INDUSTRY NEWS

Visit the Birding Business Blog for the latest industry news updates.

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AMEX Loves Bird Food

Did you happen to read the June 7th issue of the New York Times? If you did, then you know that your customers who buy premium bird food and pay with a credit card are among the most solid credit risks in the country. That was the thrust of a long feature story in the NYT magazine on card use.

The article describes the psychological and behavioral indicators used by banks’ statisticians to determine the credit-worthiness of their card holders, and it turns out that  “premium wild bird seed” is in the bottom one percent of products paid for with a credit card that might signal a potential for risk of default. At the opposite end of that scale is Sharx Pool Bar in Montreal where 47 percent of patrons who paid with their Canadian Tire credit card missed four payments over the next 12 months.

The profile that emerges from the data is that those who feed birds feel a sense of responsibility toward the world, manifested in their spending on wild creatures they don’t own. An equally high rating was scored by a “snow roof rake”, and those little felt pads that stop chair legs from scratching your hardwood floor. That’s because those consumers want to prevent snow from falling off the roof and injuring passersby, and to protect their belongings from needless damage. The story went on to describe dozens more indicators of credit-worthiness like charges for purchases made at a pawn shop or for marriage therapy, suggesting signs of desperation or depression that might have consequences. Purchases made at a baby shower or wedding registry, on the other hand, indicate a more responsible consumer.

The Wild Bird market in Europe

The wild bird market in Europe is a quickly developing one. Originally the consumer did not pay much attention to feeding wild birds. This habit actually started in the United Kingdom, which is also the European country with the most backyard-loving inhabitants. But because of the increasing awareness of the importance of nature, wild birds came to the attention of other European consumers as well. Click here for the rest of the story.

The Hardware Show Looking Good

The Hardware Show in Las Vegas has wound down and by most accounts it has been a good one. Many of the exhibitors we talked with expressed their satisfaction with show results, and most also said their sales generally have been picking up. The overall feeling among manufacturers was that they expect this trend to continue through the year.

Product and Store promotion through video and social networking

Recent articles in Birding Business magazine have mentioned the use of video and social networking for store and product promotion.  A company called Wildtones has recently introduced the classic Peterson field guide as an iPhone app.  They are using a promotional video hosted by YouTunes to help spread the word about their product.  Posting your video files on YouTube helps with the promotion and transfers much of the bandwidth requirements to the YouTube servers.

The down side of using YouTube?  The video quality is not as high as might be desired.

Bird Food Tax Back on the Shelf

The proposed 10% excise tax on bird food in the state of Oregon has been shelved for the remainder of this legislative session.

The group behind the bill said that some of their key support had been lost, and they worried that creating too much opposition now would hurt their chances of getting it through later. The legislature doesn’t convene again until 2011 so the bill’s proponents may use the time to involve some of the major industry players in discussions in advance of the next session.

Petrides Resigns from Research Foundation

George Petrides, founder of Wild Bird Centers of America, and the spark plug behind the WBFI Research Foundation, has resigned as a trustee of the Foundation.

George has been instrumental in promoting many of the initiatives of the Wild Bird Feeding Industry association, and took the lead in laying out the Project Wildbird program, which is now into its fourth year detailing food and feeder preferences of the most common backyard feeder birds.  He has always been at the forefront of advances in the business of feeding wild birds and his input on the board of the foundation will be missed.

No reason was given for his resignation, and his leadership will be hard to replace.

-- State of the Birds Report --

Birds in the United States are in serious trouble. That’s according to a major, first-of-its-kind report just released by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

Peanut Butter Suet Safety

THE SALMONELLA OUTBREAK THAT SHOOK the peanut butter industry this year has raised questions in the bird feeding community.

Are peanut butter-flavored suet cakes and suet plugs safe to offer to wild birds? Can wild birds fall ill from this strain of salmonella? Here are some of the answers.

If you sell "green" products in your store, you'll want to check this out.