Many of the intended readers of this blog may currently be participating in the ASD/AMD Show in Las Vegas this week (3/15-18).  I wish all of you the greatest success at an event that continues to be critical to general merchandisers in the US and beyond. For those of you interested in developing new business, as you may know already, there is a growing demand for home/gift, general merchandise and new categories by apparel retailers who are looking for that one niche product that will get new customers into the store and allow their apparel lines to sell themselves. Accordingly, our team at the Off Price Specialist Center is launching a new salon area at our August Off Price Show called “HOME.”  HOME @ the Off Price Show is designed to be a home/gift, gen merch and new product “incubator” for apparel retailers looking to add more excitement at their stores. It is a ground level opportunity for vendors in these categories to make a significant impact at the largest and perhaps ONLY Off Price Show in the apparel industry.  Our apparel “jobbers” or off price specialists (the newer, more politically correct term) have become known as heroes to struggling apparel retailers who have found excellent values at our semi-annual trade show – which is the offical Off Price Show of the multi-venue/concept Las Vegas Fashion Week. Home/Gift, Gen Merch / hard goods are not new to the Off Price Show.  My good friend Larry Manus (who is at ASD this week) has been bringing his hard lines to the Off Price Show since its inception in 1995.  “I meet entrepreneurs and savvy retailers who already got the message about the need for diversification.”  His New Jersey-based company, United Auction LLP, has been wildly successful at our show in hard goods, as has St. Louis off price specialist CWC Inventories.  And as long ago as 2003, when I was first involved with the Off Price Show as its outside marketing agent, I met candle and gift vendors in the second last row of the show who were doing cartwheels because they were writing orders like crazy from aggressive retailers looking for new products. Now that I have been more directly involved with the show for the past 5+ years, it doesn’t surprise me that there is a great fit for home/gift and gen merch vendors at Off Price.  Our concept is known to many of our seasoned buyers as “the treasure hunt” because you are sure to find 1-2 new products (not on your pre-show shopping list) that could make your whole season or year.  The show is not arranged by category because of the nature of the off price business.  Our vendors carry either all categories or they specialize in one or two, plus they may come across an opportunity in a new category or product line that they know (based on their years of experience) could be a winner for their retail customers or prospects.  For Home/Gift, Gen Merch and new category vendors, we are making a more centralized HOME salon area to accommodate our largest retailers (who serve on our retail advisory board) who have been begging us for this kind of centralized space so that they can go back to their offices and – mind you they are all CMOs, CEOs and other executive types) tell them about the great values they found in bed & bath, table top, home decor, gift and other non-apparel categories that could be real winners for their chain. I invite all who are interested to contact me at the Off Price Specialist Center at either 262.754.6910 or dbrowne@offpriceshow.com.  I feel that this is an exciting opportunity for these vendors to develop new business that happens right on our show floor.  If you need further assurance, talk to my good friend Jason Prescott, President of JP Communications, whose TopTenWholesale.com is an official sponsor and media partner for the Off Price Show and has been since 2001 (I think).  Jason is a real visionary who’s very big on building bridges online for wholesalers and retailers, and takes advantage of the onsite connections at the Off Price Show to transcend this message across apparel retail lines.  Thanks, Jason, for this wonderful blog and for all the great things you do to support our respective industries.

So, a few months ago, I promised Shawn Saba from US Style, Inc. that we would consider letting him write a guest post here and sharing his knowledge with all our readers. I never got around to posting it and he called me today saying I’d better put this up before he and Sam came down to San Diego and kick my butt back to Connecticut. Just kidding…I think I can take them anyways so their threats were falling on deaf ears But seriously, ApparelUS.com is one of the leading online resources for great deals on wholesale fashion and we welcome the knowledge of experts like Shawn any day. Shawn, I should have gotten this up back in Feb. but thanks for your work.

Shawn writes:

Every four years we add one extra day in the month of February in order to
re-synchronize our calendar with the seasons. This year, 2008, is a leap
year, which makes it the perfect opportunity to re-synchronize your clothing
collection with current fashion sense. Because fashions are sometimes as
fickle as the changing weather patterns, it‚s important to update your
clothing inventory periodically. There‚s no better or more economical way to
do that than by shopping wholesale online.

Wholesale clothing shopping online allows you to shop for and buy the
hottest new fashion designs at a fraction of their retail price. Shopping at
online wholesalers cuts out the middlemen, which allows you can spend as
little as possible. The less you pay wholesale, the more you profit in the
end. Another great thing about wholesale clothing shopping is that the
fashions are constantly being updated, so you can always choose from the
most contemporary styles.

When you purchase wholesale clothing, you can afford to completely redo your
clothing collection to fit with the modern fashion landscape. Many of the
newest fashion trends can be found at Apparelus.com, the best source for
wholesale clothing and accessories on the Internet. They offer their
customers a wide range of top-quality clothing and accessories at steeply
discounted prices. With exclusive contracts from many of the hottest
designers and manufacturers in the market, Apparelus.com always has the best
wholesale prices.

Apparelus.com has thousands of different clothing pieces you can choose
from. Their departments include tops, pants, dresses, skirts, jackets and
more. They even have hundreds of accessories like shoes, handbags,
sunglasses, belts and jewelry. No matter what style of clothing or
accessories you‚re after, you‚ll probably find it for pennies on the dollar
in their extensive collection. You‚ll be amazed to see that the unit prices
for most of their clothing items are just several dollars when they could
easily be sold for 5 times more. So, visit Apparelus.com to take advantage
of this once in a leap year opportunity to do yourself a big favor and give
your clothing collection a total overhaul. Your bottom line will thank you.

As you may or may not be aware, Valentine’s Day is a mere calendar month away from today. It’s time to roll out the champagne, laced hearts and velvety chocolate! If you have little ones at home this may mean going out in search of Hannah Montana or High School Musical Valentine’s cards and those candy hearts with corny messages of amor sprawled across them. Or, if you’re like me and other Martha Stewart aficionados, you know that this is a very opportune time to get crafty!

Making your own Valentine’s cards and gifts is a breeze to do. Plus it’s a great creative outlet and has the added benefit of good ‘ole fashioned r & r. Not to mention that you’ll save some green in the process. (Score!) If you have the time (and patience) to make your own creations, my best advice is to purchase wholesale craft supplies from an authorized dealer. Popular Valentine’s materials include fabrics embossed with floral patterns, elegant embellished laces, crimson silks or velvets in various shades of red, and anything that shimmers. Nothing says “I love you” like a whole lot of sparkle! Sequins also work well, and you can never go wrong with pink. Silk flowers—roses and baby breath in particular—are also crowd pleasers. You can easily find wholesalers who will sell these products to you, even if you are purchasing for private use.

You don’t have to be a creative genius to come up with ideas for homemade gifts. I once made my hubby a Valentine’s teddy bear with a little box containing coupons I made for him with tickets for things like “1 free hour-long massage”, “1 candlelit dinner made with love and featuring the food of your choice”, “1 day of hogging the remote for the whole day” and other things that are lovely and free. The best part? These one-time use coupons never expired. My hubby still has a few of them left, and that was nearly six years ago. All it took was a plain, plush bear, some lace & fabric, a little bit of hot glue and a whole lot of imagination. That was the cheapest Valentine’s Day ever, and it had the greatest impact of all of them.

If you’re a little lacking in the art department, fret not. You can still find some great deals for wholesale Valentine’s Day gifts without having to spend the time and energy on artsy, time-consuming projects. Check out TopTenWholesale.com today for a list of wholesalers near you.

Fashion industry trade shows are the best destinations for buyers and retailers to source apparel and accessories in all categories and price ranges, with total immersion in upcoming trends and one-on-one access to the broadest reach of media, advertisers and online marketers in the trade.

Entering the final stretch of holiday gift sales — transacted by wholesalers, buyers and sellers by late last summer — it is time to plan for big trade shows in the next two months. These regional and national shows set the mood for urban safari cruise wear, khaki and wheat and neutral tones, the next leisure wear trends and the hottest priced off-price fashion lots.

We’ve even listed a mid-winter Snow Sports Show, a January 08 fashion show that follows up on New York Fashion Week of October 07, and an industry site where you can find smaller, or more specialized, or closer-to-home-base fashion trade shows. Start networking!

New York

Shows overlapping in the Big Apple from January 2 through January 18 include the NY Women’s Apparel Show, Fashion Avenue Market Expo, The Accessories Show and Moda Manhattan. From February 1 through 8, NYC hosts Just Kidstuff and the New York International Gift Fair. From January 6 to 8, New York presents the Designers & Agents Fashion Trade Show focusing on contemporary and young designer women’s sportswear, shoes, accessories and lifestyle clothing. (D & A heads to Los Angeles on January 11.)

Midwest

Chicago Shoe Expo is scheduled January 3 and 4; the Michigan Shoe Market is staged in Livonia from January 6 to 7. Los Angeles Designers & Agents Fashion Trade Show focusing on contemporary and young designer women’s sportswear, shoes, accessories and lifestyle clothing sets up in L.A. from January 11 through 13.

Las Vegas

Between February 10 and 14, Las Vegas hosts an overlapping series of trade shows, starting with Off Price Specialist Show opening February 10 (Men’s and Women’s apparel and accessories), extending to The Kids Show, ASAP Global Sourcing Show and Women’s Wear in Nevada beginning February 11.

Sponsored by the SnowSports Industry Association of America, and open only to the trade, the SIA SnowSports Trade Show opens in Las Vegas from January 29 to February 1. Billed as the largest snow sports trade event, this show presents nearly 1000 brands to a network of 20,000 industry professionals focused on the snow sports industry and the “family business” of snow.

Find a Fashion Trade Show Near You and Network

If you’re closer to trade shows in Munich or Berlin, if you find Billings, Montana more convenient, or if a specialty event like “Start Your Own Clothing and Accessories Company” seminar (Atlanta on February 2, 2008) is of interest, check this fashion trade show calendar site:

Infomat: http://www.infomat.com/calendar/infsi0000164.html

Sort through fashion trade shows all over the world by month and by city.

I’ve been spending a great deal of time lately reading about landing page optimization. What to do, what not to do, various factors, etc. Based on my research, here are a few factors to keep in mind when working on designing and improving your landing pages:

1) Keep Focused on Your Primary Objective
When writing your copy, laying out your landing page and considering multiple call-to-actions, keep your primary objective in mind at all times. You want to avoid placing strong emphasis on any secondary calls-to-action that draw visitor attention away from the primary objective. In addition, multiple call-to-actions (e.g. offers) can confuse visitors and lead to high drop-off rates.

2) Choose a Clear and High Visibility Headline Placement
Not only is it important to carefully craft your headline, it’s also important to select a highly visible location for your headline on the landing page. Always keep the headline relevant to the primary objective and connect the main text and headline to what visitors are specifically seeking. Don’t make it difficult or too metaphorical. Simple typically beats crafty.

3) Present the Call-to-Action Clearly and Vibrantly Right on the Landing Page
If your primary objective involves filling out a registration form or any other information gathering/search-related call-to-action, place the form clearly on the landing page in a prime real estate location. Draw attention to it via color, images and text. The use of white space is critical because you want visitors to feel at ease with completing the form. Don’t make it feel like a burden with long forms and with information fields that don’t appear relevant to the visitor’s main intent for being on the landing page; You can always get other information later on if you really need it.

4) Reduce Navigational Links
In most cases (e-commerce sites may be the main exception) the less navigational links the better. If you do use navigational links they should be call-to-actions that take the visitors to a second page with a new registration form (or related call-to-action) and some additional detail directly related to the alternative call-to-action link. These links keep the visitor on track with fulfilling your primary objective and help provide some research (e.g. customer insight) about what your main landing page content should focus on.

5) Use Crisp, Eye-attracting Images
Creating highly effective landing pages can be time-consuming to design and develop because of the high-quality images they employ. Landing pages that use crisp images, excellent visual hierarchy and strong relevant photos connect quickly with visitors. Relevant means being directly related to the visitors’ reasons for visiting your website in the first place.

These are just a few landing page optimization factors. Just like designing any new creative, it takes time and knowledge to get it right in a way that produces powerful results. Remember, always be sure to test potential factors to see what works best for your visitors in achieving your primary objectives.

Good luck to you on your landing page optimization!

On Tuesday July 10th ScanAlert will be releasing its latest research report regarding consumer conversion cycles. I have yet to look over the full report, but from what I’ve gathered thus far it looks like consumers are taking longer these days to convert—80% longer, in fact. According to the report, consumers are now taking an average of 34 hours and 19 minutes to buy products they have found on ecommerce sites, up from 19 hours when the same study was conducted in 2005.

This is surprising news to everyone in the ecommerce industry and should definitely be considered by anyone who is currently measuring their conversion rates according to immediate sales; that kind of instant gratification shopping seems to be a thing of the past and does not give a full picture of one’s sales success. Online shoppers are getting smarter and savvier these days and ecommerce sites need to step it up if they wish to lessen the time gap between first click and sale.

With competition only a few clicks away consumers are now doing a great deal of comparison shopping, and they’re not just looking for the cheapest deal anymore. Studies for the past seven years show that price is rarely the main deciding factor in making the sale. Shoppers are more interested in factors such as shipping speed, guarantees, on-site merchandising, merchant name-brands, and trustworthiness to name but a few.

There are many things you can do help prevent conversion delay. Anne Holland, Content Director of MarketingSherpa.com suggests becoming more human to potential customers. The importance of merchant brand cannot be stressed enough, so it’s wise to place “about us” sections in conspicuous places, and not just on the site’s homepage; with good SEO and SEM, the homepage is often bypassed completely. I suggest placing drop-down menus with the “about us” option on all pages so that it can be accessed from whatever pages are initially clicked from the search engines. Make it personable. Be smart. Be funny. But whatever you do, be memorable.

Really stress the reasons why someone should buy your product or service as opposed to that of your competitor. Do you have any big clients worth noting? Did your company receive some kind of special recognition in the past that might impress potential customers? It’s also wise to include photographs of your company in action because, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Also, pictures provide tangible evidence of a real, thriving business which can be helpful in this day and age of rampant internet fraud. Alleviating consumer fears by creating an environment of trust is key and can ultimately lead to quicker conversions.

In addition to having a decent “about us” section, it is also a good idea to collect consumer email addresses as soon as possible rather than at the typical time of checkout; if the consumer doesn’t make it all the way to that point, chances are you’re too late. You can’t rely on consumer memories to get them back to your site. Even if they try looking at their browser history they can easily confuse you with some of your competitors that research shows they’re definitely looking at. And you certainly don’t want them to re-do the search in some engine and click your sponsored link for a second time when you’ve already paid for them to do it the first time, especially when grabbing their emails in the first place is so easy to do. Perhaps you can entice new users with special discounts via email through a DHTML overlay, that way they’ll have a link to your site in their email inbox along with specials that make you stand out. As Anne put it, “If you wait to ask for email permission until the actual checkout, then you’ll miss the opportunity to promote fleeing shoppers.”

It is also a good idea to have some worthwhile content on each of your pages. While not every shopper reads all of the product information provided on an ecommerce site, it’s still wise to provide it. This is especially true if you’re selling big-ticket items; people don’t want to spend a ton of money on a product they know nothing about. The key is to give more information than your competition gives, and this can be anything from product reviews to shipping/in-stock data and everything in between, but don’t rely solely on data feeds from the manufacturer. This is usually not enough information to create conversions. In this case, more is better—always. Even random trivia can do the trick. You can also provide consumer forums where your potential customers can get real, honest product reviews from your past customers. They’ll probably appreciate the honesty which will contribute to that warm, fuzzy atmosphere of trust I spoke about earlier.

Another way to get a leg up on the competition is to offer unique extras and specials that are exclusive to your company and to your website. For example, you might consider offering free gifts to those who purchase a certain amount of your top-selling product, especially if you’re in the business of selling a product that truly can’t be found elsewhere. According to Anne of MarketingSherpa, the “extras” can be as simple as providing PDF format eBooks that have some kind of practical and/or entertainment value to them. Some examples include how-to guides, simple recipes, or expert advice. The trick is to provide gifts that won’t add to your shipping costs (hence the suggestion of downloadable eBooks.) You can also offer up coupons and discounts for subsequent purchases, or anything else that extends your brand. Get creative for the best results.

These are just a few things to think about. Surely more will come up for you when you get a chance to read the full report by ScanAlert when it is released tomorrow. If you have a better understanding of eConsumer behavior, chances are you’ll be able to win the battle against sluggish conversion rates, if not the war.

TopTenWholesale Guide to Dropshipping

By Claudia Bruemmer

If you are one of the many wholesalers and retailers that do not have facilities to stock products in bulk, this info is for you. Even if you don’t have back office operations due to the expense of facilities and personnel, you can still have a thriving business by shipping products to customers via dropshipping.

How Dropshipping Works

A dropshipper is a company that has access to products from various manufacturers and the means to ship these products directly to customers on behalf of other merchants or wholesalers. This can make wholesaling and retailing easy — for a fee.

Usually dropshippers charge a one-time fee to become a reseller and then smaller monthly maintenance fees for hosting and maintaining the web site and back office operations. Some dropshippers will even build you a web site geared for online retail or wholesale sales as part of the initial package. Or, you can build your own.

The benefits to using dropshippers is that you don’t have to hassle with returns, and they don’t have to pay the costs associated with managing, storing or sending out merchandise. Some dropshippers will provide marketing support and web analytics in addition to creating and maintaining the web site for you.

Selecting a Dropshipper

Start by establishing your company goals and budgeting needs. If you start small, you can look for a less-expensive option. Larger firms might look for a dropshipper that handles thousands of transactions per day.

You need to investigate potential dropshippers thoroughly, paying attention to size and reliability, product fulfillment channels, and the brands provided for shipment. You can offer a large product line of name brand items, depending on what your dropshipper provides.

Below are some tips for those selecting a dropshipper:

• Ensure that the dropshipper will identify only the your business and contact information upon shipping the merchandise. This is important for developing your brand and customer loyalty.

• Shop for a dropshipper that offers bulk discounts.

• Inquire how long it takes for products to be shipped, contracting only with dropshippers that ship in 5 days or less.

• Ask whether the dropshipper requires minimum orders. It’s best to deal with one that doesn’t require minimums.

• Ask if there is a middleman in the process. It’s best to avoid dropship brokers, dealing directly with the firm making the shipments.

• Ask whether the dropshipper offers manufacturer warranties on all the products it sells. This is a must for sales and customer service.

• Determine whether or not the dropshipper cares about your success as a reseller by offering phone support and/or other means of support. Reputable dropshippers know that your profitability contributes to their own success and will provide the support you need.

You can conduct a search on TopTenWholesale.com, which lists the firms offering dropshipping programs. Alternatively, you can look into dropshipper directories, which can be purchased from various publishers. A search for “dropshipper directories” brought up many such resources. One firm advertises a large database of ecommerce wholesalers, light bulk wholesalers, volume wholesalers, liquidation wholesalers and import wholesalers, in addition to information from successful ebusiness owners and access to market research.

Dropshipper Fees

Most dropshippers charge a base price for the program and then a monthly maintenance fee. However, there are many business models for reseller clients.

If you want to become a reseller for electronics products like computers and digital cameras, the dropshipping license fees may start around $5,000 to become a reseller. In many cases, this will include the custom web site, hosting, maintenance and marketing support. Then your monthly fees would be around $50 or $60 per month for continued hosing, maintenance, and back office operations.

In some cases, resellers receive a fixed percentage of the sale price for each product sold, ensuring reseller revenue. Depending on the manufacturer, the fixed percentages can run anywhere from 5 to 95 percent. However, the reseller makes money regardless of sales price because the fixed percentage never changes. Some dropship agreements give the reseller a percentage of the manufacturers’ suggested retail price (MSRP). However, products are not always sold for MSRP in today’s market.

Caveat Emptor

In Latin, this means “let the buyer beware.” This is relevant when shopping for a dropshipper. There are always fly-by-night scam artists operating on the web. The deal that sounds too good to be true usually is. Some companies claim to offer name brands and then don’t deliver what’s advertised. Then you get stuck with angry, dissatisfied customers.

Avoid gray markets and foreign dropshippers because there are no safeguards once you’ve sent your money. The gray market involves new goods sold through distribution channels unauthorized by the manufacturer. These goods are not illegal but because they are sold outside the normal distribution channels, there is no recourse if the goods are damaged or defective.

Another way merchants get ripped off is through foreign dropshippers that promise but don’t deliver. Again, there is no recourse. The best line of defense is to research thoroughly and follow the tips suggested above.

How does your logo stand up to the competition? Even more importantly, is your logo doing it’s job? You logo is more then just some image to put on your letterhead; it is your identity, your face, your first impression to the market.

Many companies spend tens of thousands of dollars or more on a logo. Nike or Macintosh have huge budgets just for marketing their logo. What can you possible do to maximize you logos’ impression, without spending the kind of money IBM does?

OneVision, a British marketing company gives this advice:

Developing a quality logo is not a simple task. Imagine trying to boil down all of your personality traits, interests, hobbies, and activities into one sentence that describes who you are as a person. It would require a good bit of soul searching, introspection, and prioritizing, wouldn’t it?

Well, the same is required of your company when you create a logo. Your agency can make the process run smoothly by asking the right questions, but be prepared to commit the time and resources necessary to produce a quality result. Work with your agency to figure out what makes sense for your budget and your situation, but just to give a ballpark, allocating 5 – 10% of your overall marcom budget to corporate identity is not uncommon.

A good logo is going to to give your company a clean, professional look. The cleaner and more stylish your logo, the better your chances are of standing out amongst the others in the industry. Don’t forget, it is important to keep your logo fresh as times change. It is normal for a company that has been in business for many years, or decades to change it’s logo from time to time. Maybe it is time to update yours?

I’ve been reading a book called “Search Engine Advertising” written by Catherine Seda. I recommend this book to anyone who is trying to run a successful marketing campaign online: because a lot of us are too busy, or too lazy to pick up a book, I thought it would be nice to share with all of you what I am reading. Here is what I have learned so far:

There are millions of prospects online. Advertisers pay millions of dollars to reach these millions of prospects. Unfortunately, all of these millions of prospects are not interested in your product. Because search engines let the buyer tell them exactly what they want, you need to know your customer. By knowing your customer, you’ll have a better idea of what they are looking for online and where you should be spending your money.

Optimization v. Advertising

Companies spend a lot of money on optimizing their sites for the major search engines like google and yahoo. In short, optimization focuses on designing your pages within to attract spiders. To organically optimize your site, it is necessary to pay an inclusion fee to a majority of top search engines if you want specific pages indexed. While paying this fee, you are not guaranteed of what pages will be indexed by these search engines and you are not guaranteed high rankings on the results pages. If anyone guarantees you placement, run!!!!

When you decide to advertise on a search engine, you are in complete control of everything. You have control of where your company is found on the results pages. You have control of the landing page the prospects find. This means that you have instant visibility of what you want the buyers to see.
You, as an advertiser, have 24/7 control of your campaign. As we all know, you know your business best and you have 24/7 access to change any ad and experiment what is working best for you before you go out and spend the thousands of dollars on trying to optimize your site for the major search engines.

The key ingredient to any successful company is to have a marketing strategy. In you marketing strategy, you should identify the message you want your prospects to know. You should know who your target audience is. You should always define your goals.

More to come in the upcoming weeks:
Jonathan Prescott

It just does not happen. There are so many websites I run into that say “make a million dollars by sitting at home.” Has anyone ever had any success using one of those programs? If so, please let me know because I would really like to make a million dollars over night.

What I have seen that works for the multi million dollar companies is having a strategic marketing plan. Most of these plans consist of running advertising campaigns over a long period of time. It appears that the most successful companies are those that find a market place that generates revenue and they stick to it. They are not there for a week and gone by tommorrow.

For those of you that think you can “bark like a big dog” for a week and all of a sudden you’re making millions of dollars, think again.

Jonathan