The Power of Retail

We’ve been running through our luggage like nobody’s business lately. With all our traveling back and forth, my suitcases were looking rather ragged and so I got myself some new luggage sets, which not only look good but will last the distance as well. It’s not always easy to have a piece of luggage that looks as well as travels well, especially with the way the baggage handlers toss the bags around these days. I’m all for a sturdy pair of suitcases to travel with, something that I can open easily in a small space, and has a good set of internal straps to keep everything in place.

Ikea opened its first store in Florida and the cult of Ikea was in full force. Ikea has managed to create a unique brand around itself tht no other brand has even come close to, and consumers accross the world go to any lenghts to be able to shop at an Ikea store. For most Ikea fans, the store is not just about buying furniture, it’s about the complete experience of it all or an adventure for some, that goes much beyond just buying furniture that needs to be assembled.

There really is something about people who buy cars that they end up loving more than their friends and family. The Mustang is the perfect example of this phenomenon and I have seen it first hand several times. People who own Mustangs, simply forget about their friends and family while anything and everything about their car takes primary importance. The people behind the marketing and brand building of Mustang have really create quite a cult around the cars and anything associated with the cars.

HDTV’s will be one of the best products to buy this holiday season, as retailers are getting set to have a lot of special HDTV deals for them this year. According to Paul Gagnon, an analyst with DisplaySearch, “The drivers of a lot of the promotional activity and growth last year were flat panel TVs, and that will happen again. Last year, prices fell unexpectedly far. And this year, you’ll see some good deals on Black Friday, too.”

There are lots of sites where you can get the scoop on the best deals, such as TGIBlackFriday, Black Friday 2007, CyberMonday.com, Black Friday info, Deals Plus, Fat Wallet, Black-Friday.net, and so on. Most sites post leaked sales circulars on their sites, although not all will have the scoop on who is offering what at which price.

Pricing for HDTVs will vary according to their size, with the best deals for the 40″ screens, in both LCD and Plasma, which have the full 1920-by-1080p resolution. According to Gagnon, “We’ll see the biggest discounts this holiday season from plasma. Plasma manufacturers have surplus capacity available to them.”

Some other top deals that we’ve culled from ads: $900 for a 42-inch 720p plasma TV, the Panasonic TH-42PX75U, (online is closer to $1000) an “early bird” special at Best Buy; and $900 for Sylvania’s LC420SS8, a 42-inch 1080p LCD TV that is an early markdown at Sears. Earlier this fall, there had been rumors among industry jockeys about a 42-inch 720p plasma TV for $600 by the holidays, but don’t hold out for this deal: Nothing has surfaced on the Black Friday spoiler sites, and Gagnon says the research firm’s own ferreting hasn’t confirmed this, either.

As an investment real estate is a very good option and consumers are going more with real estate than with stocks and bonds. Besides being a good investment, it is also a good industry to get into and take a real estate franchise, so as to be a part of the growing trend of real estate investments. I think the time is going to to come when consumes start to buy their homes earlier and earlier and there will be lower priority given to rentals. We are ourselves in the process of buying an apartment, mostly for investment purposes but we might end up living in it ourselves as well. The project is yet to start being construction, so its a long way off as yet, and should be realy in late 2009 or so. We haven’t finalized on which property to take and which bank to take the financing with, but are looking to finalize things in the next few weeks.

Best Buy did a practice run for its Black Friday sales, traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year, which if left unplanned leads to chaos and confusion. Around 100,000 Best Buy employees participated in a practice session, which included simulated customer lines and likely shopping scenarios. According to Mary Ann Claps, a district HR manager for Best Buy, “We plan way ahead of time how the stores are going to operate. We want to make sure everyone in the store knows what their role is. It has to run like clockwork.”

At Sunday’s rehearsal at the Commack store, about 115 employees got a glimpse from the other side and compared standing in an unmoving line to one that was in constant motion. After gathering to hear the overall game plan, staffers broke down into smaller groups to discuss “how to deal with multiple customers at once, product placement and servicing the customer from beginning to end,” said Michael Basile, Geek Squad CIA, who will be working in the computer section handling installation and protection plans.

When at one time, retailers made no special arrangements for shoppers on Black Friday, retailers are now creating an entirely new game plan to ensure that shoppers who come into the store, get the best of service and make not only the purchase they came for but also add other items to their cart. At Best Buy, employees will be available not only to guide customers, but also to hand out maps and coffee to early bird customers who line up at the store before it opens at 5am.

So, do you have your list ready for the holiday shopping? And more importantly, do you have the Vacheron Constantin watch on your list? You’d better add it if you don’t already, as this is one special gift to give someone special. I really like giving and getting watches as presents, and am planning on buying one this year as well. I have always been a person who has to wear a watch at all times, so having lots of variety in watches is a nice byproduct of that. Watch manufacturers have come up with incredible variety and range in styles and prices and its really quite fun picking out a watch. I really do think of watches as perfect gifts.

Here’s a great resource for all shoppers looking for special deals on the internet. Check out CyberMonday.com, which as all the best deals that online retailers are offering listed all in one place. You can even register to receive email alerts for items or stores that you are interested in. The service is free of course, so if you don’t like it you can always unsubscribe at a click of a button.

Cyber Monday is one of the busiest online shopping days in the year and retailers are giving it special attention this year due to the lack luster sales so far, weak economy and high gas prices which are putting a damper on the holiday shopping this year. The CyberMonday.com site has been created by Shop.org, which is part of the National Retail Federation, the largest and most influential retail association in the US.

A friend who recently had a baby told me about amby baby, which has some pretty cool motion beds for infants. They are apparently the craze and are loved by new moms and babies alike. She was thrilled with here purchase, especially since she was able to sleep a bit more, as her baby fell asleep very quickly in one of these. I hadn’t heard or seen these before, so I had to go online to search for them. Have a look yourself.

Cyber Monday is almost here and online retailers are gearing up to offer lots of special Cyber Monday deals to kick-start the shopping season this year. According to a survey by the National Retail Federation, 116 retailer were surveyed and it was found that 72% of them would be offering special deals on Cyber Monday, a significant rise from 43% who offered special deals two years ago. Cyber Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving and is one of the busiest days of online shopping, with shoppers checking out online sale sites during their lunch breaks or while they are working.

According to Scott Silverman, executive director at NRF’s Shop.org, the Cyber Monday phenomenon started in 2005 and while last year was a trial year for some, this year all online retailers are taking it seriously. One of the leading sites on holiday sales, Gift.com found that its visitors more than tripled last year on Cyber Monday as compared to 2005.

Among the Cyber Monday offers:

•Ice.com says it will give away a pair of diamond stud earrings to every 100th customer that day. It is offering a 20% discount to anyone who goes to a special page it has created for Cyber Monday.

•Shopadidas.com will give 25% off on all running and training apparel, which it says is a bigger offer than last year’s.

•Figleaves.com, an online retailer of intimate apparel, will offer a 20% discount on its home page for its entire site. Last year, it only offered e-mail promotions to existing customers.