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Trollbeads 2008 – Year in Review

Trollbeads 2008 – A Report

Trollbeads hits the mainstream with a bang and continues to grow!

Trollbeads is a line of interchangeable jewelry from Denmark. Its long more than 30 years of development and design have positioned them as the next best-selling line of collectible and interchangeable jewelry on the market. Their history in the US is only about 6 years old and it has been an exciting and interesting journey for Trollbeads US and it is just the beginning.

Morten Petersen, a native of Denmark and director of Lund Trading Inc., a distribution company he founded in Maryland, brought this line from Denmark for distribution in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. At first, the line was slow to grow here. Maybe it was the reps that brought it to market, or the market they were targeting, or maybe American women just weren’t ready for them. Each year, the product was introduced in new places and in new areas of the country and its growth became constant. Each year and with each level of growth, the Lund Distributors office adjusted its procedures to a more efficient level. A business that has run its course steadily, in the last year and a half alone it exploded onto the American jewelry scene. Recently, the news is that November 2008, a month when everyone was debating bailouts and relief packages or watching houses go up for auction, Trollbeads saw its highest single-month increase in its history. In the most recent edition of the jewelry trade magazine “In Store”, Trollbeads was ranked number 2 on the list of the most exciting line that retailers wanted to carry and Rolex was ranked number 6. It was my understanding that Lund had surpassed sales figures for 2007, but to excel in a month that to others was so bleak, points to a very obvious fact. Trollbeads collecting is recession proof. It’s the little things that count when times are tough and these accounts have a humorous side and a very spiritual side. What better combination could there be in times like these?

For the most part, Trollbeads collectors are unique from other bead collectors and are made up of many types of people. If you compare the two main lines of beads and compare their collectors, you will find that Trollbeads attract a more sophisticated customer than the Pandora or Chamelia brands. Inspiration for Trollbeads designs comes from flora and fauna, mythology, spirituality, fairy tales, and cultural diversity. Trollbeads motto is “Every story has a story”. Trollbeads artists strive to create small intricate sculptures and the beauty or uniqueness is evident in each bead. This differs markedly from the other lines of beads as it was the first line of interchangeable beads on the market in Europe and has been the inspiration for many ever since.

This next year will be interesting to continue with Trollbeads. I think it will be another record, but keep in mind that the competition has taken off the gloves. Pandora has given an ultimatum to all of her retailers. Starting immediately, they must drop any and all competing account brands or be removed by Pandora. I know of a few stores that have had to keep Pandora, because it’s a broader line and they sell more in dollars and have had to very reluctantly drop Trollbeads. As a distributor of Trollbeads I can already say, from my point of view, that this was a bad decision for Pandora. Even before the deadline, many customers who came into my store were aware of the situation and had very negative feelings towards Pandora. Today’s consumer is smart and educated and does their homework on anything of value they are considering buying. When a company is bought by a large conglomerate, as Pandora has been, the focus is solely on the numbers and nothing else. There is no concern about what this ultimatum will mean for many of its stores. I know for a fact that if a store has carried both lines, they have done well with both lines. They support each other’s sales because a lot of people collect both lines. Small retailers forced to drop a line, like Trollbeads, means cutting their revenues by a big chunk. In this economy it can be devastating for small retailers. Read the news, it’s the big conglomerates that are bringing this country to its knees. Small businesses employ more people in this country, and through no fault of their own, they too will be brought down.

It doesn’t take long to discover the differences in the company’s artistic and technical standards. It also doesn’t take long to understand the differences in management. I hear day after day: “My wife used to collect the other beads and now she switches to Trollbeads.” Just yesterday I helped a couple of customers who also had Pandora accounts talk about Pandora and how difficult it is for stores to cope with the demands that Pandora places on stores. Distributors holding on to their Pandora accounts are angry at the demands Pandora is making of them. Pandora is becoming the “bad boy” and should care more about its image and less about numbers and less about trying to be the only “liked” brand in the store. Have you ever heard that competition is a good thing?

Considering that Pandora has forced several retailers to abandon Trollbeads, I still believe that 2009 will be another record year for Trollbeads. The negativity produced by Pandora will mean that Trollbeads will do better in the long run.

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