Seven To Ten

My blog focuses on economy and businesses but from time to time, I do have certain posts on fashion targeted at women. I mean, I can’t help but notice the latest fashion trends and bargain buys from my wife’s shopping activities, given that I am the one who always have to settle the credit card bills at the end of the month. I figure what is good for my wife must be good for women at large.

Economy and fashion actually goes hand in hand. Our economy is in the doldrums right now and jobs are at stake, so lots of retail stores are suffering. But since Mother’s Day is near, I believe my wife deserves some rewards and I don’t really begrudge her excessive spending during this period.

I notice some purchases from her on this website, Bandlet, so I checked it out and and found they sell lots of women’s authentic brand name apparel, BCBG, Dolce & Gabanna, Ralph Lauren, INC, Charter House, Tahari, etc.

Besides clothing, they also offer designer bags, sunglasses, shoes, and accessories. I am impressed at their amazing prices which are kind to my budget. Click on the Dress category and you will find lots of summer dresses that are as cute as can be. I chanced upon a pretty dress at only $20 - Belle du Jour (a green floral faux wrap dress) which will definitely look fabulous on my wife and this will be my little surprise for her.

Even if you aren’t into fashion, I think it is a good idea to check out this site. Dress to kill at only $20.00 and under. My wife is obsessed with Dolce & Gabanna and I think all girls love to stock their closet with this brand. Brandlet will offer you free shipping for orders exceeding $99. There is also a 30 Day money back guarantee if the products do not meet your satisfaction.

Some retailers have blamed an early Easter and cooler weather for decreasing store sales in March. These two factors, combined with sluggishness in consumer spending, exacerbated the damage.

It is a perfect storm of factors: Gas and food prices are at an all-time high, the housing market is deteriorating, the credit market is tighter and consecutive months of job losses. However, retailers are looking forward to April sales. Last April, sales fell 1.8%. So the comparisons are easier. Also, seasonal purchases should get a boost as the weather improves.

Sales tracker Thomson Financial has reported that many retailers have missed analysts’ estimates than beating forecasts. The disappointments were more pronounced for firms like Limited Brands, owner of Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works chains, and teen apparel chain Pacific Sunwear which logged an 8% sales decline.

If you are in business (whether it is retail, restaurant, phone order or e-commerce), there comes a time when you have to accept credit card payments. This will elevate your company profile and push your sales to the next plateau.

The problem is where to look for a secure, fast, affordable, and user-friendly credit cards machine? I believe Flagship Merchant Services has the answer. They possess a huge market share in credit card processing services, based on their ultra competitive pricing programs, technical expertise, customer service, and reliability.

Using Flagship services, merchants can now accept credit cards, debit card, and checks (basically, any non cash transactions) at the point of sale, over the internet. If you worry about exorbitant set-up fees and believe that a credit card machine is only for big corporations and not your tiny one-man show, you are off the mark.

There no account set-up fee, paperwork or annual fee. You also get for free: shopping cart, credit card terminal program, online sales tracking and reporting and American Express set-up. All merchants will also be assigned an account representative and receive priority customer support 24 hours a day in 150 languages.

See, you are paying almost nothing to get skyrocketing sales and a hassle-free experience.

Before you get all excited, you have not asked the all-important questions when it comes to credit-card payments: chargebacks and fraud. Are merchants being taken seriously on this issue by Flagship Merchant Services? Well, you are in safe hands as they have one of the largest credit card fraud, loss prevention and chargeback departments in the credit card processing industry.

My friend has a small business selling hand-made crafts, maybe I can introduce him to this site. While paypal is convenient, I think he will appreciate getting a merchant account for minimal cost.

Yesterday, I mentioned about the slump in retail. Consumer spending is low, besides all the poor economic news, there is the sky-high prices of commodities, what else is there left to spend on retail at the end of each month? Daily staples take a priority to material needs now.

At this time, if you are in retail, breaking out of tradition and offering a unique experience to customers is the way to go. Conducting more research to find out the popular products and what your competitors are doing are also important. As part of your research, I believe joining online communities is an excellent idea.

Just as an example, over at Style Hive, you can find a community of fashion lovers. Style Hive is not regarded as the worlds’ largest social shopping community for nothing - you can join their interesting forum discussions, get to follow cool people and plug into the latest global shopping trends. You know which items are the hottest finds by the number of hives (saves).

In this page, you can snoop in on the latest handbag craze. It indicates all the hot handbags found, “hived”, and tagged “handbag” by all the shopping fanatics within the Stylehive community. A list of the most popular handbags over the last month is also available.

For active contributers, start building your own community today by bookmarking and adding your favorite items to your wishlist. Alternatively, send, blog or comment on the items to let other members know what you think.

If you are knowledgeable about fashion, or more specifically handbags, your contributions will be appreciated and I am sure you will have a strong group of following in no time… last I check, some of the popular members have more than 5000 followers. When it comes to social networks, always remember that the more effort you put in, the more you will receive at the end of the day.

The economic downturn is forcing highest number of retail store closings in 4 years. Retail chains are shutting down some mall-based locations but some businesses are eager to move into those vacant storefronts.

These non-traditional businesses focus on an experience, rather than products and they have become the darling of mall operators who are nervous about declining mall traffic and sales, on top on rising retail store vacancies.

It could be the way to go, especially in a recessionary environment. Studies indicate that spending on entertainment and self-improvement services tend to be fairly recession-proof.

If you have a retail store you intend to close it, why not think out of the box and give customers an unique experience?