks a little different, with packaging that is a little different. They make toys which inspire individuality. They use colours which are unexpected. They like to surprise by using intriguing patterns, inspired die cuts, easy to use, try-me windows; and beautiful reusable bags with rubbery moulded handles. These products are earth friendly, with every item scrutinised to minimise its environmental impact. B. source recycled materials, and create reusable bags. The inks are soy based, and the varnishes water based.

Many of the toys in the B. range are already gift packaged, and most come with gift cards attached. My favourites are the super bristle block sets, Spinaroos and Stackadoos. The soft blocks are so squeezable; they come in a number set (one two squeeze) and an alphabet set (elemenosqueeze). The other two items I just have to mention are Pop Arty and Parum Pum Pum. I have not seen anything similar to Pop Arty before. It is snap together jewellery that you can pull apart and build however you want. The pieces are very stylish and in great colours. It would be great as an older girl’s birthday party activity. Parum pum pum is gorgeous and quirky music set for young marching band fans. Everything stores in the drum, you’ll love it!

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A makeover, mid year catalogue and new Janod

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Entropy

Phew, what a busy time the elves have had at Entropy lately. You can see that we have just had a website ‘makeover’. We have modernised the look of the site; but more importantly we have added loads of new functionality. We are particularly proud of our new ‘gift finder’ application. We have had this custom made and gone through and categorized every one of our 3000 products in it. This means you can now search by ‘theme’ (such as pirates, fairies, robots etc), price, age and sex. You can narrow your search over and over again, so you can find just the right gift for that special person.

We have also added country of design and country of manufacture to each product. This information is contained on the product page. There are three tabs – product details, more info, and reviews. We are still building the product review capacity, and this will be ready very soon. We’ve also increased the size of our product images and freshened up the whole look of the site. Please tell us what you think of it. If there is any added functionality you would like please let us know.

This week we also launched our mid year catalogue, with loads of specials. There are Melissa and Doug classic toys, toddler selections, craft, sports and outdoor; plus science and games. There really is something for everyone.

There are also plenty of new products which we will profile over the next few weeks. We are really loving the new ‘Chic’ range from Janod, with a cooker, grocery shop, patisserie and greengrocer set. The Janod mint scooter balance bike is also one of our new favourites.

 

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Welcome to the Entropy blog

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Entropy

Hello and welcome to our website makeover which includes a new blog site. We’re in the process of getting the site changed over and more blog content will be added soon.

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