A Holiday 2008 spending forecast just released by the retail trade group, National Retail Federation, also predicts aggressive counter-measures. Holiday retail sales are expected to grow this year at the slowest rate in six years. That has even Big Box retailers worried as shoppers jittery about the economy shift to Essentials Only buying and are slower to part with their gift-buying money. Retailer counter-measures include:

So much advice on Going Green … Choosing a Sustainable Lifestyle … Becoming Locavore (eating foods from regional producers and family farms) … all that good advice focuses on individual actions. But, when it comes to Children’s Toys for the approaching holiday season, or shopping green, individual customers have definite Safety, Sustainability and Product Recall issues on their minds. And that consumer demand converts up the supply chain to a greener shade of product quality and product safety vetting. Greening of the wholesale apparel supply chain goes right down to fabric fibers and cut of the clothes. (More on this in an article linked below.)Here are tips, tools and information sources that buyers and resellers from all points in the wholesale-to-retail chain can use to meet growing collective customer demands for greener and safer products.

   We are half way through National Sewing Month. But to every crafting ghoul, decorative ghost, SuperMom seamstress and trick-or-treat princess in need of sparkle dust and a feather boa … that means we are six sewing weeks away from the Big H – Halloween.(More Dollar Store products for the Sewing Crowd, below.)

An Internet usage researcher recently concluded that traffic at online adult entertainment sites had declined over 10% in the past year. The Internet tracking study connected that dot with a trend of major growth, during the same period, in use of Social Media – MySpace and Facebook among many community sites and blogs – to not only connect with like-minded others and get dates, but to get trusted product recommendations, network for jobs, and organize for social-political causes.The researcher reviewed profiles of MySpace and Facebook registered users; found the vast majority are in the 18-to-25 age group; then hypothesized that maybe Teh Youth have neither the time nor interest in the most highly trafficked web sites of the Internet’s short life: The Skin Trade.

It is one thing for small entrepreneurial fish in the search marketing ocean to fret about expensive pay-per-click charges at Google (keywords that cost $15–$22 per click). No surprise to hear vertical search engines — sites that refine results and tailor online ads to an industry – use words like “haystacks” to describe results from a big, general search engine like Yahoo. Or, “find needles in the haystacks” to describe professionally useful results from a trade-based vertical search site.But when a Big Fish like Association of National Advertisers (400 companies that spend over $100 Billion a year on advertising and MarCom) goes into fight mode, wouldn’t you “cut bait” and pull up hooks, lines and sinkers??

Buyers seeking the latest style and best-priced jewelry – from wrist bracelets to anklets to necklaces; from multi-metal fashion rings to every-style earrings – are clicks away from a wealth of wholesale jewelry sources.  Sample a search on Wholesale Jewelry.  J. Good-In, Inc. – built across generations and global borders — is a manufacturer, importer and distributor of wholesale jewelry … with a difference. J. Good-In mapped out quality craftsmanship and jewelry design (a family legacy of art-form jewelry-making learned in Taiwan) as its foundation, and then adapted to market trends for lower-cost costume jewelry, partnering in early off-shore production agreements. J. Good-In’s commitment to quality and service, as well as price, put its quality legacy front and center when it launched its own factory in Dong Guan, China. Now, add in corporate HQ in Brea, California, and a New York City office. 

Hurricane Gustav recently blew around New Orleans, a city whose hard-hit 9^th Ward residents remain largely un-helped and unreconstructed three years after Hurricane Katrina smashed their lives. But, no rest for the weary: Stacked like jets circling LAX airport, Hurricanes Hannah, Ike and Josephine may be closing in. There are only 16 more letters till the naming meteorologists hit Z. And start over. The heroism, sweat and donations of individual Americans, community organizations, charities — even some good guy corporate philanthropies – has delivered a knockout punch to the idea that our fierce individualism means, Every junkyard dog to his/herself.

ApparelCandy.com, based out of Los Angeles’ own fashion district is a wholesale supplier of women’s fashion clothing and accessories. ApparelCandy’s e-commerce site, which is accessible internationally, tailors to B2B suppliers and shoppers. ApparelCandy is always fully stocked and ready to ship out the newest in fashion trends available in the marketplace.

ApparelCandy.com not only offers the best customer service around, but also a grand variety of women’s fashion apparels which are always the best quality and in style trends. Whether customers are looking for sportswear, casual, dressy, formal attires, everything can be found on ApparelCandy.com.  Having close tied relationships with manufacturers all over the world allows ApparelCandy to bring the absolute best women’s fashions at unbeatable prices. Their huge inventory of wholesale women’s apparel includes, but is not limited to, Dresses, T-Shirts, Halter Tops, Tunic Tops, Jeans and Pants, Skirts, Capris, Bermudas, Plus Size Clothing, Maternity Clothing, Sweaters, Jackets, and Fashion Accessories.