Historic Environment Scotland is launching an exciting new opportunity for local ... At the start of 2018 Historic Envir
Meet the Buyer Event Overview: Historic Environment Scotland is launching an exciting new opportunity for local craft suppliers across Scotland. Currently 43% of all products stocked in Historic Environment Scotland shops are made or finished in Scotland. In 2018 they hope to increase this and will be looking for some new quality, Made in Scotland craft to stock in a selection of their shops. At the start of 2018 Historic Environment Scotland will host several ‘Meet the Buyer’ events at the following regional locations:
Edinburgh Longmore House – Monday 12th Feb Stirling Engine Shed – Tuesday 13th Feb Fort George, Inverness– Thursday 15th Feb Aberdour Castle, Fife – Tuesday 20th Feb
These events will provide local businesses with the opportunity to speak directly with retail buyers. They will be able to pitch to have their products stocked at one of the following shops for the 2018 summer season: St Andrews Castle Linlithgow Dallas Dhu Fort George Melrose
Project Brief: You will be invited to attend a ‘Meet the Buyer’ event, and pitch directly to the retail buying team. You will supply a product/range of products that will be sold in local shops in Scotland. The products should appeal to tourists or domestic visitors looking for a souvenir of either the local area or their visit to our sites. All successful applicants will then be notified and listed with Historic Environment Scotland. Orders will be placed for the new products, which are to be sold in our selected shops until end of Sept at which point they are reviewed for the following season.
Requirement: You should contact Sharon Wyllie –
[email protected] by Friday 26th Jan 2017 and state which location you would like to attend for the Meet the Buyer Event. You should also give a brief description of the type of products you produce and a link to your website (if applicable). You will then be invited to pitch your products to retail buyers at an allocated 10 minute slot – please note time will be agreed beforehand. You should bring samples of your work and provide a hand-out on the day which provides information on the following:
Background to the company/product Trade prices for each product (please note Historic Environment Scotland work to a retail margin of 50 – 56%) What products are made from
Carriage Paid Amount and Minimum Order Quantities Product Lead Time
All proposals will then be considered based on the following criteria: creativity, relevance, sales potential, sustainability and quality. The final products will then be chosen and successful entries will be notified. Some Tips:
Think about what a visitor might want to see or take home from their visit to Scotland or to our sites. The products need to be commercial, so keep in mind that it should be easy to carry home, and affordable. Our shops can be very busy in the summer period so there is the possibility of several repeat orders if your product starts to sell well; it needs to be something that can be produced quickly in order to keep up with demand. Please visit our online shop to view some of our current bestselling products – www.historicenvironment.scot/shop
Target Audience The information below shows you a breakdown of where our visitors to the following sites came from between April 2017 – October 2017:
2017-18 Canada
Dallas Dhu Distillery
Fort George
Linlithgow Palace
Melrose Abbey
St Andrews Castle
44
482
618
1,294
838
China
10
216
193
572
1,323
England
630
8,729
3,161
6,625
3,084
France
350
3,108
1,600
3,892
3,618
Germany
915
7,424
3,439
9,641
4,336
India
29
672
106
753
404
Italy
150
3,132
1,602
1,255
4,113
Rest of Europe Rest of UK
429
4,089
2,295
2,571
3,725
19
395
259
211
352
Rest of World Russia
215
2,199
2,385
1,328
2,616
26
112
130
145
312
Scotland
545
10,795
16,320
4,795
10,069
Spain
1,176
1,829
743
1,106
3,649
USA
203
2,551
3,858
4,565
9,218
4,741
45,733
36,709
38,753
47,657
TOTAL
Further Information: Historic Environment Scotland is Scotland’s leading operator of heritage visitor attractions. They include, but are not exclusive to, castles, such as Edinburgh and Stirling, pre-historic settlements like Skara Brae, ruins and abbeys, a distillery and a country house. The portfolio is wide and varied. We provide great days out across Scotland at 78 paid for attractions and through an extensive events programme. More information about the work of Historic Environment Scotland can be found on our website: Historic Environment Scotland – www.historic-scotland.gov.uk