With Ed Nizynski, vice president, Lighthouse Christian Products

What new trends and themes are you seeing in photo frames, and what's driving them? "In today's fast-paced society, color and design trends change quickly. At Lighthouse, we do not solely focus our designs on the latest trend. People have many different tastes, and today more than ever everything is acceptable. Eclectic is the trend. Themes for all occasions are popular. In this state of economy, families are spending more money re-decorating versus buying a new home."

How can stores display photo frames to their best effect? "Create a frame destination in your store. Your customer is familiar to shopping the frame areas in the big-box retailers and department stores where all the frames are displayed together. Even in most Hallmark stores there is a frame section. Show as many facings and titles as possible. Give consumers selection without difficulty. Also cross-merchandise frames with your other occasion- and seasonal-themed displays. Consumers will return for additional purchases when they know occasion-themed products are consistently available."

Will digital frames catch on at Christian retail? "Lighthouse has, for the past few years, investigated and designed several digital photo frames. Although key accounts are requesting them from us, the biggest challenge is cost. Department stores buy them in huge containers' full and work on margins as low as 15%. This is typical and common in electronics. Although we can introduce them to Christian retailing, the retail price would prohibit any type of acceptable sales volume that would prove profitable for anyone. We will continue to pursue (the possibility)."

Beyond Mother's Day and weddings, what's a top frame niche? "Since 9/11 and the boom of digital cameras, all themed photo frames sales have increased. Lighthouse, in 2001, was the first company in the CBA market to introduce themed/titled photo frames. Other popular themes are baby, grads, Father's Day, family ... basically every occasion."

What's been your most popular frame to date, and why? "We've designed many popular and best-selling photo frames. Interestingly enough, many tell us that we created backlist for gifts. We do have one title that stands out. It has been in P.O.S. systems and on replenishment in over 1,000 stores worldwide ever since we designed and introduced it in 2002. It is our Journey frame, for which we won a Retailers Choice Award several years ago."

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