Demonstrating your products with video can boost online sales. It’s fun, entertaining and accessible for viewers and merchants alike. Videos are a big aid to making purchasing decisions, and they can be fairly easy to create. As a result, many web merchants are making product videos to increase conversions. Video can also give your site more visibility in search results. However, some online videos leave a lot to be desired. Below are some tips for making effective product videos.

As with all marketing tactics, there is no guarantee your videos will increase sales, but you can increase the probability of driving more sales by following the tried and true rules below.

Feature Your Top Selling Products. If you don’t know where to start, you can use the “80-20” rule, which says most of your sales will come from your top-selling items. Therefore, to get the most from your video efforts, start with a video of these products on the product page. Most online merchants have hundreds of items in their catalog; therefore, choosing your most popular items to feature in video is a good way to start.

Make Product Videos Short. Long videos do not increase sales because most shoppers have short attention spans, so you want to keep your videos short and sweet. Short videos also help you keep your production time and costs down. It’s wise to keep your product videos down to less than one minute. If you have complex or pricey products, you can extend that about 50 percent; however, don’t go beyond 90 seconds because the vast majority of viewers will ignore anything longer.

Test Your Videos. You must conduct A/B tests to determine which videos perform better for different types of products and different audiences. You won’t know what type of video performs best for your products and client base until you test several versions. To do this, create and upload a few versions of a product video for a limited group in your catalog and monitor performance in terms of conversions and purchase behavior. Then determine which version gave you the best results.

Use Captions in Your Videos. Captions within a video have a tremendous effect on click-through rates and conversions. Research has shown that when two videos are the same except for captioning in one and not the other; there is an 8.3 percent difference in their conversion rates favoring the captioned version.

Add User Reviews to Your Videos. User reviews and testimonials are quite common in ecommerce, and they add trust because shoppers tend to trust ratings and recommendations from their peers. You can increase trust and get more conversions by adding existing user reviews to your videos.

Add Your Videos to Site Search. Research shows that users searching your site are two to three times more likely to make a purchase than users who are merely browsing. That’s because searchers have clear user intent; whereas browsing visitors are likely to be casual traffic. Therefore, you can use video to capitalize on the quality traffic using site search by indicating the availability of videos within every item’s search results. When you indicate an item has a video, this increases the likelihood the visitor will click to view and then buy it.

Use Your Videos in All Online Marketing Efforts. You can get the most out of your videos by linking to them from your email marketing campaigns, uploading them to your social media profiles, and optimizing them with tags and deep backlinks to boost your SEO efforts.

Beat the Competition for the Holidays. Adding videos to your site not only helps improve sales, it creates a better user experience for your customers. With the holidays coming up, now is the time to add a few select videos to help drive your holiday promotions. Video can grab traffic away from your competitors, improve your site’s stickiness and give you a great way to capture more sales during the holiday season.

California Governor Jerry Brown signed a law on September 23rd that requires large online retailers to collect sales tax from state residents starting September 15, 2012; notwithstanding preemption by any new federal law. The California law covers retailers making $500,000 or more a year in online sales to California residents.

State law AB 155 came about as a result of the recent agreement between California legislators and Amazon.com, and was  subsequently approved by the governor. The new law supersedes an earlier bill (ABX 1 28) enacted in June that would have required online retailers to begin collecting sales tax from state residents on September 15, 2011 if the retailers conducted business with in-state affiliate websites and/or blogs. California affiliates can now breathe a sigh of relief since AB 155 has put many of the 25,000 affiliates back in business. Additionally, the new law will provide a level playing field among brick-and-mortar and web-only retailers.

ABX 1 28, based on the premise that affiliate websites represent an in-state physical presence for online retailers, would have given the state a means to go around the current federal law that allows states to mandate sales tax collection only by businesses with a physical presence in the state, which included stores and distribution centers. Amazon and other retailers stopped doing business with affiliate websites after passage of the former law to avoid collecting sales tax in California.

While AB 155 doesn’t remove the requirement for online merchants to collect sales tax, it puts on hold the requirement to collect the tax for one year until September 15, 2012. The law also acknowledges the efforts to create a nationwide standard for online sales tax collection in the excerpt below.

Under the law, AB155, online companies will have until at least July 2012 to try to persuade Congress to create a national system for collecting the sales tax. If that doesn’t happen, California’s measure would take effect next September. But if Congress does act, the state would acquiesce to that law with collection beginning in January 2013.

Amazon worked closely with the California legislature to createt a compromise. For the one year reprieve, Amazon agreed to the following:

… to build distribution centers in the state, creating at least 10,000 new full-time jobs and hiring 25,000 seasonal workers by the end of 2015. Amazon also has agreed to lobby for a new federal law that would authorize states to mandate tax collection by online retailers whether or not they had an in-state physical presence. The authorization would apply to all states that have simplified sales tax collection as part of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, or SST.

Additionally, Amazon agreed to halt its effort to put a referendum on the tax law on California’s 2012 ballot. Amazon also agreed to lobby for a new federal law that would authorize states to mandate tax collection by online retailers whether or not they have an in-state physical presence.

“We’re grateful to Governor Brown and the legislature’s bipartisan leadership for this win-win law,” said Amazon Vice President Paul Misener. “We’re excited that we now can create 10,000 jobs and cause $500 million in investment in California in addition to reinstating our California-based affiliates,” he added. “We’re committed to working with Congress, retailers and the states to pass federal legislation as soon as possible and as analysts have noted, we’ll continue to offer customers the best prices, regardless of whether sales tax is charged,” he concluded.

Federal legislation on taxing online sales has been introduced many times in Congress over the last ten years, but never got much traction. However, there is a bill in the current Congress introduced by Senator Dick Durbin that will likely gain momentum due to the new California law, since California is a bell-weather state that other states follow.

Many people are going into business for themselves because of layoffs and the difficulty of finding jobs in today’s economy. Some people start off selling general merchandise on eBay and then branch out by opening a store or selling goods  at flea markets. Some may want to buy wholesale pallets and truckloads of name brand liquidation merchandise like apparel, electronics, furniture, general merchandise, handbags, home décor, jewelry, tools and so forth. This article will review the basics about buying liquidation and closeouts merchandise.

You can buy overstocks, shelf pulls and customer-returned items directly from major retail stores because they regularly liquidate what they can’t sell. This gives you an opportunity to buy national brand merchandise at low prices for resale online or offline. You can buy below wholesale from some of the nation’s largest discount retailers or closeout warehouses and turn this merchandise right around for resale in your own store, on eBay or at local flea markets.

Liquidation merchandise becomes available for the following reasons. Sometimes inventory doesn’t sell at the retail, wholesale or at the manufacturing level, so it is liquidated. Additionally, inventory is seasonal; thus, subsequently liquidated. Some items are no longer manufactured so supply can’t be restocked. Some items are replaced by a newer model. Some items are held up in customs and cancelled due to the delay. Other items might be damaged or otherwise compromised. Stock is liquidated at different levels for many different reasons. But the main reason for liquidation is to recoup money that would otherwise be tied up in products that can no longer be sold for a profit. Rather than take a total loss, merchandise inventories are liquidated to recoup some of the invested revenue.

That makes purchasing liquidation merchandise a great way for buyers to attain low cost inventory, as most items can be purchased for pennies on the dollar. Below is a description of the types of liquidated merchandise available.

• Close or Near Dated refers to grocery items. Large retailers send damaged goods or items nearing their Sell By date to a reclamation center for disposal or liquidation.
• Customer-Returned Items are retail items returned for exchange or store credit/refund for various reasons. Some returned items are damaged such that they can’t be resold as new. However, not all customer-returned items are damaged.
• Insurance Claimed Merchandise is inventory damaged due to flooding, theft, or fire/smoke. This salvage merchandise is typically sold by large insurance companies wanting to recoup money paid out in claims settlement.
• Salvage Merchandise is inventory compromised in some way. When you purchase salvage items, it requires re-working damaged products, so it’s hard to recapture value.
• Tested and Found Defective/Broken refers to items returned to retailers that are defective or broken. The reverse supply chain process includes sending items to a testing facility where they are examined for functionality. Some items are either refurbished or liquidated depending on the extent of repairs needed.

Reverse Logistics. If you’re not familiar with this term, it is basically the reason why marketers can buy name brand merchandise (customer returns) at very low prices. Three to four percent of all retail sales are returned for refund or exchange, and not all returned products can be re-shelved. Returned merchandise costs the retail industry some $40 billion dollars a year.

In closing, you want to make sure you fully understand what type of merchandise is being liquidated before making a purchase. When purchasing customer-returned items, it is common for a supplier to quote a ratio or percentage of damaged goods to expect. It is wise to proceed with caution when given this ratio because it’s almost impossible for a supplier to accurately estimate the ratio of damaged merchandise in a pallet or truckload. Some loads have light damages while others can be heavily damaged. It might be prudent to double the estimate of damaged goods to arrive at your estimated total cost when purchasing customer returns.

Haute couture designers, who design, make, and sell highly fashionable, custom-made clothing for women, formerly catered only to the very rich. Suddenly, their designs have become available for everywoman. Designers like Missoni, Versace, Karl Lagerfeld and Vera Wang are creating special lines for stores like Target, H&M, Macy’s and Zale’s.

Shoppers are seeing more bargains in luxury items as elite fashion designers go mass market. What does this mean for the wholesale industry? More orders from retail buyers to satisfy the frenzy in consumer demand. Consumers are responding to the availability of exclusive designs at a discount, resulting in huge sales. Evidently, Target’s recent launch of its exclusive Missoni line attracted huge crowds, crashing the company’s website. The merchandise, priced from $30 to $600, sold out in days, leaving many consumers disappointed.

Vera Wang is designing engagement rings for Zale’s, and you can get a special Karl Lagerfeld collection at Macy’s. Because of the weak economy, rich people are cutting back. So, why not design haute couture for everyone? H&M’s lines with Roberto Cavalli and Stella McCartney have been quite successful, with shoppers lined up overnight. Two of H&M’s most recent designer collections, Jimmy Choo and Lanvin, were so popular that a limited number of shoppers were let in the store at a time and were allowed to shop for a limited number of items while others waited their turn.

Young people who could never afford Missoni, for instance, were happy to get designer items at low prices. They realize these items aren’t identical to what the brand’s rich clientele get, but it’s affordable and stylish.

Until recently, most designers maintained tight control over their labels, releasing only a small number of items to their own boutiques and the most exclusive department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. However, there seems to be a big change in what designers can and cannot do these days, which is why this trend seems to be working. Designers can mix and match price points and still maintain their high-end customers because customers know the higher-priced lines feature better quality workmanship, more exclusive designs and more expensive fabrics.

This new trend brings fashion to another level because high-fashion designs are more attainable. For instance, the coming Versace collection at H&M will be priced from $30 to $400; but better versions at Neiman Marcus might cost over $2,000.

Shoppers who long coveted the pricey brands but couldn’t afford them are lapping them up quickly. The availability of the brands at everyday retailers has caused a buying frenzy, especially for items that are around for only a few weeks. On the date of the Missoni at Target launch, customers were waiting with bated breath to learn the exact time Missoni items would be available online, which happened around 3 a.m. in some areas.

Designer partnerships have become popular because of the sagging economy, forcing retailers and fashion’s top tier to come up with new ways to drive sales. Pundits say the trend has resulted in the “democratization of fashion,” making it cool to wear luxury brands with discount finds. Now that the stigma has been removed from cheap-chic, designers can use low-priced collaborations as an opportunity to expand their bottom line.

Apparel Deals has been a trend setter in the casual fashion wholesale industry for years. The company sells the most stylish and casual dresses, tops and accessories at lower than wholesale prices. They also carry name brand perfumes and cosmetics. Not only do they feature the latest cool, trendy, and stylish dresses and tops, they have created popular lines of accessories ranging from fashionable handbags to cool women’s belts. And their entire wholesale fashion line is carefully tested for top quality.

Apparel Deals has been selling worldwide to hundreds of thousands of women who keep up with the latest fashion trends and want affordable prices on quality clothing. Their fashion hot sellers: include dresses, wholesale jewelry, accessories, shoes and handbags.

If you are looking for clearance bargains, they have that, too, along with daily deals on top-selling items at outrageously low prices. Below is a description of their top lines.

Tops: Nothing beats the feeling you get when people say, “Where did you get that top? It looks awesome!” Sounds like a dream, right? Well, Apparel Deals is on a mission to make that dream come true with its fabulous selection of hot wholesale tops.
Whether you are looking for casual to sexy, or office to evening wear, apparel Deals’ range of wholesale tops are great for stylish fashion lovers looking for a deal. The wide range of styles, chic cuts, and fashionable trends are a fashion buyer’s dream. They also offer tees, tank-tops, sleeveless, short, three-quarter and long sleeves, chiffon, vests and more, Apparel Deals offers below wholesale prices and has a huge inventory.

Accessories. Shoppers can add the perfect touch to their apparel collections with wholesale accessories from Apparel Deals. They have a wide range of accessories consisting of sunglasses, handbags, belts, shoes, and more. All their accessories match up with their wholesale clothing and apparel lines.

Jonathan of Apparel Deals said, “We carry the best brands in our inventory at below wholesale prices with discounts ranging from 30 to 80 percent. “Since our inception, we have maintained a remarkable reputation as the one-stop-shop for an amazing collection of wholesale clothing and wholesale accessories,” he added. “Some of our accessories are chic yet simple, and each accessory is carefully selected to match our apparel lines,” he concluded.

Wholesale Dresses. Any woman can complement her natural beauty with the latest trendy dresses. Apparel Deals makes it stylish, chic, and reasonable for buyers so their stores can allow consumers to flaunt their new wardrobe. They have a large dress collection with a wide range of trendy dresses of unmatched quality.

Apparel Deals offers everything from formals to party wear, sexy to chic, in a wide range of dresses to choose from. Their collection also includes evening dresses, cocktail dresses, club wear and casual wear. The entire line includes:

• Fall Fashions
• Tops
• Dresses
• Jeans/Bottoms
• YMI Jeans
• Skirts
• Plus Sizes
• Basic Apparel
• Intimate
• Swimwear
• Jewelry
• Sunglasses
• Handbags
• Shoes
• Belts
• Cosmetics
• Perfumes
• Nail Polishes

Additional Savings. To those buyers who want to save, Apparel Deals offers monthly coupons that help keep prices down, yet the company ensures the best quality on wholesale accessories. Shopping online at Apparel Deals is simple and convenient. Simply select a product or a range of product selections, add them to your cart, checkout and make payment. Apparel Deals assures same business day delivery for all local orders placed before 2:00 pm PST.

Apparel Deals is located at:
1155 South Boyle Ave
Los Angeles CA 90023
Office Hours:
9:00 AM-5:00 PM, Monday-Friday, Pacific Time. Closed on U.S. Holidays
Customer Service:
Phone: 800-566-2499

Cool Jewels by Phillips International offers a wide selection of wholesale trendy jewelry at fabulous discount prices. Its fashion jewelry lines include Children’s Jewelry, Mood Jewelry, First Friends Necklaces, Fossil Shark Tooth Necklaces, Hemp Necklaces, Wholesale Beach Jewelry, Wholesale Shell Jewelry, Trendy Boutique Jewelry and many fashion accessories.

Buyers can choose from an endless selection of Mood Jewelry pendants at Cool Jewels which range from Dolphins and Sea Turtles to Mood Best Friends and Mood Peace Signs. The Mood Jewelry collection includes Mood Necklaces, Mood Bracelets, Mood Rings, and even Mood Anklets and Mood Earrings.

Another hot selling item at Cool Jewels is its exciting assortment of trendy Wholesale Shark Tooth Necklaces. Museums, Zoos and Aquariums would enjoy the high margin sales of shark tooth jewelry but are unable to carry fossils. Cool Jewels has developed a replica fossil shark tooth jewelry line that fits the bill. The shark teeth are available in both Great White shark and Otodus teeth replicas. They are hand made and finished to display a genuine look with uncanny accuracy. The Shark Tooth Necklaces come with a “Fossil Shark Tooth Replica” sticker on the front of the header tag. All shark tooth jewelry are a part of Cool Jewels’ Wholesale Beach Jewelry line. You can call to find out which styles are best sellers at 1-800-432-3636.

Cool Jewels is the best source for Wholesale Boutique Jewelry. Feel free to browse through all the latest trends in this upscale fashion jewelry section, which includes necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Buyers will find some unique jewelry styles to complement their costume jewelry offerings, which always brings quick, easy sales. In fact, sales across the country are increasing on boutique jewelry. Even as consumers tighten their purse strings, women are always looking for something to complement a new outfit. Boutiques across the country are turning to costume jewelry suppliers for fashionable and trendy boutique jewelry that fits any budget. You can get high margins and quick sales with these lovely boutique styles, most items which will retail for $19.99.

We asked Cool Jewels what makes so many of their buyers come back year after year. The reply was, “We take the time to answer any questions on the phone, and we collect data that shows which styles sell quickly and easily. Buyers appreciate the information and our friendly service.”

With over 34 years of experience serving the fashion industry, Phillips International is a respected and leading supplier of Souvenir, Fashion and Trendy Jewelry. Cool Jewels has a knowledgeable customer service department that is always happy to help and offer advice for buyers’ fashion jewelry needs. Call any time at 1-800-432-3636.

After a field trial of about 90 days to invitation-only users, the Official Google Blog has now extended an invitation to all users who want to join Google+. Users can join at google.com/+. Google said it made 91 improvements, which are posted here. While Google+ is in its infancy, the company is very excited about it and released an additional 9 new features yesterday for Hangouts. Below is a review of the new features.

Google+ Hangouts Provides More Places, People and Action

Hangouts uses live video to bring people together face-to-face. Users have used this feature in many different ways, from cooking classes to game shows to music concerts. Google hopes to keep this momentum going while providing new ways to communicate in-person online.

Hangouts on Your Phone: you can use Hangouts on your phone to connect with others in many different places and at all different times with your mobile. To get started, find an active hangout in the Stream, and tap “Join.” Hangouts now supports Android 2.3+ devices with front-facing cameras, and iOS support is coming soon. The new mobile app rolled out to Android Market yesterday, so users can start hanging out anytime, anywhere.

Hangouts on Air is now available, which allows for a public broadcast when users want to speak to a large audience or view as a spectator. For setup, start a normal hangout, and then you have the option to broadcast and record your session. Once you’re “On Air,” up to nine others can join your hangout (as usual), and anyone can watch your live broadcast on their phone.

Google is starting with a limited number of broadcasters, but any member of the Google+ community can tune in. Google be hosting its very first On Air hangout with will.i.am on Wednesday night, September 21. For more information visit will.i.am’s or Vic’s profile on Google+.

Hangouts with extras lets users share the things they do together. These new Hangout extras include:

• Screensharing for showing off vacation photos, lesson plans or whatever you want on your screen
• Sketchpad for drawing, doodling or scribbling together
• Google Docs for writing, planning or presenting something with others
• Named Hangouts for joining or creating a public hangout about a topic such as fashion, music or sports 

The extras are still under construction, but Google wants to get feedback so you can click “Try Hangouts with extras” in the green room and let them know what you think.

Hangouts APIs: Since last week’s Google+ API launch, it is also releasing a basic set of Hangouts APIs for developers if they want to build new kinds of apps and games. More details on the Google+ platform blog.

Google+ Search Lets Users Find People and Posts

Search in Google+: Yesterday, Google added search to Google+. Users can type a query into the Google+ search box, and it will return relevant people and posts, as well as popular web content. So, be adventuresome; go ahead and try out Google+.

After nearly four months of testing, Google Wallet launched September 19th, providing mobile payment access to a select group of people. Initially, it has only a handful of merchant and retail partners, and has only one handset enabled with its Near Field Communication (NFC) system − the Sprint Nexus S. However, users will be able to affix a sticker to their phones making them NFC-enabled. Future Android handsets will have an embeded NFC chip.

With its limited availability, the Google Wallet launch is said to be mostly symbolic. However, because of Google’s popularity, Wallet mobile payments stand to gain traction despite all the competition from Amex, Intuit, PayPal, Square, Visa and the wireless carriers. Not all competitors are using NFC, and it remains to be seen if NFC becomes dominant.

Using Google Wallet involves a change in consumer behavior, which may be a challenge. People are used to swiping their plasticcards and may not quickly alter their behavior unless they get incentives to adopt mobile payments. Additionally, consumers always have security fears. However, NFC payments are said to be more secure than the currently preferred plastic payments.

Regardless of the barriers, the launch of Google Wallet signals a new era of mobile payments in the U.S. These transactions will gather actionable data for marketers in the form of targeting and tracking for online ads/offers, in-store redemption and data gathering for retailers.

How Does Google Wallet Work?

Google Wallet allows your phone to act as your credit card by using the Near Field Communication (NFC) system built into the handset. By tapping your Android phone against a compatible card reader available in select retailers, your payment data are transferred to the merchant without swiping a physical card into a credit card terminal.

While some people might be afraid to combine their phone with their credit cards since phones can be stolen or lost, Google Wallet issupposed to be more secure than swiping a card in a terminal. If the phone’s screen is turned off, the transmitter chip can’t be powered and does not store data, which prevents any lurking hackers from skimming your card. Additionally, if you haven’t used Google Wallet in the last 30 minutes, or if you manually lock it, you must enter your PIN before anyone can use your cards or even see which cards your Wallet holds.

The inconvenience is that Google Wallet doesn’t work everywhere. It won’t work at every site that has an NFC-friendly card reader because Wallet requires the NFC readers to be updated with the latest specifications, and not all retailers have updated. However, you can use the included MasterCard PayPass app to find and display all compatible retailers near your current location, or any location you input manually.

One obstacle to Google Wallet proliferation is the availability of updated card readers everywhere. Actually, the readers are not Google Wallet specific − it’s the same reader currently used by Visa, AmEx and Mastercard – but the readers need to be based on the latest specs. In the meantime, until these readers are everywhere, you’ll have to swipe your credit card manually in the terminal.

The Google Wallet app is well designed and also intuitive to use. It has four sections: Payment Cards, Loyalty Cards, My Offers, and History.

• Payment Cards display all your Google Wallet credit cards, and you can set any one as the default.
• Loyalty Cards look a lot like Payment Cards, but are meant for special offer cards like “Buy 2 lunches and 2 drinks, get one lunch at half price.”
• My Offers display any nearby promos you’ve purchased through the daily/local deals app, Google Shopper.
• History currently displays only the timestamps of your recent transactions with no details on where it was used or how much was spent. This section is not yet complete, and will be finalized later.

While Google Wallet is very impressive, the current launch is just the beginning of the mobile payments era, which will take time before large-scale acceptance and mainstream use.

With big expectations for the coming holiday season, savvy retailers and brand managers are getting their mobile sites ready for the onslaught of holiday traffic; and, for good reason. Google projected 15 percent of all searches will be made on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and these queries will be made from mobile devices. Google also estimates 44 percent of all December searches for last-minute gifts and store locations will be done on smartphones and tablets. But that’s not all.

Besides the Google data, eMarketer predicts 9.5 percent of mobile phone users will redeem mobile coupons in 2011. Any retailer or brand manager without a functional mobile site and coupon promotions will be leaving money on the table.

Back in 2010, only 5.6 percent of consumers used a mobile device to visit retail websites on Black Friday, according to web analytics firm Coremetrics. With 15 percent expected to shop mobile this year, that’s almost triple the number of shoppers using mobile. And with a prediction of 9.5 percent of shoppers redeeming mobile coupons, that translates into 19.8 million consumers. There’s a lot of money to be made if have a functional, mobile friendly site for all these mobile shoppers and have the right promotional campaigns in place.

Retailers and brand managers that want to make mobile coupons available to consumers can do so via text messages, mobile apps, mobile commerce sites and the use of bar codes for online and in-store shopping. There are a number of technology providers, including Cellfire, HipCricket and ShopText, to name a few, that offer online and mobile campaigns retailers and brand managers can use to spread coupons among consumers.

With so many mobile consumers already using mobile coupons, retailers today really need to consider the way a mobile coupon campaign can enhance their overall mobile commerce strategy.

Retailers can use a number of different tactics to build awareness of offers by using multiple touch-points. There are many unique benefits offered by mobile campaigns, including enhanced targeting capabilities and speed to market. The ability to personalize these offers according to location, context, behavior and timeliness can increase campaign effectiveness and produce multiple responses.

A number of factors are driving the increase in the use of mobile coupons, including the rapidly increasing adoption of smartphones and tablets by consumers and the ensuing increase in the use of the mobile web and mobile apps.

Other factors contributing to the adoption of mobile coupons include: convenience, better targeting potential, speed to market and the likelihood of high engagement by consumers, especially with text-message-based coupons. Additionally, the increasing use of time-sensitive coupon deals satisfies the consumer demand for discounts in troubled economic times. As more smartphone owners access deals via email or apps on their devices, mobile will emerge as an ever more important way to access coupons quickly, effortlessly and on the go.

Last week, Google denied access to the AdWords API to hundreds of developers in order to “ensure quality, improve Google products and services and compliance with AdWords API Terms and Conditions,” according to the company. This upset many customers who complained because they got no warning and suffered damage to their businesses and clients.

Members of the AdWords API Forum showed their frustration in posting comments such as:

“I’ve been a API user since 2009 – and now have the same error everyone else
has been reporting. No notification. No explanation. Wouldn’t the decent
thing for Google to do is to inform paying (often for significant periods of
time) customers with at least an explanation? If they have tightened terms
and conditions – why can’t they work with us and inform us of what we need
to do to comply – simply rejecting a mass amount of API accounts without any
warning is very harsh.”

Others mentioned the cost:

“Many of us have of spent significant amounts of time developing apps and
businesses using the AdWords API. Many of us have customers. It’s just very
frustrating.”

This situation also affected TopTenWholesale and Manufacturer.com, prompting CEO Jason Prescott to write in email to Danny Sullivan:

“…the other day we get this random message from Google stating that our API had been disabled. It goes without saying, that this move is causing a boat load of frustration, time spent, money lost and unnecessary bleeding — all because google decided to arbitrarily flick another switch.”

Luckily, others were not affected. I asked my son, SEO Consultant Paul Bruemmer, about it, and he said. “Our clients were not affected; however, it’s a serious issue because Google is almost like a utility now. An API token for business software is similar to utility services. Without utilities you send people home and you’re out of business until it goes back on. We had a taste of that a couple weeks ago in San Diego, and it was no picnic. So I can imagine how all those developers felt since this was not an emergency but a simple change of policy.”

Needless to say, the complaints about this clean-up action by Google were considerable, with hundreds of AdWords API developers registering protests in the AdWords API Forum. Some of these developers had access to the API for years and were dismayed not to get an advance warning from Google. When this first started, it was thought to be a bug; however, Google later admitted the action was a result of a periodic review of API activity.

Following is the solution: API developers must re-apply in order to get their developer token reactivated and must include specific, detailed information:

• State the uses of the API application or tool with specific examples, indicating if it is for bid optimization or account management.
• State who will use the API application or tool.
• State the people within their company or others to whom the application will be sold.

Additional information is also required. Google wants screenshots of the API app or tool, or design documentation if the product is in development. Google also wants a list of clients that will be using the API application or tool “in an automated way.”

As reported on SearchEngineLand, some API developers were granted provisional access to the API, but they were told they would have to provide all of the above information before September 23, and presumably meet Google’s requirements, before the access decision becomes permanent. If you have this problem, contact your Google rep and make a request for access.

After a successful debut at the California Market Center in Los Angeles last fall, A Taste of OFFPRICE is coming back to the West Coast for its second consecutive year on October 3-5, 2011. Being held at the same time as the Majors Market at the California Market Center,” A Taste of OFFPRICE” expects 125 exhibitors in booths offering the same great value and closeouts in the latest fashions found at the main show in Las Vegas every February and August.

“After a successful debut in Los Angeles a year ago, this year’s show is once again showing great interest from vendors that want to exhibit their newest products,” said David Lapidos, executive vice president of OFFPRICE. “We expect an increase in attendance in Los Angeles much like the one we saw at our New York City ‘Taste’ show last May,” he added.

There’s always an opportunity to find your next great deal at the OFFPRICE Show, so make your plans now. TopTenWholesale and Manufacturer.com plan to be there and we look forward to seeing you. With the August show behind them, the OFFPRICE LA show is already less than three weeks away at the California Market Center during the Majors Market.

Los Angeles is a great fashion center, and this is the place to be for buyers who need to supply their stores with great products for the coming holiday sales season. As always, orders written at the show will be delivered by early November.

Interested buyers can register for A Taste of OFFPRICE in Los Angeles on the website at OFFPRICEShow.com. A Taste of OFFPRICE in Los Angeles will serve buyers well who are looking for last minute deals for their stores in advance of the holiday season.
With the holiday sales season just around the corner, buyers will want to visit the TBI booth (#207) which is a must-visit for great holiday sweaters in cashmere for Junior and Missy, wool coats and jackets, and some great woven shirts for young men. These items are a perfect addition to your store’s racks for the holiday season.

As an extra bonus, A Taste of OFFPRICE takes place over the same dates as dineLA Restaurant Week! That means you can enjoy lunches and dinners for great prices at select LA eateries, Oct. 2-7. Lunches are priced at $16, $22 and $28, while dinners are $26, $24 or $44. Check out all participating restaurants and take advantage of this great opportunity to enjoy dineLA Restaurant Week while in town for the show.

If you are a wholesale clothing buyer and want the latest fashions at the best prices, 1 Fashion Clothing is an excellent place to source merchandise. Its showroom in Los Angeles offers an enormous collection of wholesale clothing for both men and women if you happen to be in the area. If not, the online store puts merchandise at your fingertips and is easy to use. The reason we recommend 1 Fashion Clothing is because of its expertise in clothing fashion and in the wholesale clothing distribution field, giving you leading edge products at the very affordable prices.

1 Fashion Clothing Inc is one of the largest clothing and apparel wholesale distributors in Los Angeles, CA. Starting as a brick and mortar store in 2006, it has grown rapidly in the five years since. They now have a huge warehouse, a brick and mortar store and an online store catering to hundreds of loyal domestic and overseas clothing retailers around the world.

We asked about the reason for their success. “Our success is due to many factors,” said Elisabeth. “Perseverance is one, along with hard work, a good business model, quality merchandise and great pricing, as well as excellent customer service – all these factors have contributed,” she added.

“In our efforts to find the best deals in wholesale clothing and apparel inventory, we found that dealing directly with direct importers and buying in the traditional wholesale pricing did not make us as competitive as we are now,” said Elizabeth. “So we started to source out for closeout inventory from big liquidators, business that are folding, and those that buy directly from manufacturing companies and importers, buying in bulk for a price of hundreds of thousand dollars per shipment,” she explained. “This process allows us to sell the merchandise for much lower prices than the industry standard. Our per package price is a lot lower than most other wholesalers,” she concluded.

1 Fashion Clothing also has a clearance rack that runs all year long. Buyers can get even lower prices, up to 95 percent off in some cases. The company has no minimum order, allowing even the smallest clothing retailers the opportunity to buy inventory for resale. On items of $300 and up, 1 Fashion Clothing provides free shipping within the continental U.S. For overseas buyers, they also give a shipping price break. This is yet another reason why they’ve become one of the biggest suppliers in the U.S. and overseas for wholesale clothing and apparel in addition to jewelry and fashion accessories.

Price alone is not the only reason for the company’s success. It’s also about the quality of their merchandise. One of the keys to success is buying high quality merchandise in bulk for a lot less and passing the savings on to retail buyers.

The online store offers huge discount items. They have sections where buyers can find items that are below their regular prices. For instance, they have a $4 and Less section which is the Clearance Section. Buyers can also check the All Year Round Sales section. These sections provide substantial discounts on wholesale clothing inventory. Among the women’s clothing and apparel, 1 Fashion Clothing sells:

• wholesale jeans
• wholesale tops
• wholesale plus sizes
• wholesale dresses
• wholesale active wear
• wholesale jewelry
• wholesale costume jewelry
• wholesale accessories
• wholesale fashion accessories
• wholesale skirts
• wholesale sweaters
• wholesale boys clothing

1 Fashion Clothing has over 2,000 different items, styles, colors and sizes to choose from. Their shipping process is seamless as buyers can track their orders upon receiving an order confirmation. The company accepts payment from credit cards, PayPal, corporate and personal checks, bank wire transfer, cashier’s checks and money orders. They accept orders via phone, fax, email online and in person.

1 Fashion Clothing gets new arrivals all the time. You can sign up to get their email updates with information on sales and new merchandise arrivals.

Top Ten Wholesale is beginning a series of articles on our TopTen Book of Lists. Our lists will focus on Industry, People, Shows, Clients and so forth. The first in the series is on the Top Ten Flea Markets. Flea markets are more popular than ever in these economic times. Our list gives you the opportunity to find great bargains, maybe some collectibles and many other items you can use around the house and yard. By attending one of America’s Top Ten Flea Markets, you’ll be in for quite an experience because these affairs are usually very large and offer bargains you won’t find anywhere else. You might even find something you can take to the “Antiques Roadshow” if it comes to your town. Here’s TopTenWholesale’s Top Ten Flea Markets List.

1. Alameda Pointe Antiques Faire - Alameda, CA
The Alameda Flea Market in northern California is the largest in this area with shoppers from the San Francisco Bay Area. Their next faire day is October 2. Events are held on the first Sunday of every month. The Faire boasts over 800 Dealer Booths and advertises items are 20 years old or older. It’s the ultimate place to shop for vintage and antique home decorations, clothing, furniture, jewelry, art, pottery, books & collectibles. They have free parking and shuttles, but pets are not allowed.

2. Brimfield Antique Show and Flea Market – Brimfield, MA
Rain or shine, the show goes on, and it’s like the greatest show on earth as far as flea markets go since the combined booths at the Brimfield Antique and Flea Market Shows make up the largest outdoor antique show in the United States. You may have heard that Brimfield experienced a severe tornado on June 1. The site says they are fine and their home and office were thankfully untouched. However, you can still see the damage when approaching. The Brimfield, Massachusetts event stretches across an entire mile of Route 20, with over 5,000 dealers filling 21 fields. Brimfield hosts three Tuesday through Sunday shows each year, in May, July, and September. The last fair this year was held September 6-11. But look for the next show on May 8-13, 2012.

3. Brooklyn Flea – Fort Greene, Williamsburg, Smorgasburg, Central Park
The Brooklyn Flea has been around since April 2008 with weekly outdoor flea markets held in four locations around Brooklyn, New York, on either Saturday or Sunday. It features 150 local and regional vendors of antiques, vintage clothing, handmade items, jewelry, food, bicycles, records, and much more. Since inception, the Flea has become a New York City institution, getting local, national, and international press for its vendor diversity, food quality and merchandise. The market also provides a stimulating community atmosphere and fuels he local economy for vendors, entrepreneurs and local businesses.

4. Daytona Flea & Farmers Market – Daytona Beach, FL
This huge flea and farmers market has 1,000 booths and is open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 to 5, rain or shine. It was voted one of the “Top 5 Markets in the Country” by USA Weekend and ranked among “The Best in the World” by the Travel Channel. This is where you can get great flea market finds and fresh produce. The Daytona Flea & Farmers hosts 2.5 million shoppers every year with events like the “5th Annual Cruising for a Cause VW Run” and “4th Annual Hippie Contest,” in addition to offering raffles, door prizes and music.

5. First Monday Trade Days - Canton, TX
First Monday Trade Days in Canton, Texas, began 150 years ago as a place to trade horses and livestock. It’s considered one of the largest flea markets in the United States and now sells every any kind of merchandise you can imagine. The flea market operates on hundreds of acres and provides spaces for about 6,000 vendors. It is open Thursday through Sunday before the first Monday of each month and is located near Tyler or Dallas, TX.

6. GreenFlea Market – Manhattan, NY
For over 25 years, GreenFlea has been operating on the Upper West Side of Manhattan as one of the first open air markets in the city. It offers antique/vintage collectibles and new handcrafted items. It’s an ideal place to look for unique merchandise at reasonable prices, most of which are not available anywhere else. The handcrafters offer custom-made merchandise, from jewelry to furniture to clothing. Vendors take pride in helping shoppers find exactly what they’re looking for. Some of the proceeds from GreenFlea Market benefit two New York City schools, with over $4 million contributed since 1985.

7. Long Beach Antique Market – Long Beach, CA
Established in 1982, the Long Beach Market has over 800 sellers on 20 acres of vintage bargains at the Long Beach Veterans Stadium. Held on the third Sunday of each month, this year-round outdoor market has antiques, collectibles, vintage items, home décor at bargain prices. Every item for sale must be an antique or collectible. It was named “Top Flea Market in U.S.” by Good Housekeeping and “The Best Swap Meet in L.A.” by Los Angeles Magazine. The Long Beach Antique Market is having a special sale October 30th, its 5th Sunday Super Sale, with hundreds of sellers at “The Show the Designers Love.”

8. Rose Bowl Stadium – Pasadena, CA
The Rose Bowl Stadium has hosted the Tournament of Roses Football Game, UCLA Bruin Football, Americafest Fourth of July celebration, concerts, religious services and filming, making it a southern California legend. Thousands of bargain hunters flock to the Stadium every month. It has over 2,500 booths of antiques, vintage clothing, and every kind of merchandise imaginable. In fact, you could find yourself among celebrities and well-known interior designers if you shop there. It is currently undergoing a $152 million dollar renovation, with anticipated completion scheduled for late 2013.

9. Shipshewana Auction and Flea Market – Shipshewana, IN
Since 1922, George Curtis started selling livestock and cattle from his home to customers in the Midwest. In 1930 he added auctions and ultimately sold to Fred Lambright. In 1979, the auction barn burned and was rebuilt in three months. Since then, it has become the Midwest’s largest outdoor flea market with flea markets every Tuesday and Wednesday from May to November with hundreds of vendors offering goods. It will have a standard bred horse sale on September 24 and a Fall Crafter’s Fair September 29 to October 1.

10. Springfield Antique Show & Flea Market – Springfield, OH
The Springfield Antique Show and Flea Market has been a favorite haunt for thousands of collectors and dealers for over twenty-five years. It is having an Extravaganza September 16-18, this coming weekend. Early bird buying begins Friday at 8 am to noon and it is open Saturday from 8 am to 5 pm and Sunday 9 am to 4 pm. You can find fine antiques, funky flea market item and fabulous food. This flea market features 2,500 sellers each month at the Clark County Fairgrounds. The 3-day extravaganzas in May and September get the most sellers and attendees.

Extra Bonus:
Traders Village – Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, San Antonio, TX
Traders Village calls itself a Texas size marketplace. With multiple locations in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston and San Antonio, Texas, this marketplace opened in 1973. Each location has millions of people browsing, shopping and trading on acres filled with thousands of dealers offering everything from soup to nuts at bargain prices. At Traders Village, can you amble through thousands of shops and deal with the shop owners directly for bargains that range from paper clips to bulldozers on any given weekend.

With Black Friday a couple months away, the Google Mobile Ads Blog is sharing a few insights on what marketers can expect for the holiday shopping season. After reading these stats, all retailers and web merchants should start preparing for the holidays right now, ensuring their mobile sites are user friendly, creating great mobile content and coupon offers. Merchants can expect increased mobile searches, higher mobile ad response, more coupon users and more early holiday shoppers using smartphones and tablets.

Mobile Shoppers Rule
Google made some predictions for mobile usage during the holiday season based on its historical growth rate data. Here are Google’s projections:

• 15 percent of total “Black Friday” searches will be from smartphones and tablets.
• 44 percent of total searches for last minute gifts and store locator terms be made from smartphones and tablets.
• 65 percent of smartphone and tablet users said they located a local store with their device and then made a purchase.
• Over one-third of high-end mobile users will start holiday shopping before Thanksgiving.
• Over the past two holiday seasons, Google sees a “double peak” in search volume for retail brands around Black Friday and the week before Christmas by last-minute shoppers on mobile devices. These shoppers locate and shop at local stores because they missed free shipping.

Another good piece of intelligence from research by eMarketer indicates that millions of consumers will be redeeming mobile coupons as 9.5 percent of U.S. mobile phone users access and redeem mobile coupons this year. Coupons are more popular than they have been in years, and you can attract business with coupon offers in mobile ads.

Preparing for Mobile Shoppers
There is no doubt mobile has transformed people’s lives in every way, and especially in the way they shop. Despite that, you may be surprised to learn 79 percent of large online advertisers do not have a mobile optimized website (Google/Kelsey). This not only makes it hard for mobile and tablet users to shop for what they need quickly and easily; it makes it hard for merchants to sell their goods. Here’s why retailers, web merchants and all kinds of marketers need to optimize for mobile.

• 7 percent of U.S. web traffic comes from mobile devices.
• 85 percent of mobile devices will be web enabled by next year.
• Mobile search has grown four fold in the past year.
• 1 in 3 mobile searches have local intent.

It’s time for marketers to use mobile to their advantage, and it’s not too late to optimize for the coming holiday shopping season.

Retailers and web merchants can also consider mobile advertising and the use of coupon offers. People are willing to engage in action with local businesses, and especially during the last week before Christmas when Google predicts a second mobile shopping frenzy.

Don’t forget mobile optimization for your videos and app downloads, which are also very popular with mobile users. With so many shoppers aiming for pre-Thanksgiving shopping, there couldn’t be a better time than the present for implementing plans to optimize for mobile.

The Google Merchant Blog is reminding ecommerce websites that the new Google Shopping technical specifications go into effect September 22. Google Product Search released new Unique Product Identifier (UPI) requirements in June and new data feed requirements in July. With these new requirements, Google hopes to standardize product listings and reduce the number of duplicate product listings. The data standardization initiative is good news for consumers, but may be hard on merchants with limited data and resources.

New Google UPI Requirements. The new UPI requirements oblige retailers in certain categories to SKU up on product comparison pages, and suggest they compete by price and reviews on product comparison pages.

Retailers that list products, outside of the apparel and custom category items, need two of the following three identifiers:

• UPC, EAN, or JAN
• Brand
• MPN

Media products need only one of the following three:

• UPC
• EAN
• JAN

Books need an ISBN (Either ISBN-10 or ISBN-13; exceptions for books published before 1970).

If, for some reason, you are outside of the apparel and custom category items and cannot secure the required UPIs for your products, you can request an exemption from Google.

New Google Product Feed Requirements. On July 11, Google published new requirements merchants must start using by September 22. Apparel merchants will have the most work because Google now requires a product listing and image for each different apparel item, whether it is by age group, pattern, color or size. Below is a review of the new requirements.

Google Product Category. You now must separate merchant and Google categorizations. Use Google’s categorization in the Google Product Category. If you have more specific categories, you can get more qualified traffic because you can leverage additional keywords at the long tail of the category string. The Google categories are listed here.

Product Type. This attribute is for each merchant’s internal categorization nomenclature. Formerly, you could use either your own categorization or Google’s. However, with the addition of the Google Product Category, the Product_Type attribute is now for internal categorization only.

Additional Image Link. Google now allows up to ten additional images for each product by creating multiple columns with the attribute. The additional_image_link will help Google display additional views of products to consumers. This will likely benefit soft goods merchants that don’t SKU up. Apparel merchants are now required to include the color and size of their products, which adds to the data these retailers must compile, organize and input.

Product Variations. Google now wants the parent SKU of a group of items to be included with each child SKU. This means that all child products must have a value for the “item group id” attribute, which will be the parent SKU id.

New Required Attributes for Apparel Merchants. Google will require the attributes below from apparel merchants. Starting September 22, products that don’t list these attributes or don’t define the appropriate apparel category for the new Google Product Category will not be recognized as apparel and will be subject to the new unique product identifier rules listed above.

• Gender
• Age Group (the age group that each item targets: Adult/Kids)
• Color
• Size: (Ex. “16/36 Tall” for men’s dress shirt)
• Material
• Pattern

Non-Compliance Penalty. Merchants not complying with the new Google Product Search requirements get a 7 day warning period. If not complying after 7 days, the entire account gets suspended for 7 days. Lastly, if not complying after the 7 day suspension, the account is suspended for 28 days.

For the latest details, read more details at Upcoming Google Product Search Feed Specification and Policy Changes.