Understanding Product Retirement

I've already had a few questions about the new Autumn/Winter 2011 Idea Book and what will be retiring.  While we have not yet been given a retired list, and I'm not sure that we'll get one, I thought I'd share with you what CTMH shared with us back in January when we switched to 2 Idea Books per year.  (I thought I had shared it, but maybe not.)  Here are the whats, whens, and whys of product retirement in 2011 and beyond.

My Acrylix^® Stamps 

Current + preceding Idea Book. We know you love to have a wide variety of My Acrylix^® stamps to choose from, so we’re making them available longer. You will be able to purchase stamp sets from the current Idea Book and the one immediately preceding, making our stamp sets available for a minimum of one year.

My Reflections^® Products

Current Idea Book only. Because you love our My Reflections^® line of products, we’ve increased the number of new paper collections we're offering to eight per Idea Book. My Reflections products are available only if they are featured in the current Idea Book; however, we are pulling forward four kits from each Idea Book into the next one, so you’ll have a total of 12 kits to choose from at any given time!

Accessories

Current Idea Book only. Accessories can only be purchased if they are featured in the current Idea Book. Many accessories will be retired each Idea Book cycle to make way for new products, but a large number of popular and versatile accessories and tools will be carried from Idea Book to Idea Book. While we won’t be publishing a Retiring List that announces the retirement of each accessory beforehand, we will let you know if an entire category of products is being retired.

Workshops on the Go™ Kits

Current Idea Book + 1-month before and after. So that you can plan your workshops ahead of time, we make Workshops on the Go™ kits available one month before the Idea Book they’re featured in goes live to customers. You can also purchase Workshop kits one month after the Idea Book cycle ends if you haven’t been able to squeeze in a Workshop you’ve wanted to do.

Retired Products

Limited time on MyCTMH^® sites. If you’re looking for a product we’ve retired, you can always check the Discounted Products section in MyCTMH^® online shopping. This area is regularly updated with retired items. If you see something you like, though, be sure to snap it up, as many times our inventory of such products is very limited.

Now is a great time to purchase what you want before the new Autumn/Winter Idea Book comes out in August, because with each new Idea Book, we’ll refresh our product line by phasing out old products to make room for the new!  

Until next time...