Ffruitinferior wprognostic: Getkeepg your favoring?shoe stores

Friday, September 16th, 2011

ONE designer wrote to celebrities, the other to a teen YouTube blogger – now both of them have million-dollar businesses grounded on a fearless attitude to social media.

Ffruitinferior wprognostic: Getkeepg your favoring?shoe stores,Australian designer Lucie Trinco has seen her handbags on the shoulders of Cate Blanchett, Miranda Kerr and Dannii Minogue. And former lawyer Jodie Fox tripled the sales of her shoes with the help of Juicystar07.

Both women say having a niche product, a smart attitude to social media, and no fear when it comes to promoting their business as secrets to their success.

Ms Trinco is the founder of Il Tutto, a high-end handbag label for new mums. Since starting the business in 2007, she has seen her profit double every year, and now enjoys a turnover of more than $1 million.

Ms Trinco was the head handbag designer at Australian label Oroton, but when she designed a stylish baby bag and it became one of their best sellers, she knew she was onto something.

She started doing research into what was on offer, and while she didn’t have any kids of her own she noticed there was a gap in the market for a high-end baby bag.

Women, just because they have a baby, do not want to carry a horrible printed bag with elephants on it, said Ms Trinco, speaking today at the Glamour, Global & Growth event for Women in Business in Sydney this week.

And really that’s what was on offer. And really, when I did the research, that was what was on offer globally.

Be fearless

Ms Trinco decided to take the plunge, quit her job, and during the Christmas period in 2006 she sat down and wrote a business plan.

Ms Trinco began by literally sticking her samples in rolly suitcases and targeting the key stores she wanted to sell to.

I rang them, but a lot of them wouldn’t take my calls, so I just turned up. You’ve got to have the tenacity and just be fearless, she said.

After launching the range in Australia in July 2007, the sales started increasing, and she realised if she wanted to grow the business she needed to go global.

Ms Trinco started by entering the UK market, and is now in talks to expand into Germany. She also sells her products online, which allows her to ship all over the world.

Get celeshoe stores onlinebs to wear your product

Ms Trinco has seen a host of new celeb mums photographed using her bags, including Cate Blanchett, Danni Minogue, Sarah Murdoch, Jackie O and Miranda Kerr.

She has some tips for getting your product into the hands of celebrities, and says most importantly you need to have a product people like and will want to carry. But sometimes, it just comes down to luck.

One day, a friend called her saying Cate Blanchett was in the news carrying her bag.

And sure enough there she was on page three of The Telegraph carrying an Il Tutto bag to an Armani dinner. So sometimes it’s fluke, she said.

Since then, she has become more strategic, signing up with a PR company in Australia, the UK and Los Angeles.

We do send product to key celebrities. But we don’t just send the product. I think at a $500 price point you don’t want to be sending out bags willy nilly in the hope that they get used, she said.

Ms Trinco sends a personalised letter to celebrities, asking if they’d like a bag, and asks them to choose which one they would like. They are more likely to use something it they have been involved in the process, she says.

Use the blogging community

Ms Trinco also says it’s important to use bloggers to promote your product. For her, there is a whole sphere of mummy-bloggers she engages with.

For us it’s important to hone in on the best bloggers who are the most influential. We engage with them constantly and they do reviews of the products, she said.

Find the sites that are complementary to your own and advertise on those.

From lawyer to online shoes

Jodie Fox was no stranger to a career switch up – before leaving the corporate world completely to start design-your-own-shoe website Shoes of Prey, she’d left her job as a banking and finance lawyer to go into marketing.

Her two co-founders, Michael Fox and Mike Knapp, left jobs at Google, because they saw a gap in the Australian online retail market.

Shoes of Prey was the first company globally to go to market with the idea that a customer could design their own shoe online, and since the business was licensed in October 2009, it has grown to a team of 17 people with five offices globally.

Triple sales with one video

Ms Fox reached out to a then-16-year-old YouTube blogger within five months of launching her business.

In March 2010, she asked Juicystar07, otherwise known as US teenager Blair Fowler, to blog about her website. That one video tripled Shoes of Prey’s sales permanently,casual shoesNYTimes.com. and set the company on its way to becoming the million-dollar enterprise it is today.

Juicystar07 was an established blogger, averaging half a million views on each of her videos.

Shoes of Prey paid Ms Fowler to film a video advertising their website, and ran a competition where people could design their own pair of shoes and post a link to their design in the comments section of the YouTube video, saying where the would wear the shoes.

Shoes of Prey’s traffic on the day the YouTube video went up hit 197,104 – more than ten times their previous record of 17,092. All up, 95,000 people entered the competition.

Don’t over think it

Ms Fox says it can be tempting to over think every decision when you are a small business owner, but her advice is to do everything before you think you are ready.

Our 3D [shoe] designer is not ready yet, but we’re putting it out there so we can get that feedback and take people on our brand journey with us. And there’s very low risk with doing that, she said.

Just make a decision and see what happens because if you wait for every single thing then that inaction is really going to cost you.

MORE than half of all Aussies dont get enough exercise and women are the worst culprits, government figures show.

THE fierce battle for market share between Australias supermarket titans is poised to spill into the digital realm.

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Smouldings soureder aftermosterchronicle for wealt?shoe stores

Friday, September 16th, 2011

More shoppers are buying into the idea of purchasing previously owned items

Li Aitong, a 46-year-old business owner, paid 260,000 yuan ($40,653) for a light green Hermes Birkin handbag at Milan Station, a Hong Kong-based second-hand luxury handbag chain – that was 100,000 yuan higher than a new one directly from Hermes.

Smouldings soureder aftermosterchronicle for wealt?shoe stores,The ostrich leather bag is a gift for her daughter whos turning 24.

Li says her daughter has been wavering on spending so much money on a bag. Li had been searching boutiques all over the country,casual sanda. but to no avail. Which is why she decided to purchase a bag from the second-hand store.

Otherwise, I would have had to wait three to five years if I ordered it in the brand store, says Li.

Second-hand luxury goods stores are becoming popular in China as suppliers of new products increase prices and demand for high-end items continues to rise.

Customers come and go in a steady stream at Milan Station, located in the China Central Place, a premium commercial complex in Beijing. Most of the customers appear to be in their late 20s or early 30s.

Milan Station has another store in Beijings Sanlitun Village, a popular shopping destination. Gross sales of the two stores grew to HK$33.1 million ($4.23 million) in the first half of 2011, a 95.5 percent increase compared with the same period last year, according to its online financial report.

It also opened a new store on Nanjing West Road in Shanghai in late August, bringing its total number of stores to 14.

Last month, Vogue 2, one of the first second-hand luxury shops in Beijing that opened in 2004, launched another store nearby at Jianwai SOHO, one of the most shionable commercial complexes in Beijing.

Sensing the market potential, Rain-Wow Consignment Store opened a flagship shop in Beijing four months ago on Wangfujing Street, which is filled with hundreds of stores. It sells all kinds of second-hand luxury goods, including bags, jewelry, watches, clothes and shoes.

Second-hand goods are ranked according to wear and tear. Rain-Wow will only accept items they deem at least 80 percent of its original quality.

Besides the possibility of acquiring rare limited-edition goods, price differences between new and second-hand items can range from 10 percent to 80 percent, depending on standard value depreciation, origin, style, year of production and so on.

A near-mint quality Gucci leather bag with bamboo handles, hand-stitching and tassels at Rain-Wow is priced at 11,800 yuan, a discount of about 45 percent from the market price of 21,800 yuan. The new Chanel Coco classic flap black sheepskin bag with a gold chain is discounted by 20 percent, from 38,522 to 30,800 yuan.

We sell more than 200 bags a month and Louis Vuitton accounts for nearly half of the sales, says Luo Zhaodong, a shop manager at Milan Station in Beijing.

Luo says people prefer brands such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Chanel, which are known around the world.

Some of our customers come to buy bags to match their seasonal attire, and they will come back to trade in those bags with the original receipt after several months. Recycling is a good way for them to save money as well as satisfy their different requirements, says Liang Yue, an employee at Milan Station.

Although consumer prices keep soaring in China, peoples desire for luxury goods is showing no sign of slowing down.

According to the latest report by the World Luxury Association, Chinas luxury goods market was worth $10.7 billion in 2010, one-fourth of the worlds total.

Meanwhile, companies say their consignment sales services are also being pushed up by customers who want to get rid of brand products they no longer use.

Unlike Milan Station, which pays for used goods, Rain-Wow gives the sellers money when their goods are sold.

A seller surnamed Pan, a 30-year-old businesswoman not willing to give her full name, was selling a pale green jade bracelet she bought in Myanmar several years ago.

The idea of consignment came to me when my friends in Hong Kong told me about the second-hand stores. I want to sell my jewelry so that I can buy new items and save some money at the same time. Besides, I can sell it at a higher price compared with trading it in a pawnshop, she says.

Pan signed a three-month contract with Rain-Wow and set the price at 230,000 yuan. If the store doesnt sell the item in three months, Pan can either retrieve the item or sign a new contract.

Many of Chinas middle-class and newly-rich consumers consider used goods cheap. Because of this notion, second-hand luxury stores initially had a hard time selling items.

Peoples awareness toward second-hand goods has gradually changed, says Yang Xu, owner of Vogue 2. We suffered hard times after opening, but we persisted, as we believed vintage would be shionable in China, Yang says. Our business is stable now. The majority of our clients are white-collar and well-educated young people.

Vogue 2 only sells products that are at least 70 percent of their original quality. The top-selling items at Vogue 2 are handbags, with a sales volume of about 50 per month. Shoes, on the other hand, arent as popular. Yang says the store sells about one pair per month.

Customers are cautious with goods that directly come in contact with their bodies. Also, shoe stshoe stores onlineyles change quickly, closely following trend indicators, Yang says.

He also says shoes are more difficult to sell because of the different needs of the sizes.

For Li, who bought the Hermes bag for her daughter as a birthday present, she didnt think twice about paying 100,000 more than the original asking price at the second-hand store.

As she handed over her credit card, she said she considers the bag a long-term investment as the Hermes Birkin brand will retain its value.

(China Daily 09/16/2011 page16)

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shoe storesNordstrom Oenclosures New Smoulding at The Mevery

Friday, September 16th, 2011

, /PRNewswire/ — Leading shion specialty retailer Nordstrom opened the doors to its new 149,000 square foot store in today at The Mall at Green Hills. The three-level store features a mix of clothing, accessories, shoes and cosmetics for women, men and children.

shoe storesNordstrom Oenclosures New Smoulding at The Mevery,Customers can shop a well-edited selection of quality, luxury and designer shion brands. Among the designer offering will be ready-to-wear and accessories and handbags boutiques from Chanel and Gucci, as well as apparel from designers like , , and , and progressive designers Carven, Elizabeth and James and Rag & Bone. To complement this offering, the store also carries Balenciaga, Givenchy and Proenza Schouler handbags, as well as footwear from Chanel, , Prada, .

The store will also feature an updated cosmetics department offering a wide selection of well-known, imported and exclusive-to-Nordstrom fine fragrances including Creed, Bond No. 9, Diptyque, and . The store will also carry renowned names in makeup and skincare such as Armani, Chantecaille, La Mer and .

Nordstrom at The Mall at Green Hills offers services to enhance the shopping experience. These amenities include in-store alterations and tailor shop, certified bra and prosthesis fitters, certified shoe fitters and Personal Stylist — a complimentary wardrobe and shopping service. The store will also feature two food offerings: the companys newest restaurant concept Sixth & Pine and an espresso bar.

In advance of the stores official opening, more than 1,mens casual. 900 guests attended a sold-out gala on Wednesday night. The event raised more than for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee, Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art and The YWCA of & Middle Tennessee. The highlight of the evening was a special performance by country star .

Opening day began at with the Nordstrom Beauty Bash. Shoppers learned about the newest cosmetics and fragrances for the ll season and enjoyed complimentary skincare consultations and makeup lessons from Nordstrom beauty advisors. Customers were greeted by cheering employees when the store opened at

Our employees have been so excited to open our doors in , said , Nordstrom store manager. We have spent a lot of time preparing for this opening and will work hard to exceed our customers expectations.

Nordstrom, Inc. is one of the nations leading shion specialty retailers. Founded in 1901 as a shoe store in , today Nordstrom operates 219 stores in 30 states, including 116 full-line stores, 99 Nordstrom Racks, two shoe stores onlineJeffrey boutiques, one treasure&bond store and one clearance store. Nordstrom also serves customers through nordstrom.com and through its catalogs. Additionally, the Company operates in the online private sale marketplace through its subsidiary HauteLook. Nordstrom, Inc.s common stock is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol JWN. Follow @nordstrom on Twitter and connect at

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SOURCE Nordstrom, Inc.

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shoe storesWstricken the Adidas and Reebok tiet opepochkeepg

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Read more onTushar GoculdasReeboknikeMy CoachIPLIndiaGilletteGermanyfootwearCompany ExpansionApparelAdidas

shoe storesWstricken the Adidas and Reebok tiet opepochkeepg,Adidas andReebok jointly launch about 500 new styles offootwear each year, but this one promises to be special. The shoe calledMy Coach was launched globally in January 2010 and in its latest version it has more microchips and electronics embedded, technology that transmits heartbeat and other health data from the body directly to a computer. My Coach will be introduced inIndia by December-January at Rs 7,000 a pop.

The user intece is much stronger in Ver 2.0 because when you go online, the important thing is how you can use the data that is being generated to improve performance. If the health of a player is found below par in a particular game, he can be immediately pulled out and replaced, saysTushar Goculdas, Director-Sales and Marketing, Adidas India.

Now Adidas may have bought over Reebok in 2006 but the joint operating model, or JOM, as they call it, kicked in as recently as May 1 of this year in India. And the tech play that comes in with such a JOM is quite phenomenal. If Goculdas is high on My Coach, his counterpart in Reebok, Sajid Shamim, is upbeat about the just launched ReeFlex range of footwear from his stable, which has sensors built in to the shoe replicating natural running by virtue of barefoot simulation. So when you land your foot on the ground, you can actually feel the ground, says the Reebok brand director. Even Goculdas has a similar technology up his sleeve, the AdiPure Trainer, which is positioned as natural movement perfected.

Beyond tech, the amalgam of two iconic brands spells total market domination in the Rs 4,000-croreapparel and footwear category defined in the range of $10 and above per apparel and $25-30 and above per shoe. Together, we have 70% market share, claims Subhinder Singh Prem, Managing Director-India Operations, Adidas. Well, hes not completely off the mark when he says that, considering the definition of the market size has been predetermined. In the larger scheme of things, however, Images Retail data points to a Rs 20,000 crore market for footwear alone, of which about 80% dwells in the unorganized space.

Anupam Bansal, Director-Retail of Liberty Group, has his own version for Adidas groups prime cut in India. Nike are global leaders in footwear but in India, the brand has not taken off as much as Reebok, which got the first-mover advantage among MNCs, he says, somehow echoing the strong position of the Adidas group in its niche. Bansal is quick to add though that Rs 2,800 crore turnover, going by the Rs 4,000-crore market, is too optimistic when 40% of Reeboks sales on MRP value are on the back of discounted goods.

But that, again, needs to be mulled over another day. The JOM, for all practical purposes, is outward looking unlike the P&G andGillette JOM, claims Prem, with the consumer at its core. While its true that it gives us scale, access to technology, better bric management, a stronger backend and a quicker go-to-market, the question to ask is what we will do with the scale, points out Prem. He is clear.

In the new scheme of things,prada shoes. the group wants to grow the market, tap into the lives of people to increase their sporting quotient and not just sit pretty managing their 70% benchmark. In cricket, for instance, Indias most loved sport, the combined brands now sponsor almost all mainstream cricketers and also dominates the second richest sporting league in the world with sevenIPL teams in its kitty.

While maintaining the lead is critical, Prem & Co. are splitting hair over things like getting more and more women engage with fitness through Reeboks EasyTone or improving the overall participation of the Delhi Marathon.

Having said that, finance and sourcing of both the brands have now been integrated. As the backend comes together, Team Adidas is vigorously scouting for land to invest in one of the biggest warehousing cilities to reduce the lead time for consumers and bring them the latest products. Has the lead time improved? Its too early to tell as the JOM just rolled out a few months back, and typically, these projects have an investment horizon of one-and-a-half to two years, says Prem. On the front-end, one clear arena where synergies will emerge is retail space management, to drive efficiencies. We will seek to implement best operational practices across all our brands to enhance the profitability of our business partners, says Prem.

But one thing is clear. In no way, will the JOM trigger manucturing by the group on its own. Footwear and apparel will continue to be manuctured by about seven vendors in footwear and 55 in apparel. The question now is how to upgrade their manucturing cilities and make them more efficient with scale, going forward, asks Prem. Nor will the JOM prompt the group to launch its own stores. It has about 1,600 stores today that are all franchisee operated.

Neither will there be any acquisitions. Prem makes it very clear that there are enough brands already in the groups kitty to play with and with the evolving market and lifestyle changes geared to sports, his hands are full. The last acquisition Adidas as a group made worldwide was Ashworth in the US, which got the iconic Taylormade brand for golfing into its fold. There will also be no R&D out of India as the fundamental research is triggered from labs based out of Boston andGermany. We do a bit of customization for players, like Sachin Tendulkar in cricket, in our development center but were not into high-end research, maintains Goculdas.

So if category growth alone is the way forward, Sajid Shamim highlights toning as a category that did not exist in India and how bringing it a year back, has enabled Reebok build up a sizeable business. A lot of categories like that are lying vacant and they will develop, he points out. While that may be a key driver in growing the market, in India, value engineering seems to be the way forward.

The two brands, now across 350 cities, have taken a leaf out of that and are penetrating across categories through value engineering. In the case of Reebok,for instance, its ReeZig shoes are based on the energy platform. But the brand has another category right below it called Wipe 10, which has features of the Zig but score on affordability. Similarly, in Adidas, take the case of the F50, the shoe that the worlds best footballer Lionel Messi struts. It vends for Rs 14,999 a pop. But the brand also tosses up the F30, F10 and F5, the latter selling for Rs 3,499 a pair. It may have lesser tech than F50 but its just right for an entry-level player, says Goculdas. Call it sole redemption, if you will.

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Adidas may have acquired Reebok in 2006 but the joint operating model has kicked in here just four months back enabling the combo notch up 70% market share in the premium footwear and apparel space. Will it work?

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shoe storesThe Other Shoe Drops: Retflavourer Sales Fevery Fl

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Fashion Week in New York wrapped up yesterday, but maybe they should rename it Fashion Weak because the rag trade and retail in general — isnt really rocking. There are exceptions, of course, as the jostling at Target to snag cut-rate Missoni-labeled clothes made plain. And some retailers or maybe one named Patagonia apparently dont give a sensible, sustainably produced pullover if they make a buck.

shoe storesThe Other Shoe Drops: Retflavourer Sales Fevery Fl, Shoppers Are Just Browsing

We already knew that August sawzero net job growth, but new data released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday offered another indication that the economy may be stalling: Consumer spending was virtually unchanged last month compared with July aswaning confidence translated to less ringing at cash registers. Shoppers shelled out a seasonally adjusted $389.50 billion, up only slightly from $389.34 billion in July, but spent less on cars, clothes, and furniture than they had the previous month.

A revised read on July retail sales growth, at 0.3 percent, was also slightly weaker than the original estimate of 0.5 percent. Despite the month-to-month weaknesswhich may be due in part to the disruptions caused by Hurricane IreneAugust sales were 7.2 percent higher than they had been in 2010.

Missoni Accomplished at Target

When is a crash actually a boom?Targets website crashed on Tuesday due to what the retailer called unprecedented demand from frenzied shionistas eager to snap up a limited line of clothing and home goods from Italian designer Missoni. Target has plenty of experience with such partnerships, having done similar promotions with designers and brands such as Michael Graves, Zac Posen, and Liberty of London Casual ShoesBEpolymerMA, but as popular as some of those prior offerings were, none was met with the quite same tidal wave of demand. By 8:22 a.m. on Tuesday,Targets Twitter feed had turned into a string of apologiesSorry for the inconvenience! Our new clothing line launch has caused some higher traffic than usual. Please check back later!to frustrated consumers who had been sounding off online. Shoppers also descended on Target stores and cleared out everything from socks and skirts to umbrellas and picture frames, all bearing Missonis signature zigzag pattern. The cheap chic line, which was officially supposed to be available through October 22, was mostly sold out in less than a day. By mid-day Thursday, nearly 42,000 Target Missoni items werelisted for sale on eBay. 

While Target has taken some knocks for its handling of the promotion, the mayhem could still turn out to be a marketing win for both the retailer and Missoni. It was brilliant, says Kendra Wehmeyer of branding consultancy Landor Associates. The tumult certainly could help both the Target and Missoni brands, Wehmeyer says. The ct that the website crashed was amazing. It just created this pent-up demand that will continue. And by Thursday, Targets Twitter feed had a new message for those frustrated customers: Limited Missoni for Target items will be restocked by the end of the week!

Best Buy Earnings: Now 30 Percent Off!

The big-box electronics chain has some big issues to sort through. Best Buy on Tuesday reported disappointing earnings for its fiscal second quarter, with operating income off 30 percent to $177 million and revenue essentially flat at $11.3 billion. Sales at stores open at least 14 months dropped 2.8 percent, marking the fifth straight quarterly decline. CEO Brian Dunn said the results reflect continued macro challenges to overall consumer spending and lower consumer electronics industry sales. And despite sounding optimistic notes regarding the coming holiday shopping season, the company cut its forecast for full-year earnings. Best Buy stock, which has short-circuited this year, fell an additional 6.5 percent on Tuesday, hitting its lowest level since December 2008 before rebounding slightly on Wednesday.

Patagonia to Customers: Dont Buy New Stuff

Its not often that a company tells customers not to buy its products, but thats essentially what apparel-maker Patagonia did last week when it launched its Common Threads Initiativea program that encourages customers to reduce consumption and their environmental impact. This program first asks customers to not buy something if they dont need it, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard said in a statement announcing the plan. If they do need it, we ask that they buy what will last a long time and to repair what breaks, reuse or resell whatever they dont wear any more. And, finally, recycle whatevers truly worn out. As part of the initiative, the company partnered with eBay to launch an online marketplace for used Patagonia gear, and while eBay will still collect its usual fees, Patagonia wont make any money from those sales.

So whats in it for Chouinards company? Couldnt this dent sales, which last year totaled $414 million? We dont really care, says Patagonia spokeswoman Jess Clayton. The goal of it is to do the right thing and to be able to give customers the option to buy used because thats what they should do as opposed to buying new, for the environment. It doesnt matter how it affects sales. Clayton admits that this could be seen as a marketing move that plays up the durability of Patagonia items and will resonate with the companys environmentally conscious customer base, though she emphasizes that wasnt the motivation for the program. In the past when weve made decisions like this, its always made the company money, says Clayton, noting that the companys decision to switch to organic cotton in the 1990s, despite the increased costs, turned out well. Our customers, especially, are really in tune with this stuff. And theyre psyched.

Fashion Week in New York wrapped up yesterday, but maybe they should rename it Fashion Weak because the rag trade and retail in general — isnt really rocking. There are exceptions, of course, as the jostling at Target to snag cut-rate Missoni-labeled clothes made plain. And some retailers or maybe one named Patagonia apparently dont give a sensible, sustainably produced pullover if they make a buck.

Shoppers Are Just Browsing

We already knew that August sawzero net job growth, but new data released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday offered another indication that the economy may be stalling: Consumer spending was virtually unchanged last month compared with July aswaning confidence translated to less ringing at cash registers. Shoppers shelled out a seasonally adjusted $389.50 billion, up only slightly from $389.34 billion in July, but spent less on cars, clothes, and furniture than they had the previous month.

A revised read on July retail sales growth, at 0.3 percent, was also slightly weaker than the original estimate of 0.5 percent. Despite the month-to-month weaknesswhich may be due in part to the disruptions caused by Hurricane IreneAugust sales were 7.2 percent higher than they had been in 2010.

Missoni Accomplished at Target

When is a crash actually a boom?Targets website crashed on Tuesday due to what the retailer called unprecedented demand from frenzied shionistas eager to snap up a limited line of clothing and home goods from Italian designer Missoni. Target has plenty of experience with such partnerships, having done similar promotions with designers and brands such as Michael Graves, Zac Posen, and Liberty of London, but as popular as some of those prior offerings were, none was met with the quite same tidal wave of demand. By 8:22 a.m. on Tuesday,Targets Twitter feed had turned into a string of apologiesSorry for the inconvenience! Our new clothing line launch has caused some higher traffic than usual. Please check back later!to frustrated consumers who had been sounding off online. Shoppers also descended on Target stores and cleared out everything from socks and skirts to umbrellas and picture frames, all bearing Missonis signature zigzag pattern. The cheap chic line, which was officially supposed to be available through October 22, was mostly sold out in less than a day. By mid-day Thursday, nearly 42,000 Target Missoni items werelisted for sale on eBay. 

While Target has taken some knocks for its handling of the promotion, the mayhem could still turn out to be a marketing win for both the retailer and Missoni. It was brilliant, says Kendra Wehmeyer of branding consultancy Landor Associates. The tumult certainly could help both the Target and Missoni brands, Wehmeyer says. The ct that the website crashed was amazing. It just created this pent-up demand that will continue. And by Thursday, Targets Twitter feed had a new message for those frustrated customers: Limited Missoni for Target items will be restocked by the end of the week!

Best Buy Earnings: Now 30 Percent Off!

The big-box electronics chain has some big issues to sort through. Best Buy on Tuesday reported disappointing earnings for its fiscal second quarter, with operating income off 30 percent to $177 million and revenue essentially flat at $11.3 billion. Sales at stores open at least 14 months dropped 2.8 percent, marking the fifth straight quarterly decline. CEO Brian Dunn said the results reflect continued macro challenges to overall consumer spending and lower consumer electronics industry sales. And despite sounding optimistic notes regarding the coming holiday shopping season, the company cut its forecast for full-year earnings. Best Buy stock, which has short-circuited this year, fell an additional 6.5 percent on Tuesday, hitting its lowest level since December 2008 before rebounding slightly on Wednesday.

Patagonia to Customers: Dont Buy New Stuff

Its not often that a company tells customers not to buy its products, but thats essentially what apparel-maker Patagonia did last week when it launched its Common Threads Initiativea program that encourages customers to reduce consumption and their environmental impact. This program first asks customers to not buy something if they dont need it, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard said in a statement announcing the plan. If they do need it, we ask that they buy what will last a long time and to repair what breaks, reuse or resell whatever they dont wear any more. And, finally, recycle whatevers truly worn out. As part of the initiative, the company partnered withshoe stores online eBay to launch an online marketplace for used Patagonia gear, and while eBay will still collect its usual fees, Patagonia wont make any money from those sales.

So whats in it for Chouinards company? Couldnt this dent sales, which last year totaled $414 million? We dont really care, says Patagonia spokeswoman Jess Clayton. The goal of it is to do the right thing and to be able to give customers the option to buy used because thats what they should do as opposed to buying new, for the environment. It doesnt matter how it affects sales. Clayton admits that this could be seen as a marketing move that plays up the durability of Patagonia items and will resonate with the companys environmentally conscious customer base, though she emphasizes that wasnt the motivation for the program. In the past when weve made decisions like this, its always made the company money, says Clayton, noting that the companys decision to switch to organic cotton in the 1990s, despite the increased costs, turned out well. Our customers, especially, are really in tune with this stuff. And theyre psyched.

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shoe storesEbates.com Turns 12 Years Old

Monday, May 9th, 2011

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·AJAX · CLOUD · ECLIPSE ·FLEX ·OPEN WEB ·iPHONE · JAVA ·LINUX ·OPEN SOURCE ·ORACLE ·PBDJ ·SEARCH ·SILVERLIGHT ·SOA ·VIRTUALIZATION ·WEB 2.0 · WIRELESS ·XML

MargaretDawson wrote: Nice detail Maureen that others hadnt captured with this announcement. Dells late to the game but obviously has the cash behind this. I think the biggest challenge for the big firms (Dell, MS, IBM, etc.) is not figuring out how to find $$ for R&D or infrastructure but the go to market, particularly around pricing and comping sales on SaaS model, how to use their channel and how to not cannibalize traditional product sales.

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anniversary with a special sale offering members 12 percent cash back at over one hundred of the nations leading retailers including 1800Flowers, Athleta, Banana Republic, Body Shop, Designer Shoe Warehouse, drugstore.com, ebags, Eddie Bauer, FTD, Gap, jcpenney.com, Old Navy, Petco and Piperlime.

For the past 12 years, Ebates has helped savvy shoppers across the country earn millions of dollars in cash back. Since 1999, Ebates has seen its membership increase to over 10 million shoppers. While hundreds of dotcoms have struggled to survive or disappeared altogether, Ebates.com has seen a steady increase in its business even through the economic downturn.

For 12 years, Ebates growing member base has been getting paid to shop every single day, said Kevin H. Johnson, CEO of Ebates. As we celebrate our 12

anniversary, we remain committed to offering the best cash back offers, coupons, and special deals from the widest range of retailers and ensure that Ebates.com remains the shopping destination of choice for savvy online shoppers all across the country.

Its pretty sweet to get a bonus in your bank account. Ebates.com saves real people real moneyno gimmicks involved, says Kate Jiggins from Seattle. She started shopping on Ebates 3 years ago and estimates shes received an average of $75 in rebates every month since.

In addition to the exclusive anniversary sale, Ebates.com shares 12 tips to give shoppers the best bang for their buck while shopping online:

1) Comparison Shop

Dont take any online item at ce value. Shop around to find the best deal or the best sale.

2) Shop Seasonally

End of season sales are a great time to stock up on last seasons items. You may not need that half-price sweater now, but youll need it later.

3) Dont Overlook the Sale Section

Dont assume the sale sections are over-picked and that they just contain last years items. Sometimes they offer must-have items in a range of colors, sizes, and options.

4) Do the Math on Savings

Some stores offer free shipping, others have sales, others mark percentages off. Make a list of total savings, add them up, and go with the store that offers the best overall deal.

5) Get Something in Return

If youre going to pay full-price for something online, why not get something back for it? Ebates.com is offering up to 12% in rebates through hundreds of their partner stores.

6) Make Extra Money

Whether its a check in the mail or money in your PayPal account, websites like Ebates offer cash back just for shopping through them.

7) Be Social

Many retailers offer special discounts and promotions over their social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Apps like FourSquare, and Gowalla also offer promotions.

Click on Coupons

Many sites have coupons and sales, but if you do your homework you can DOUBLE your savings during special promotions. Ebates is offering DOUBLE cash back right now for dozens of stores.

9) Get Ahead of the Game

Dont miss out on those special promotions. Sign up in advance at your vorite store for emails regarding special discounts and savings. Ebates offers the Daily Double list.

10) Use Trusted Sites to Shop

You never have to worry about whether the website youre purchasing an item from is safe if you go through Ebates. All our retailers sites are 100% protected.

11) Be Aware of your Surroundings

Dont give away your savings by entering credit card information over an unsecured public network. There may be a hacker preying on those at the corner caf, so place your order over a trusted network.

12) Tell-A-Friend

So you saved a bunch and want to tell all your friends? Perfect! You can get cash back, just for spreading the word about your vorite site. If you refer your friends to Ebates, theyll pay you a bonus.

Over 1,200 online stores have joined the roster of retailers that offer cash back, special deals including free shipping, and over 5000 coupons to members of Ebates.com. The free membership allows consumers to shop online at their vorite retailers while earning a percentage of every purchase they make; paid quarterly in the form of a Big Fat Check or through PayPal. From niceties to necessities, members of Ebates benefit from incentives at top-name merchants for everything from furniture to shion and appliances to aire. Because shopping with Ebates is hassle-free: no rebate forms to fill out and no points or miles to redeem, the site supports a strong community of savvy shoppers across the country and around the world.

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