Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Happy Holidays

Hi Everyone,

We'd like to thank all our customers & suppliers for a wonderful year!

This year has been our best yet, we've made record sales, had great order volumes & we've brought heaps of new styles & ideas to market.

Our plans for next year are massive & we're aiming much higher again.

We've got some very exciting product launches coming up in February & March.

Plus, we'll be working more on education - both on our own products & the specific environmental concerns that we can help with.

Finally, we're paying forward our success from this.

We're sponsoring more families & individuals through a number of global & local programs.

We've chosen to sponsor World Vision & the Learning for Life program (managed by The Salvation Army).

We look forward to building on our success next year so we can give more back.

Thanks again for a great year & enjoy the holidays.

The Bag People Team.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Big Retailers Say ENOUGH!

Reported by Bloomberg.com in England
Tesco, Asda, Agree to Cut U.K. Plastic Bag Use by 50%.

The major retailers in the United Kingdom are banding together to minimise the impact of plastic bags on the environment.

Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury, Marks & Spencer, Co-operative Group, Somerfield and Waitrose are all on board to stamp it out.

The PBF (Plastic Bag Free) movement is spreading throughout the entire country with many many individual towns becoming PBF of their own accord.

Find out more from Bloomberg.com

Bag People are the Reusable Bag Specialists, so you should Contact Us to see what we can do for you.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Save Ink with Eco Font

We're all trying to reduce > recycle > reuse & as part of the "reduce" part, a bunch of clever Dutch chaps have created the Eco Font.

Perforations, firstly, make stamps easy to tear off. Architects and engineers employ them to create lighter and more breathable structures.

Now now they're used to save ink.

This picture says it all!

Click Here for the link to TED.

Contact Bag People to get your bags even greener using Eco Font.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Extreme Green

Some things don't look right -- that's Earthrace!

In June 2008, the Earthrace vessel set a new world record for a powerboat to circle the globe.

She did this with 100% renewable biodiesel fuel and a net zero carbon footprint.

The voyage was over 24,000 nautical miles, and took 60 days, 23 hours and 49 minutes, smashing the old reocrd by over two weeks.

The Owner/Skipper of Earthrace, Peter Buthune, has a wealth of knowledge on the oil industry, having worked as an Oil Exploration Engineer in New Zealand, the North Sea and North Africa.

Pete is passionate about the environment, and believes strongly that renewable fuels must become a key part of our transport fuel mix.

He is also keen to promote positive measures that everyday people can make to reduce their environmental impact, not just in transport fuels, but in many areas of their lives.

Click Here to see Pete's suggestions on how you can make a difference.

In this list of suggestion, Pete makes reference to reducing packaging and eliminating single-use bags and encourages reusable bags.

This is where Bag People come in, we are Your Reusable Bag Specialists and can help you with just about anything.

Contact Us for more details about what you can do and how we can help.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Canvas Bags

Tim Minchin is an Australian environmental activist comedian, his messages are very simple, direct & funny.

From this short video, you should get the point :
BRING YOUR CANVAS BAGS.

Contact Bag People if you need some.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Case Study :: Fundraising

:: Scenario ::
The owners of the local Deli / Coffee Shop - Chris & David - are very active in the community & always supporting various causes. Everything from the local junior sporting clubs, local businesses, right through to raising money for international organisations like UNICEF & World AIDS Day.

This time they’re supporting a local parent - Anne - who has relapsed with Cancer.

:: Fill the Bag ::
"We really wanted to make sure we were helping Anne with real things. She told us the other day that all she wanted to do was to take her 3 boys away for a family holiday before starting the next round of treatment - she doesn’t think there’ll be another time for a holiday.” Chris & David explained.

“Anne has also said she wants to make sure that any money raised will benefit everyone, not just her”, they continued.

“So she came up with the idea of getting reusable bags from Bag People & we’d sell them for $10.00 or give away if the customer bought more than $30.00 from our Deli. This was a superb idea & we got it in motion straight away”.

:: Which Bag? ::
“We needed a high quality bag for this job, not your usual bag but something really special. So with the input of Bag People we all decided on the Laminated Jute Shoulder Bag” Chris said.

The Laminated Jute Shoulder Bag is one of the latest releases from Bag People & is one of the more ecologically friendly alternatives available, see our About Jute page for more details.

:: Easy as ever ::
"Bag People were easy, they really know how to get things done & make sure it all happens on time, they looked after everything after we had all decided on what bag we all liked” said Anne.

:: The Result ::
"Our community is amazing, people have supported the cause & we've sold every bag, Anne & her family are thrilled & never imagined such a great return" concluded Chris.

Contact Bag People for more information.

(this Case Study is from an Australian customer & some names have been changed)

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Case Study :: Gym


:: Scenario ::
The gym had been family owned & operated since opening in 1991 with almost all immediate family involved in the business in some way - from running the classes & swimming lessons, marketing, reception, accounts & even the cleaning. Everyone in the family would pull their weight.

Due to illness the business was put up for sale.

Only the minimum of service & maintenance was done to the premises & equipment with most equipment well over-due for refurbishment or replacement.

The new owner (Paul R) realized the current business was in need of a great deal of attention & saw the opportunity to regenerate & develop it.

Paul had a 3 stage plan for the regeneration of the business :
1) upgrade the premises & equipment to current standards
2) acquire new staff & instructors/trainers
3) create a comprehensive marketing campaign to get new members

:: Adding Value ::
"I know it’s an over-used marketing buzz word, but ‘adding value’ was something we really needed to do to get new members through the door after we had spent a stack of money getting the place to look like new” said Paul.

“After someone joined the gym we wanted to give them 3 things that would help them use the gym & support local business, so our new member pack was a book of discount vouchers for local businesses, a gym towel & their choice of boxing gloves or training shoes.”

:: Getting New Customers In ::
“We know the hardest part of building a business is getting the message out to people & this is where a marketing contact of mine gave us an introduction to Bag People.”

“The gym is very near to a bus route to the City, so we got
2,000 Messenger Bags made from non-woven fabric with our logo & website on them. We put in our gym info, a special new membership offer, our timetables & a gift certificate for a free gym session.”

“Each morning for 6 weeks between 6:00am & 6:45am one of our instructors went to the nearest bus stop - about 200m away - & gave our bags to commuters that looked like that may join our gym.”

:: The Result = 57% response for membership enquiry ::
“In that 6 weeks we gave out 600 bags (it averaged at 20 per weekday). 342 people contacted us & 117 have joined thus far. That’s 57% response for membership enquiry & 19.5% conversion to new members & we’re still getting people come in with their bags”.

:: Details ::
- the gym renovations were due for completion in late October so Paul want to be sure his marketing campaigns were ready to go
- he
contacted Bag People in late July to arrange the design & layout
- the designs were completed & pre-approval samples were available on 11th August
- these were approved quickly & production commenced on 13th August
-
2,000 custom-made Messenger Bags were delivered to the gym on 7th October

Contact Bag People for more information.