2006 June

This glossary is part two of a collection of handbag related terms. It is intended to help fashion accessory retailers and wholesalers to better understand what they are ordering from catalogs, read about online, and the information they need to communicate to their customers. Familiarity with handbag terms will also help buyers avoid misleading claims and cut down on time spent on the phone with sales reps.

Handbags have long been a mainstay of online and traditional apparel retail. Wholesale suppliers offer a dazzling variety of purses for all price ranges and are amongst the best selling merchandise an online accessories store can offer. However, if you are not well versed in the terminology that applies to handbags it can be difficult to know exactly what you are ordering. To assist retail buyers in making the right …

Tis’ the season for big releases; big, blockbuster movies and many of the hottest video games are all released in the summer. Maybe everybody wants to get their work done in the earlier summer in order to get to the beaches but more likely it is to take advantage of the kids being out of school with money to spend and time to kill.

Although schools across the country have only recently let out for the summer merchants and wholesale suppliers should be thinking about the fall and

How many phone calls do you receive from excited marketers trying to sell you traffic to your site? Probably quite a few. Now, how many phone calls do you receive from someone wanting to show you how to convert the traffic you are already getting? Our guess is very little or none. Unfortunately, someone selling you traffic could typically care less about your conversion rate: They delivered the traffic they …

How many repeat customers do you have? For most wholesalers, repeat customers are the backbone of their enterprise. But unfortunately, statistics show us that many wholesalers have less than a 50 percent return customer rate. Why is that? While attracting new business is essential for growth, isn

With the summer months upon us it seemed like a good time to take a look at some beach related merchandise. Seasonal buying is huge this time of year and online and small store merchants often fill their shops with products meant to attract the beach or vacation bound shopper.

It seems like no matter how many small store and online merchants I talk with sooner or later the conversation rolls around to selling DVDs, video games, and other electronic media. The stories I hear, while coming with unique details, always come to the same point. Retailers say they would love to get into the DVD business but have trouble finding a supplier they can count on that carries a …

Jewelry is one of the largest selling corners of the online retail market. In recent years consumers have turned increasingly to purchasing jewelry online. The reasons for the move are the same ones that have driven the move to ecommerce generally, price and convenience.

Online commerce is beginning to resemble a game of pick-up basketball. Everyone is choosing sides for a game with few rules and no referee. Google made the first pick of a new teammate back in December when they bought into AOL for $1 billion and formed a special promotional partnership with them.

A very under-appreciated, at least by those outside the wig wholesale industry, is the sell of fake hair. Very little data is readily available regarding the total annual sales of wigs but there is plenty of evidence of a major market. Retail specialty stores, online discounters, and case lot auction companies all keep an active and profitable industry thriving.

Licensed merchandise is a corner stone of any children

The online apparel business is one of the most profitable and well-supplied aspects of Internet wholesale. So well supplied in fact that it is sometimes difficult for a new or expanding business owner to decide where to start. Today’s list will hopefully provide some basic information that will shine some light onto the perplexing question of which products to carry.

The term

Anyone who has read these columns before is probably aware that I have something of an obsession with the strange and sometimes practical world of As Seen on TV Products. I simply can