Gloomy Bear - MORE PICS! - MORE CONTROVERSY!

We truly are amazed over here at The Gloomy Bear Store at just how creative the Gloomy Bear Fan Community can be.


It seems that the last post stirred up some discussions out there on the Interweb about stereotypes and placing people into little marketing boxes and treating people like consumers first...etc.

So to those of you that might be offended by saying that Gloomy Bear Fans tend to be Hot Goth Chicks, we're sorry about that. Please feel free to continue visiting the site, emailing questions or comments and purchasing our Gloomy Bear stuff.

And those that weren't offended, didn't care, or just actually might already be a Hot Goth Chick... Please feel free to continue visiting the site, emailing questions or comments and purchasing our Gloomy Bear stuff.

To be fair, some of the staff here that first noticed there were a disproportionate number photographs of attractive, gothically dressed young women submitted to our May Gloomy Bear Contest, have decided to create a list of Other Potential Gloomy Bear Fan Groups -- Based Solely On Email Addresses and Email Names.

Again, not a very scientific method, but something interesting nonetheless. Based on this, some of our Gloomy Bear Fans are:

• Students
• Women/Girls/Female/Non-Men
• Men/Boys/Male/Non-Women
• Enjoy Punk/Alt/Emo/Electronica/Heavy Metal Music
• Pierced/Tattooed/Pierced & Tattooed

Okay...so if that's you in that list; please feel free to send in a picture of yourself with your Gloomy Bear(s) and we might post it up on the Blog or the site (again--let's keep the pics clean, it's kinda like a 'family show' around here). And, if by chance, that's not you in the list; please feel free to send in a picture of yourself with your Gloomy Bear(s) and we might post it up on the Blog or the site (again--let's keep the pics clean, it's kinda like a 'family show' around here).

Along with all of that, we also offer the opportunity to get some FREE Gloomy Bear Stuff too. You'll have to answer some simple questions, but its all worth it in the end. See the previous post about "I Want My Free Gloomy Bear" email.

So until next time... we'll be here sorting out the mess.

Gloomy Bear Demographics?

It's an interesting thing, over here at The Gloomy Bear Store. Having some limited demographic data on Gloomy Bear Fans, it would make sense to "target" the audience that Gloomy Bear appeals to most, right?

The trick (they say) is to find that "common denominator" from all our data, create some sort of marketing algorithm to ferret them out, find an inexpensive method of telling them about The Gloomy Bear Store, and then wait for the orders to come in. Sounds simple, I guess, but it's also tedious and a bit boring. But here's where it gets interesting...

I have been told by some employees at http://www.gloomybearstore.com/ that they believe all fans of Gloomy Bear fall into one of two categories:

1. Hot Goth Chicks
2. Hot Chicks

I guess this belief stems from the stack of photos (like the one to the left here) we received during our First Annual Gloomy Bear Store Contest. Beyond having some great participation from people all over the world, the nice people who entered (by sending in a photo of either their Gloomy Bear Collection or of themselves with their Favorite Gloomy Bear), did in fact, fit into one of those two categories. Although I'm not sure how photos of Gloomy Bear Collections (and not people) were judged to be attractive...

Okay, so what can a stack of pictures do to help me reach our target audience? Well, as it turns out, almost nothing. You see, when we cross-reference the information from the nice people that entered the contest along with the (equally-if-not-nicer people) who have placed orders on http://www.gloomybearstore.com/, we wind up with almost nothing that anyone could define as "common" -- which to me personally, is really quite cool, I think; but to an e-commerce website business guy, I guess is not so good.

So, we're left to just a few conclusions from all of this:

1. People of All Ages like Gloomy Bear.
2. Both Men and Women like Gloomy Bear Almost Equally.
3. There are some Very Special People who like to Pose for Pictures with Gloomy Bear, and this group is made up entirely out of Attractive Young Women.

Where this leaves us is a bit cloudy, I guess. I'll continue to post some (if not all) of the entries from the contest here soon, but if you'd like to help us out and reply with some information about yourself (with or without a picture is fine) we'll send you out a Free Gloomy Bear Gift (something cool, I promise)...right to your door.

Here's whatcha gotta do to get the goods: Email admin@GloomyBearStore.com with "Gimme My Free Gloomy Bear!" in the subject line. We'll email you back a list of 10 questions, you reply with all 10 questions answered and you're as good as gold. PLEASE NOTE: No information from this email will be shared, sold or distributed to anyone or any other company other than The Gloomy Bear Store. Your name and address will only be used to send out your Free Gloomy Bear Gift. We promise.

So help us and we'll help you. Its really that simple. Like we say on the site, we're here to help spread the Gloomy Bear Story Worldwide. Even if it does turn out to be something only Hot Goth Chicks are interested in...

Gloomy Bear is ON SALE!

In case you missed it on the Gloomy Bear Store website, the following items are now available and ON SALE:

1) Gloomy Bear Volume 3 Key Chain Counter Case
Twenty - YES - Twenty Gloomy Bear Volume 3 Blind Boxed Key Chains. All Factory Sealed, includes Vinyl Gloomy Bear Sticker too.

Now only $99.99
Save $19.80 on Each Counter Case.

2) Gloomy Bear 6" Pink & Black Pair of Plushes!
Both Pink and Black Gloomy Bear Plush Figures.
Soft & Cute, Deadly & Dangerous!

Only $25.00 for both!
Save $4.98 plus some major shipping costs too.

Okay...so buy a whole bunch! Any questions, email us at admin@GloomyBearStore.com any time.

Thanks;
Poor Poor Pity

International Sales Now Available!

OK, so today will be one of those days...lots of posts about lots of different things.

But this one is good news to all the Gloomy Bear Fans in the UK, Brazil, The Netherlands, South Africa, and even Australia (again, who knew these were ALL Gloomy Bear Hot Spots?)

The International Shipping Module on the GloomyBearStore.com website is up and running...finally! So, if you're, um, one of THEM--please feel free to register with the site and place your order. Items can ship either via FedEx or United States Post Office, so please check your shipping rates for the best deal. Please also email us at admin@GloomyBearStore.com if you see something that isn't working right or seems way too expensive (or too cheap for that matter)!

Thanks again;
Poor Poor Pity.

Some Important News

Hi Everyone:
For those of you that have placed orders on The Gloomy Bear Store in the past few weeks, I wanted to say thank you and let you know that your items are shipping now, between August 25th and August 27th.

The Gloomy Bear Store is run by just a few dedicated employees (we run a couple of sites, so we're constantly busy). And recently we were hit pretty hard when the Tribal King went through some pretty serious health issues. In fact, it kinda shut us down...right at the worst time, with some of us at the San Diego Comic-Con and others without enough "day-to-day" knowledge and experience to assume the mantle temporarily.

So, just to let you know, your order is still intact and we sincerely apologize for the delay. If you're in a bind and need it shipped super fast to arrive by a certain date, please email us at admin@GloomyBearStore.com and let us know. We'll ship it as fast as possible.

Thanks again.

Okay...so, um....We've been Busy?

Wow! My last post was on May 1st. Sorry about that.

We've been pretty busy over here at The Gloomy Bear Store. Things aren't going to get any easier as we all leave tomorrow for the San Diego Comic-Con (or Comic-Con International as it's sometimes called).

Those of you who know about "The Show" know just how crazy it can be...you know, when you cram 125,000 people into one building or FOUR Consecutive days. It's like going to Eight Superbowls in 96 hours -- although it isn't JUST LIKE the Superbowl; it's like a Superbowl full of cool people. We'll be there talking up Gloomy Bear and The Gloomy Bear Store for sure. We'll be meeting with some nice people from Japan and talking about some new things for 2009, so stay tuned for exciting news!

In any event--thank you to everyone that sent in pics of their Gloomy Bear Collection or their favorite Gloomy Bear or even Gloomy bears with their friends/pets/themselves, etc. We'll announce the winner Just as soon as we get back on August 1st. Promise.

In the mean time, I'll try my best to blog a bit from the show and share some Gloomy Bear Pics when I find them (trust me...we'll have our crack team snapping bad cell phone pics at all the bars in San Diego).

Until then--shop at the store and enjoy the day!
Poor Poor Pity.

Gloomy Bear Contest!

The Gloomy Bear Store has an offer out to the nice people who buy stuff on our site to email us a little note about themselves along with pictures of their Gloomy Bear Collection.

In turn, The Gloomy Bear Store will send them a free Gloomy Bear Gift if we decide to publish it on the web.

Well...I tell you what: We've received a lot of emails and a lot of pictures (some that we'll keep in a special place) so far. So to all of you that have sent in something, Thank You.

Because of the amount of pictures and stories, I think what we're going to do is create a contest and let people who visit The Gloomy Bear Store pick the Best Collection or the Best Picture, or Best Story or something like that. And who ever wins will get one of everything we sell on the site!

I'm still working this all out and hope to have it "all official" and everything this weekend. But if you want to win like ALOT worth of Gloomy Bear Goodness, you better send in your story, pictures or both to admin@GloomyBearStore.com to be entered real soon.

So stay tuned for the Official Notice about it all; and if you've already sent something, feel free to send more, now that there's some real competition behind it! Any questions, post them here.

Thanks!

Poor Poor Pity

HOT TOPIC = GLOOMY BEAR?

Okay, so maybe I don't shop at the mall enough. Maybe I don't get out at all very much...who knows? For the record, I think I'm pretty busy (not being at the mall), and I think I'm also pretty cool, (and I'm just plain pretty some times) but I totally missed the fact that Hot Topic is also carrying a lot of Gloomy Bear Products.

So let me know...did you find Gloomy Bear there and then shop here or was it the other way around? Are you a little upset that Hot Topic has Gloomy Bear? How many Hot Topic's are there anyway?

Or--Given how much Gloomy Bear stuff is on eBay [warning: most of them are knock-offs!!] does it really matter where Gloomy Bear is sold?

Okay...so--thoughts?

Some Things About The Gloomy Bear Store

So I thought this might be a good place to let everyone know about The Gloomy Bear Store's "How to Shop with International Shipping" policy.

1) As of today, our site makes it look like we are unable to ship outside of the USA. So if you live somewhere else and you go through the process of buying something on the site, your shipping costs will total out at $0.00 and you'll get some sort of statement on the screen that says something like "Not configured for your address..."

2) This does not mean (unfortunately) that you get the extra bonus of receiving free international shipping for your Gloomy Bear stuff. What it does mean is that the shipping tables on the back end server just can't recognize your address and don't know what to charge you, so they charge you nothing.

3) So, here's what you can do: email our Customer Service Department at admin@GloomyBearStore.com and let them know what you want to order and where you live (including a very complete Ship To address) and they will email you back with a total cost for all the items including international shipping costs. Our standard International Shipping service is provided by USPS Priority International. Why? because the rates are very low and they have a pretty good track record for getting things where they need to be. You can, of course ask for an alternate shipping method--FedEx Priority International. We'll be happy to quote it for you if you prefer.

4) Okay, then what? You can provide a Valid Credit Card Number, Expiration Date, Billing Address and Secret 3 Digit code either via email or fax to (484) 924-0367 and we'll run the card and ship your stuff -or- you can Pay Pal the amount to admin@GloomyBearStore.com on www.paypal.com and make sure you itemize what you're buying...and again, we'll ship it out to ya!

Simple, eh? I know it seems crazy & unfair, especially with all the requests we get from the UK, Denmark and Brazil (who knew?) but our goal is to eventully make all our clients happy. So until we have the whole thing "world friendly" we apologize for this work-around.

Either way, please feel free to contact us with any questions concerns or issues.

Okay, so here is where The Official Gloomy Bear Store Blog Begins.

Soon there will be new information, some exciting product announcements and maybe even some scandalous reports from Japan--about things you would (hopefully) like to read about.

So sit tight and enjoy yourselves for now--but if you can't wait, we suggest you post any and all questions you may have about Gloomy Bear and we'll answer them as we go along. And feel free to backlink, digg or del.icio.us the site as often as you like, as it should help us build this blog as a place to provide information on all things Gloomy Bear. And if you don't have any questions about Gloomy Bear, feel free spending your time buying Gloomy Bear on the store side of the blog at http://www.GloomyBearStore.com.

Welcome to the Official Gloomy Bear Store Blog.