"ShopWorthy" is about shopping, especially online shopping. We provide access to great shopping deals, share other cool blogs and websites, provide online shopping tips, share news about new products and websites, offer value through articles about gift ideas, and generally pontificate our deep thoughts about the art and science of online shopping.
Well, we messed up. Have you ever run a blog search for "Shop Talk?" Apparently, we hadn't either. Not sure where our heads were (don't answer that, please) but we didn't. There are a billion of 'em. Okay, maybe a few less, but too many. So, before we get too settled or get too many posts up (or have followers other than friends ;-), we're changing our name.
(drum roll, please....)
Our new name is, "ShopWorthy... A Blog About Online Shopping."
Catchy, eh? I don't think we'll win any marketing awards, but it does synch with our business name, DreamWorthy Gifts, and it's clear what it's about from the title. So, we feel good about that, and hope you do, too, gentle readers. We'll settle in now.
Ah, but we're not stopping there. Nay, no, nein, nyet, notta chance.
While we're changing things, we might as well go all the way. Our posts have been fun and - we've been told (thanks Mom) - informative, but they've also been all over the place. As you know, focus is ver... oh, look, a kitty! You get the point. So, we are introducing a "format," if you will. We will offer some weekly columns, some monthly columns, and possibly a free-form twist for each post, as it strikes our fancy.
OUR NEW FORMAT
Weekly Columns:
ShopWorthy Water Cooler: Product and website reviews
The News Room:News; what others are talking about
Savvy Shopper:Coupons, discounts, free stuff
Monthly Columns:
Charity Corner: Charity Malls / ways to give back
Business Buzz: Online shopping business opportunities
So, without further ado, we will share one interesting item as a thanks for stopping by for this announcement, with a promise to have a post up in the new format before Christmas.
ShopWorthy Water Cooler
Buy.ology by Martin Lindstrom |Business Book Brief from BNET
Here's an interesting ditty by author Martin Lindstrom, brought to us by our friends at BNET.
In order to understand the effects of branding on the mind, branding expert and author Martin Lindstorm conducted the world's largest neuromarketing study. In this video he shares his discoveries about why we seem to be immune to cigarette health warnings, why we squeeze a lime into a bottle of Corona, and how to smash your brand into a thousand pieces and have it still be recognizable. The cool video is courtesy of BNET and is also viewable at its original location
BNET Video
For more information, or to purchase the book, Lindstrom's site is here , where you can download a PDF of all chapter summaries and see a ton of other cool information. Or, if you are so inclined, you may purchase the book through us at this link.
And with that said, we'll wrap up our ShopWorthy post for now, with another post coming soon in the new format. Thanks for reading, and as always, happy shopping!
Until next time,
Your friends and Shopping Advisors at DreamWorthy Gifts.
THINGS LOOK BAD; THINGS LOOK GOOD. OH, JUST GO SHOPPING!
MarketWatch Reports
According to news at MarketWatch, grim job news might finally spur consumers to change their spending habits. It starts out, "Merry Christmas, you're fired" and goes on to comment that job "despair might temper consumer spending this holiday." This comes at no surprise, of course, unless you live under a rock somewhere, or don't own a television, computer, radio, or read any news.
Most popular products on Black Friday 1. Nintendo Wii Console 2. Ugg Australia 'Classic Short' Boot 3. Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player 4. Samsung LN52A650 52" LCD TV 5. Nintendo Wii Fit 6. Panasonic TH-42PX80U 42" Plasma TV 7. Sennheiser HD 555 Headphones 8. Canon EOS Rebel XSi Black SLR Digital Camera Kit 9. Acer Aspire One AOA110-1295 Notebook 10. Canon PowerShot A590 IS Black Digital Camera
Don't you feel better for knowing that? I know I do. Keep in mind that this is just from PriceGrabber. What is interesting is that electronics won by a landslide, and clothes/accessories came in a remote second, with music, games and puzzles squeezing in after that.
If you haven't noticed, the messages we're hearing are a little mixed, or at least complex to interpret accurately. "Prior to the Black Friday weekend, 71 percent of shoppers intended to spend less money this holiday season compared to last year and 66 percent planned to give practical gifts," said Ron LaPierre, president of PriceGrabber.com. "Thanksgiving and Black Friday traffic shows that value drives consumer spending. Consumers are responding to aggressive promotions and price drops on popular electronics."
How 'bout that. In English, "price matters." Hmm. Just to be sure, perhaps we should commission a government study on that?
Hitwise Shopping Stats
Continuing in this vein, Heather Dougherty of Hitwise Intelligence writes: "Thanksgiving, which has been the heaviest day of traffic to online retailers over the past 4 years, experienced an 11 percent decline in the market share of visits as compared to last year. The websites of brick & mortar retailers took a harder hit with a 16% decline as compared to last year, while traffic to web-only retailers was up 11%.
For Black Friday, traffic to the Retail 500 was down 5% year-over-year, with the brick & mortar players also down 10%. Web-only retailers also fared better with a 10% increase over last year, where Black Friday was the peak traffic day of the holiday season (followed by Cyber Monday, suggesting today may also prove fruitful)."
The chart says it all, though. Online shopping, up, for both Thanksgiving and Black Friday. ;-) Discussion over. Online shopping rules!
According to Hitwise, however, electronics is down 11% overall(?). Check out the rest here.
Elisabeth on SearchEngineLand
Oh, but we're not really done yet. Elisabeth Osmeloski. We didn't know who she was, but the stats geek in us also liked her article at SearchEngineLand, so, we hunted her down. Sharp cookie, apparently. Elisabeth shares a Cyber Monday 2008 snapshot:
"Among the top 500 Retail Web sites, the percentage of U.S. visits were down 1% on Cyber Monday 2008, compared to 2007.U.S visits to Brick and Mortar store Web sites (100 total) were down >4% on Cyber Monday.
U.S visits to Online-only Web sites (100 total) were up 5% on on Cyber Monday.U.S visits to the Comparison Shopping Web sites were down 21% on Cyber Monday. U.S visits to the Catalog Web sites were down 4% on Cyber Monday.
Percentages based on U.S. visits to the top 500 Retail Web sites. 1. Amazon.com - 10.77% 2. Walmart.com - 8.55% 3. Target.com - 4.56% 4. BestBuy.com - 3.81% 5. Sears.com - 2.74%
Amazon.com’s traffic increased 21% on Cyber Monday 2008 vs. 2007. Walmart.com’s traffic increased 6%.
Google’s most searched gifts: 1. nintendo wii 2. wii fit 3. ipod touch 4. xbox 360 5. nintendo ds 6. ipod nano 7. uggs 8. nikon d90 9. zune 10. digital picture frame"
Except for the raw facts (although we don't really know the accuracy of sources, now do we?), the fuzziness comes in interpreting them. Unless, of course, you are Amazon.
Nice job, again, Mr. Bezos. Who's laughing now, eh?
One last time...
National Retail Foundation Speaks
According to the National Retail Federation's 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey, conducted by BIGresearch, "more than 172 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 147 million shoppers last year.Shoppers spent an average of $372.57 this weekend, up 7.2 percent over last year’s $347.55. Total spending reached an estimated $41.0 billion.Though retailers in all categories were featuring big bargains, a majority of shoppers visited discount stores for holiday deals. According to the survey, more than half (54.7%) of this weekend’s shoppers visited discount stores. Nearly half (43.0%) shopped at a traditional department store, up 11.1 percent from 38.7 percent last year. About one-third of shoppers visited specialty stores like clothing or electronics stores (36.0%) and shopped online (34.0%)."
Whether we are shopping with appropriate caution or with reckless abandon, all depends on our personal circumstances, and I'm sure a lot of both are occurring. But even after all the stats, the bottom line is that we're buying plenty of stuff, and a lot of it online. (Don't you feel smarter now?)
MORE CHARITY SHOPPING
If we're all doing so much shopping, maybe we should do some of it for a worthy cause. Once again, here are some ways to do that.
Changing the Present About Changing The Present Welcome to Changing The Present, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit website offering gifts that change the world. Browse our causes to find gifts that make a difference, or search for your favorite nonprofit to make a donation. You can share these gifts with your friends and family, or use them for your own nonprofit giving. Our gifts are a great alternative to that bath set or novelty sweater you were planning to wrap up this holiday season -- just choose "Create A Card" from the shopping cart to send a personalized greeting card announcing each gift you donate in a friend's name.
JustGive has harnessed the power of the Internet to remove barriers to charitable giving. Our technology, combined with our vast nonprofit experience, allows us to provide unique services, programs and advantages. At JustGive, you can:
Find the charities you want to support.
Discover everyday ways to support your causes.
Track donations through your personal Giving History.
Make private, secure donations.
Become an informed, knowledgeable donor.
They use an interesting touch of viral marketing with their Tell A Friend option. Kudos to them for adding a touch of social networking for a social cause.
THE GIFT CARD SCARE THAT ATE NEW YORK The saga continues on gift cards. We wrote about the Michigan legislation on gift cards in a previous blog (must be good for 5 years) and poo-pooed the radical thought that we should not buy gift cards because retailers are closing stores.
Apparently, emails were flying about this closing-retailer scare and the possible impact on gift cards. One e-mail circulating on the Web was aimed at making consumers fearful of gift cards for this reason. The e-mail contended stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling gift cards that won’t be honored after January 1. The message was followed by what appears to be a new list of store closings — when in actuality, many were announced earlier this year. The e-mail also falsely indicated that J. Jill is closing, when in fact the parent company, The Talbots Inc., said it has put the chain up for sale.
(Was this email from Nigeria, I wonder?)
This prompted some communication from AnnTaylor Stores, who wrote: “'It has come to our attention that false and misleading information, regarding our company and our store closure program, is circulating on the Web as part of a hoax to scare consumers away from purchasing gift cards.' The company stressed its financial health and said it revealed plans last January to close 117 underperforming stores over a three-year period. The company stressed its gift cards will continue to be honored at all of its stores as well as on its Web site."
The site by the way, where this appeared, is WWD.com (Women's Wear Daily). Good place for fashion news.
We want to be clear - we're not saying to run out and buy gifts en masse without any regard for the health of the company, especially if the company or chain is closing. But if only a number of stores are closing and the company operates on the Web, this should not deter your gift card purchase.
BUT IF YOU'RE STILL WORRIED ABOUT GIFT CARDS...
The good people at Personal Finance Analyst have a thought for you.
Personal Finance Analyst is an online community of bloggers dedicated to taking the mystery out of money and helping you to live a happier, more successful life with the money you have. (There's a challenge if I ever heard one. ;-)
Seriously, they offer:
Money-saving tips for grocery shopping, energy, entertainment, and more.
Advice on loans, mortgages, investments, and retirement planning.
News about current financial events and how they impact you personally.
Creative financial planning and ways to get the life you want now.
Honest reviews of banks, financial institutions, and their products.
Personal finance basics, explained in easy-to-understand terms.
And since we can't let the gift card thing go, they offer some advice on Shopping for Gift Credit Cards that we wanted to toss your way.
According to the experts:
"Enter gift credit cards. These are “credit cards” in the sense that they work just like a Visa, MasterCard or Amex, but there really isn’t any actual credit involved. The cards are prepaid and loaded with funds by the purchaser. Unlike other prepaid credit cards, they generally can’t be “reloaded” after use of the original funds.In theory, this will allow the recipient to buy something he or she really wants anywhere that takes major credit cards (which is just about anywhere). It solves the “perfect gift” problem and skirts the inherent limitations of the good ol’ gift certificate."
They go on to offer some good tips and a few links. Check 'em out here and tell 'em Shop Talk sent ya.
INTERESTING NICHE MARKET
You Bought Me a Personalized What!?
We thought this was worth a mention, as a cool niche site.
pexagon is Making Storage Personal(tm) these days, with their personalized thumb drives and other stuff. Read about pexagon here. They have a host of other things like pens and laser-engraved knives, but the personalized storage is their forte. Check out the flash drives, especially the Animal drives. Fun stuff.
DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY
We had to end with this one.
One in three people feel stressed out during the holidays, according to a Gallup poll.
From 12/6/08 through 12/31/08, shoppers at www.DreamWorthyGifts.com will save like never before. Shoppers save 30% off retail prices in the web store plus an extra 20% at checkout with the special coupon mentioned in this release. _______________________________________________________________
In an timely marketing move, starting on Saturday, December 6, 2008 through year-end, DreamWorthy Gifts presents its "Serious Shopping | Crazy Prices" campaign.
During this time, Shoppers at www.DreamWorthyGifts.com will save 30% off retail prices in the main web store plus save an extra 20% at checkout by using special coupon code "DWG20."
Chief Marketing Officer Mike Kunkle commented, "There are obviously many consumers who can still spend what they want, when they want. They're welcome at DreamWorthy Gifts, of course. But we started our company to help regular people like us find the right gifts, at the right time, at the right price - meaning a price they can easily afford. Many Americans ARE feeling the pinch of our current economic situation, and this is our small way of giving back, to help them still have a great holiday season." Kunkle reminds, "Please remember to use your special coupon code at checkout... 'DWG20' will save you an extra 20%."
CEO and Chief Shopping Advisor Kali Kunkle added, "In a recent pricing comparison test, DreamWorthy randomly selected 10 products and compared prices for the same or similar items at major brick and mortar retailers as well as other well-known websites. Market prices for this test ranged from $4.99 to $149.00. In every case, DreamWorthy Gifts' price was lower. The savings ranged from $0.83 to $65.04, with an average savings of $17.03. And that was before we added the special DWG20 coupon promotion, to save an extra 20% at checkout. We sincerely hope our shoppers will be pleased. We know we are grateful for them." DreamWorthy Gifts is a Web store featuring thousands of gifts for all occasions, figurines, home and kitchen decor, bath and body care, garden decor, religious home accents, men’s and women’s accessories, seasonal items, gift cards and more.
For the remainder of this year, it's Serious Shopping at Crazy Prices at www.DreamWorthyGifts.com.
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DreamWorthy Gifts LLC http://www.DreamWorthyGifts.com DreamWorthy Gifts is found on the World Wide Web, but is based in the quaint Texas town of Flower Mound. Thanks Y’all!
Inquiries may be made to:
Mike Kunkle Chief Marketing Officer DreamWorthy Gifts LLC 2550 Cross Timbers Road Suite 116-182 Flower Mound TX 75028-7525 214.930.9628 Mike@DreamWorthyGifts.com
DreamWorthy Gifts is a webstore featuring bath and body care products. Shop and buy shower and bath gift sets that include shower gels, bath gels, body lotions, body scrubs, bath salts and other skin care products. Sets often include a basket, caddy, tote or other organizer and sometimes even a sponge, scrubbie, loofah, or massager. And yes, at DreamWorthy Gifts you can still also find thousands of gifts for all occasions, home decor furnishings, gift cards and more!
Buy.ology by Martin Lindstrom |Business Book Brief from BNET
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