Category: Shopping

• Keep records – One of the best ways to see if there is any type of pattern taking place in terms of grocery sales at the supermarkets where you shop is to monitor the sales over a two month period. This can be as easy as creating a file and keeping the circulars you get in the mail or Sunday papers or pick up at your supermarket each week. You might be surprised to not only discover that every six weeks or so you can find terrific grocery bargains, but that maybe most grocery sales are during the week, as a way to draw shoppers in on slow days, and not on weekends when most people shop
• Shop seasonally – Although it seems a little contrary to what you might think, the optimal time to find the best grocery bargains are when they are in the most demand. It might seem that supermarkets would charge more for soup in the cold winter months when more people buy and eat soups, but that’s not the case. You’ll most likely also find low prices for items like paper plates, hot dogs and barbecue items in the summer.
• Post-holiday mark-downs – If you have the space to store your grocery bargains, the days after a holiday can be the best time to find sales. After Thanksgiving, for instance, is a great time to get bargains on turkey that you can freeze. This is particularly true of canned or jarred goods that have a long shelf-live, like gravy, cranberry relish or pumpkin pie mix you can pick up for next year’s holiday.
• Competitors don’t compete – Quite often, major food suppliers have a tacit agreement not to get into a battle of sales on their goods. Rather, they will alternate the weeks or months when each will offer their products, so, for instance, if you are a Pepsi drinker and Coke is on sale this week, it’s a good bet that if you wait, you will find a low price next week on Pepsi.
• Get to know your manager – Finding out if there is a rotating cycle to sales can be as easy as asking the store manager when products might be reduced in price or asking the butcher when meats and poultry will be marked down. These folks like to help out regular customers and keep them coming into the store.
• Don’t count on expiration dates – Rather than what you might believe, supermarkets do not tend to offer sales on items with expiration dates approaching. Instead, they tend to just rotate that stock to the front of the shelves so they are the ones busy shoppers grab.

First, holidays are some of the best times to shop for many items. This is when stores try to lure customers to buy and spend more. Stores know that customers have the day off and have time to shop. But, try not to choose holidays like Christmas or Valentine’s Day. The better holidays to choose are things like Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Presidents’ Day, and the little random holidays that occur during the year. Times like July 4 are fantastic for looking for good sales. Also, pay attention to the after holiday sales. These are when stores offer extra discounts to entice customers to come in to shop. A lot of times, stores have increased their inventory during the holidays and now need to get rid of that inventory. So, try to shop after the holiday during the after holiday sale such as the after thanksgiving sale or the after Christmas sale.

Next, look in between seasons. If summer is coming up, don’t shop for new summer clothes. Instead, shop for current spring clothes. If winter is coming up, don’t shop for those winter coats. Instead, before the winter shop for the fall clothes that you want it. I know this presents a problem for those that want to wear more current clothes during the current season. So, if that is what you want, spend some time shopping for the trendy clothes of that season, but also look for the staple items that you can wear in your wardrobe every year. Things like a cashmere cardigan that you can wear the following year. If you are looking for a cashmere sale, then look towards the end of winter when it may not be as cold as before. Cashmere is one of those staple items that you can keep year after year so do not worry about buying those items so late during the season.

Finally, if you tend to go to major discount retailers such as DSW or Loehmann’s, then you should hit those stores early on during the week. Tuesday and Wednesday is the best times to go to those stores because that’s when the new inventory comes in. Thursday and Friday is when a lot more people have time to go and shop and when there will be a lot less items for you to choose from. Saturday and Sunday are the worst days for those stores because everything will be picked over. If you want first choice at the new items at these discount stores, go on Tuesday or Wednesday. On the weekends, they will usually not discount those items anymore because people are willing to pay. So, don’t worry about not getting the greatest deal because Tuesday and Wednesday is when the items will already be marked down.

Gone were the days that you need to stiffen your uniform to look smart and look your best, because with scrubs, you can become trendy and fashionable without additional costs. It is just a matter of ingenuity and creativity on how you can mix and match colors and styles efficiently.

Working in hospitals and other health facilities do not need to be boring and monotonous because you can rev up and become trendy by selecting the right scrubs perfect for whatever figure you have.

Majority of scrubs include a pair of short-sleeved v-neck T-shirt and pull on pants, while some come with long sleeves stockinette cuffs and waist-length scrub jackets. Meanwhile, scrub pants can either have a drawstring waist for easily slip on or elastic waist line. These designs of medical scrubs are advantageous of the busy and hectic lifestyles of medical personnel. For customization and personalization, some companies embossed or embroidered their corporate logo along with the initials of their employees.

No matter how vast or varied medical scrubs are, there are still rules to follow when choosing the right type of scrubs or mixing and matching different uniforms. Apart from its easy and comfortable attributes, scrubs are worn to avoid the onset of diseases and illnesses. These uniforms come in two types, those for sterile purposes and those for everyday and everywhere use.

Tips on what scrubs suit tall and petite body structures:

• Petite individuals – When buying scrubs, be sure to select pants which are right for your size for better fitting. Be sure to choose those with small accessories and prints.
• For Tall body structures – You are very lucky because you can wear any style and designs. Be sure to choose pants which suit your long legs.

Below are tips on how to select the right scrubs according to other types of body structure:

• Full Breasted Women – You are lucky to have one, but do not flaunt it because it is against your dress code. You can select tops which are low-cut or those with big prints. This style will avoid someone peeping in your cleavage while you are bending over your patient’s bed.
• Pear shape body structure – You can divert the attention of other people by wearing V neck scrub tops to show off your face and your neck. To elongate your legs, you can wear pants which are straight cut. Choose scrubs which have solid colors and small prints to hide your size. Be sure to choose those which are not too tight and which fit properly because tightness will emphasize your weight.

Accounting For Your Business

Smart shop owners know that the numbers speak volumes. They regularly visit with, and discuss details with their accountant. They monitor their bank accounts closely and keep track of their accounting systems. If they’re running a computerized system, they don’t rely blindly on the computer systems and have various checks and balances in place to validate the data.

Buddies With The Bank

The smart shop owner knows that the time to forge strong and positive relationships with the bank manager is before they need the bank’s services. They also realize that this pre-emptive approach allows them the chance to present the best image to the bank manager prior to any future meeting. Bank managers can sense financial distress and without any prior history for them to recall, the meeting may well not go as expected.

Forging Intelligent, Selective Alliances

In business there is the generally accepted rule that “many hands make light work.” Conversely “too many cooks spoil the broth” and unless some care and consideration is taken when working together, the careless shop owner may end up with more trouble than it was all worth. A smart shop owner knows that although a ‘friend’ might be an easy hire or an easy business partner, they may not be the best choice in the long run.

Keeping A Close Eye On The Competition

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer… Okay, a little ‘cloak and dagger’ maybe, but the smart shop owner knows that knowing oneself is only half the battle. A smart owner also keeps a very close watch on their competition. They realize that competition is good for business – not bad, and that healthy competition stimulates business rather than repressing it. Also, the smart shop owner knows that by watching their competition they can learn their business strategy, their sales strategy, their pricing strategy, their advertising strategy and whole lot more.

Paying Their Taxes

The smart shop owner pays their taxes. They accept that it is part of business and factor it in to their overall business model. Instead of focusing on clawing back a few pennies here and there, the smart business owner focuses on building more wealth, they have a positive viewpoint not a negative one.

Different styles of bags with various types of animal prints, zebra print bags, fur handbags, super stylish leopard-print bags are very much in vogue these days. The High Street offers you an abundance of excellent leopard-print accessories, with many shops selling a variety of brands like accessories, Claire’s, New Look, and Top Shop. You may even try your local market for leopard type bags and really stylish accessories, that match your style and taste. You can also find many online stores retailing leopard print bags for formal or casual use. Ordering online is convenient, time saving and economical too. Moreover, you can compare the prices without having to bear the strain of going from one store to another.

The ongoing not so pleasant economic scenario has necessitated austerity in spending on items, which are not so essential; definitely include our personal accessories like handbags. If you are really keen on saving substantial money while purchasing animal print bags, animal purses or leopard type bags, you’ll find it worthwhile to search for these at charity shops, thrift stores or search online sites offering used bags.

All those sources for getting your kind of bag at your kind of prices are fine, but if you can remain patient for a while and wait for the shops at the High Street to announce their sales, you can indeed get awesome bags at down to earth prices. You’ll find numerous quality designer print bags during the clearance sale at big stores as you will also at retail outlets. For the most modern and top designer and fashionable leopard-print handbags, you’ll get the best deals at online stores. Some of the sites you should not ignore while carrying your online search for bags at affordable prices are: Amazon, Crazy Clearance, eBay, and the like. Additionally, you should watch out for exceptional offers, coupon sales and money-saving vouchers available at online saving sites.

First-class Animal Print Handbags are always accompanied by the best of services. Any order for such a bag gets priority. You certainly expect top class service when you are buying top class Leopard Print Handbags. Rest assured, your package will be handled with care and delivered promptly.

Whenever you are selling anything related to food, it is important that you make it look as appealing as possible. Although most people think that taste is the most important sense when it comes to food, the other senses come into play as well, and the way that your sweet treats look is very important to the taste. When creating food for sale, the visual experience starts with the packaging. If you put your wares in a boring, plain cardboard box, you will already have started to dull the senses of the person who is going to eat the sweets, and your confectionary will have to work even harder to be able to prove itself worthy. However, if you package your sweets in beautiful, light, delicate organza bags, you will have given your treats a good start. As long as you follow your local food hygiene regulations, which may involve additional wrapping within the organza bags, buying organza bags wholesale and using them as a packaging solution is a great idea.

When you are buying organza bags wholesale, you will notice that there is an incredibly wide range of choices available to you, including different sizes of bags, different colours of bags, and different levels of “luxury”. This will give you a lot of different choice when packaging up your sweets and candies. For example, you can put mint sweets in green bags, and raspberry sweets in beautiful deep red bags. You can also package up tiny portions of sweets in the smallest bags and sell them as wedding favours or party bag gifts.

Buying organza bags wholesale will also help you to save money on your packaging costs, meaning that you will be able to maximise your profits. Buying large numbers of these organza bags wholesale in one purchase will often reduce the overall cost per unit of each bag. Putting sweets into these bags is also not very labour intensive, meaning that you will not be wasting man hours (and therefore extra staffing costs) on packaging up sweets. It is possible to take an organza bag, fill it with your confectionary, close it with the drawstring and then add any additional labelling to the bag in less than one minute. This means that it is even possible to package your sweets right in front of your customer, without them having to wait around for a long time. For many customers, this seemingly personal touch can add to the whole confectionary experience, and can make your sweet treats seem even better!

Impartial feedback

When a professional mystery shopping company is hired, they send employees to act as real shoppers at a retail store. The secret shoppers are taught to assess several things like the attitude of the sales staff, their willingness to help, the level of politeness and so on. Once this data is collected, it is shared with the client.

On the other hand, when you don’t hire a mystery shopping company, you need to rely on the feedback provided by the manager of the store regarding the employees. Sometimes, managers may offer feedback that is not entirely true just to protect the people he likes most. On the contrary, a mystery shopping company will offer true feedback regarding the state of the sales staff, thereby helping to improve the overall customer service.

Overall assessment

An in-house manager gets paid to run the store and manage the staff within it. While being a leader and helping the employees grow or improve their quality of service is also part of his job, he may not always focus the relevant amount of time doing it. A mystery shopping company helps provide an overall assessment on the state of the customer service and sales department. This helps the main employer to know where the real drawbacks lie and how he can fix them.

This overall assessment will eventually help in training the staff in the areas they lack most at.

On Alert and on guard

Employees or store managers who know mystery shoppers may be around at any point of time to secretly assess them will always end up being on guard. They will try to showcase a more professional and cordial image. This ‘on guard’ sentiment will in turn keep their services at a proficient level. Many mystery shopping companies tend to share the decision of hiring mystery shoppers with their staff and retail outlets. The only thing they may not divulge is the day and time of the mystery shopper’s arrival – which of course have to be kept secret in any case.

Track every customer lead

This may sound obvious but it is imperative that you track and follow up with every lead. I am consistently amazed at how inefficient companies are at customer relationship management (CRM). Sales professionals need a flexible and easy to use system for tracking all instances of customer interaction. Today, because of open source solutions, companies and individual sales professionals can implement a low cost CRM system to help close more deals. Take a look at CRM solutions from vtiger.com and sugarcrm.com. These solutions enable you to be up and running in days not months.

Offer multiple payment options

Does your business accept credit cards? Can you accept electronic checks? Offering multiple payment options to your customers in a down market is a must. Merchants must allow their customers to pay using the payment method they are most comfortable with. If you offer large ticket items you may want to consider a recurring payment plan. Since a large portion of the shopping public has hit their credit card credit limit you may want to offer electronic checks as a payment alternative. Remember the goal is to close the deal, to make the sale, so you must be flexible in your payment offerings. The bottom line is you want potential customer to be able to purchase your products and services so consider accepting credit card and electronic check payments.

Improve the customer shopping experience

Ask yourself this question. Why should a customer shop with you instead of your competitor? What are you doing to differentiate your business? If you cannot clearly answer that question you need to spend some time finding an answer otherwise your will never achieve your sales forecast or revenue goals. In order to increase sales in a down market every sales professional must be able to clearly articulate what makes their business a better value to the consumer. If you’re selling online, are your customers able to easily find the products they want? Does your online store provide a simply checkout option? Do you provide quality pictures and/or descriptions of your products and services? If not, your customers will go someplace else. Take a look at the shopping cart options from Magento Commerce, VirtueMart, Cubecart, x-cart, oscommerce, and ubercart.

Be prepared to sell

In order to meet your sales forecast and achieve your revenue goals sales professionals must focus a significant amount of their time on client prospecting. In a down market, client prospecting has become even more critical to generating sales. In fact, during a down market sales professionals must spend even more time prospecting new clients. If you have access to a CRM tool that includes the ability to process credit card and electronic check transactions then you already have a competitive advantage over your competitors. Use your website to generate leads. Your website should be a leading generating machine.

No matter where you are you should be prepared to sell your products and services. That means greatly expanding your base of contacts by networking and prospecting for the future. Every new relationship has the potential to lead to a direct sale or a referral. Therefore, it is critical for sales professionals to invest a significant amount of time building new relationships. You may also want to consider adding a partner or affiliate program.

Furthermore, sales professionals must be ready to sell and close deals at all times. Therefore, companies and independent sales professionals should be equipped with a mobile sales device capable of processing credit card transactions. There are many products that offer remote payment acceptance including iPhone Payment Solutions, RetailPayments VPOS and various cell phone payment services. Don’t miss an opportunity to close a deal.

Brands like Nike, Adidas, Dunlop, Yonex and Babolat are well known manufactures of tennis bags. However, Babolat bags stand apart from the rest because of their affordable price and trendy looks. The easy availability of Babolat tennis bags on sale at various Internet and discount stores has also made them a favourite with tennis enthusiasts.

Choosing the right tennis bag can be as tricky as selecting the appropriate tennis racket. You will have to decide on the number of rackets you wish to carry with you. The bag should also have room for balls, strings, grips and maybe even your shoes and towel. Babolat has launched bags, which take care of almost all these issues so that you can enjoy a hearty game without having to worry about carrying five different bags for all your stuff.

Babolat Team Line 12 pack bag is one among various Babolat tennis bags on sale at various outlets. The bag has 3 zipped compartments for keeping rackets and a separate shoe bag. Backpack straps, padded carry handle and a small inner zipped laundry bag make it the ideal choice for anyone turning pro. This comfortable carry bag can be bought over the Internet for $69.95.

Babolat has not ignored the beginners while launching its line of bags. Its Club Line Backpack Tennis Bag, priced at $24.95 at Internet stores, offers more than any new tennis fan could ask for. It has a single compartment with a cover for the racket handle. An additional compartment in front of the racket keeping space has been given to keep other gear. A separate accessory pocket has also been provided in front. A carry handle and adjustable and well-padded shoulder pads give this bag an edge over all others in its category.

Babolat offers bags tailor-made to suit the needs and budgets of almost all beginners and professionals. However, few things must always be kept in mind while investing in a tennis bag. You should always buy the bag that you need – a small bag may not accommodate all your accessories, while a bigger one may be cumbersome to carry around. Secondly, you should thoroughly check the bag manually if you are buying it from a retailer or check customer reviews if making an online purchase. And finally you must look for the logo, the price tag and the holograms to make sure if the bag is genuine.