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.

Online shopping has become very popular over the last couple of years because customers can buy what they want in an efficient, quick and safe manner. Of course, it is important to do some research and comparison shop, else you end up overpaying - as I learned through the hard way. I really regret paying about 15% more for a laptop which I found out to be overpriced a few days after buying.

Once bitten, twice shy! But if you like the idea of online shopping, you can try Mpire, a one stop station where you can compares prices, read product reviews and buy the best deals on eBay, Amazon, Best Buy, Shopping, Overstock, or other online market places.

There are many categories available, ranging from digital cameras, fashion, outdoor sports, electronic gadgets, home improvements, and jeweleries. The procedure is easy, let’s say you want to buy a watch, just type in the keyword in the search function, you then get a price trend for that item and several sources will appear with links and prices. You can zoom into each shop and make your decision base on cost, quality, delivery time, etc.

Another outstanding aspect of Mpire is their extensive coupons collection for almost all online shopping locations. Some shoppers will not contemplate any purchases without coupons. I don’t blame them, with inflation sky-high, depending on coupons is the only way to stretch your dollar.

Do you know that even in the luxury retail, the exclusive cliente are also interested in bargains and mega-sales? If the super-rich likes the idea of discounts, then we can’t blame the man in the street for heckling about prices. Fact is, everybody loves a good bargain…

Today’s consumers are savvy and they try to shop for branded goods which must give them a sense of value. If you have little time to pound the streets, especially guys, why not try online shopping? I found this site, shopwiki.com , that allows you to shop for a myraid of items.

Traditional shopping sites will only show you stores that have paid for listing but ShopWiki has gone a step further with its unique algorithm which allows it to crawl every store on the internet, similar to what Google does.

I will say their service is like your personal shopper that sifts through all available products and bring the best choices in front of your screen. This is a value added service for shoppers at zero cost. I have zoomed into their shoes sections to find some cool sneakers and cowboy boots at the best price, of course. I can comparison shop on the spot without doing a search myself and then visiting the individual online shopping sites. Talk about convenience…

Besides buying my own stuff, I also look at the ladies’ section and see get a present for my wife. Mother’s Day is coming and I think she has been a marvelous mom to our kid. She loves handbags and stiletto heels so I am going to give her a pleasant surprise.

I am quite happy to stumble upon this site because I can get lots of creative gift ideas than if I visited any brick and mortar stores. It is not difficult to find bargains, just spend some time to browse through their shopping directory and you will not be disappointed.

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.