S/O: Timing of releases

I think it's a no-win situation for the companies

People who are doing December Daily or making Christmas cards want the Christmas releases early enough to receive them in time for making those projects. People who do more traditional scrapping are probably not thinking about Christmas paper until right or after Christmas.

Craft stores (in general - not scrapbook specific) tend to put out the holiday supplies several months ahead of the holiday so people can buy supplies to make holiday items in time for the holidays. So from that perspective, it makes sense to have the scrapbook releases line up with the craft supplies in general.

I think the better fix than adjusting the timelines would be to have a more consistent supply so that if you want to buy the Christmas product released in the early Fall for making cards or prepping Dec Daily, it's available BUT it'll also still be available in January when Christmas photos are being printed (or in July for Christmas in July). Because right now for the more popular brands, it's feast or famine as coveted items sell out very quickly

Timing of release doesn't matter to me.
If I see something I like I buy it.
Older products, newer products it all gets used....eventually.

I have product from many years ago, a few years ago, and this year (and everything in-between). I mix and match everything. I don't use all the same brand or pattern on one layout. Sometimes I use multiple brands on one layout. Sometimes I use product that is many years old and product from this year...on the same layout.

If I am working on Christmas, I pull out the 13 x 13 Christmas envelope, and have lots of (new and old) products to use.

Since the decline in scrapbooking's popularity, I am thankful that scrapbook products are being still produced, as well as found on ebay (thanks to those who are selling their no longer used stash).
The timing of when products are available in the stores, doesn't matter to me....because I purchase scrapbook products based on cuteness and what I will use.....not on release dates and usability timeframe.

I understand that there is quite a demand for new materials when planning December Dailies, so I see why the new papers are out early. My Christmas crafting stash is the largest segment of my "Collection", so I always have enough to start crafting cards in October. I like to buy THIS year's hottest lines when they go on sale AFTER Christmas. Then it will be ready to play with next October...

It seems to me that the card companies could be a little more early in their kits b/c we are making the cards AHEAD of the holiday.

This. I will grab various products in July, August because if I do not, I will either have limited choice or it will be sold out completely.

But this has more to do with available space which I understand.

Sitting product doesn't bring in money, but costs money. So businesses buy smaller amounts because they need to make sure rhey sell product to keep afloat.

And with a constant rotation of new products, because that is what we want, space can't be taken up by older product.

So really there is no win win solution. We aren't in the height if SB where stores had the space to hold new and old products.

(This might be a little rambling thanks to cold medicine)
I don’t know exactly what Shimelle was thinking about, but I think that part of this comes back to the age old question of who the “average” scrapper is who is shopping in the big craft stores. I don’t think most of them are doing December Daily projects. I think they’re making a few pages of the photos they took at holiday get togethers and birthday parties and vacations, and to that end they’re going to the craft store looking for papers that go with their photos. I think that’s why places like Joann have open stock paper for all of the seasons, holidays, and events all year round. I don’t know if the average scrapper necessarily even knows about the new releases every few months. Maybe more so with the Designer Destination, although that’s only a selection of each year’s collections.

I guess if a designer paper does well or fits what a retailer wants it gets turned into an open stock paper. But the quality and selection aren’t great and there’s usually no embellishments from the collections to match them. Maybe the mythical average scrapper doesn’t mind that.

Some of the answers here sound to me like strategies to deal with the way things are done and have been done for a long time - stocking up when you see something good because chances are it will disappear and never be seen again. They’ve trained us well!

I think the system is about what retailers want and need more than what customers want and need.

And broke, as I usually am in January. Somehow we tend to give ourselves permission to spend more in the period before Christmas...

the earlier the better for me.  i like to get a jump on holiday projects so i prefer that  there's more available to chose from. 

I think another issue is seasoned scrappers are more likely to shop specialty stores than big box stores for many of the reasons previously mentioned(unavailability or limited collections, lack of variety, quality, etc).

Seasoned scrappers also have a stash that a casual paper crafter may not have. If a casual paper crafter cares less about how thick the paper is or whether it resembles other collections they see more value in big stacks of paper with generic images. This impacts paper stack production and retail availability.

Specialty stores are more of a niche market that many of us may fall into. Big box stores are trying to reach everyone by focusing on a (mostly) seasonal model.