I’m back at my desk now, and the smell of sulfur is finally starting to fade away as the local Chinese New Year celebrations have slowed to a nearly tolerable point. Make no mistake, I’m still being jarred by the repetitive explosions of something that sounds like carpet bombing outside my window at 06:00 these days, but the people of Hangzhou are getting back into work mode again, and that means the world of wholesale and retail can once again resume its momentum with trade partners in China… and oh, what a world it is we’re living in. The hot news right now on the USA front is that the ASD trade show will be in full swing before we know it, with a stellar collection of sellers and dealers who are ready to pull out all the stops for an event that is sure to kick things off with a bang. You can learn more about the March 2010 ASD Las Vegas Exhibition by visiting their site, and by getting a feel for what you shouldn’t be missing when the time rolls around.

Let’s also talk about the trends for the new season, and what things you might want to look at to maximize your visibility on the radar screen. There’s always a lot of goods out there to sort through, but it’s up to you to choose the ones that fit your buyers best, and finding them can be tricky. You could start with a look at the highly useful toptentrends site, to get a clue about what the leading search results are pulling in. From what I can see, it’s adult DVDs and novelties that are burning things up right now, and that really comes as no surprise since drastic times call for drastic measures amidst recent months of holiday madness, year-end upsets, and international scandals making us all just want to spend less time outside… and maybe more down-time with our significant others. Sounds like good sense to me, but we mustn’t forget to come up for air every now and then!

There’s a whole new attitude within the international community coming to light as well, as boundaries – both physical and virtual – become harder to define, and we enter an age of Internet controversy and trade policies that seem to be getting slapped and kicked around every time anyone sits down for a talk with the Dalai Lama, or when Beijing takes another big move to curb domestic lending, or the stability of the highly-fragile yuan’s safety net  makes news. All of this, whether we like it or not, has to be taken into consideration – as the smart wholesalers and retailers out there know that the winner is the one who can anticipate the best paths to follow… not necessarily the ones who recover from disaster with the least damage inflicted. The time has passed for damage control, and the time has come for doing the research and taking the time to build relationships that matter, in order to construct rock-solid partnerships that transcend arcane politics. Come back often, as we continue to provide news and insights that can help you build those relationships as you Find it. Source it. Profit! with TopTenWholesale.com and our network of vertical search partners.