By Crystal Silvas

Earlier this week the National Retail Federation (NRF) released a statement regarding holiday sales in 2007. According to the NRF, retail industry holiday sales rose only 3 percent over 2006. That figure excludes automobile, gas, and restaurant sales. When the automotive industries, gas and restaurant industries are taken into account, that figure becomes a weak 3.2 percent. The U.S. Commerce Department showed a 0.4 percent dip in sales from November to December, seasonally adjusted.

This was a major let-down in the retail community as the NRF had originally projected a much stronger 4 percent increase in retail sales over 2006. Chief Economist Rosalind Wells of the NRF blames this slothful holiday growth on economic pressures which “caused deterioration in the sales climate at the end of the year.” This represents the slowest holiday growth since 2002, which occurred in the wake of 9/11 when our entire country was stricken with grief and full of fear and paranoia. At least the retail climate is not as dire as it appeared in 2002 when growth reached a mere 1.3 percent.

By Crystal Silvas

In this day and age of global warming trends and uncertain national security, the threat of major disaster—natural or otherwise—is constantly looming. As anyone who watched media coverage of Hurricane Katrina or our recent San Diego Wildfires can tell you, it is always best to err on the side of caution when preparing a safety plan; whether the threat is imminent or not, it is always wise to expect the unexpected. It’s like having a comprehensive insurance plan in place; hopefully you won’t need it, but in the event that some unforeseen catastrophe comes up, you’ll be ready for it! Or at least that is the hope of Mayday Industries Inc. Mayday Industries, based in Orange County, California, is a leader in the wholesale industry of disaster preparedness and relief.

By Crystal Silvas

According to Wikipedia.com, the French term “a la mode” refers to anything that is currently in fashion. How fitting that this stylish little phrase shares its name with a successful Orange County, California based jewelry company, Alamode Fashion Jewelry. Since its inception in 1980, Alamode Fashion Jewelry has worked diligently to secure its place as a leading jewelry manufacturer and wholesaler. They have become experts in this field over the course of the past twenty-seven years.

While their production base is located in Dong Guang, China, they are able to offer fast and reliable service because they also have branches in Dubai, USA, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. They boast a production level of half a million units per month and their sales channel spans most of the world.

By Crystal Silvas

Since its humble beginnings in 1989, Just For Laughs Enterprises Inc. has grown from a small family-owned retail store into a full-fledged design house and importer. Specializing in the manufacture of fun, “Just For Laughs is the company for items geared at putting a smile on your face.” They have a wide variety of playful novelty products to choose from including key chains, gag gifts, stuffed animals, 3D greeting cards, stretchy toys and more.

One of their newest additions just made its debut at the ASD/AMD Trade Show in Vegas last month. They’re called “Little Stinkers” and they’re the cutest little keychain air fresheners ever. These miniature plush toys are soft, silly and—you guessed it—smelly (in a good way, of course!) They come in four different scents including wildberry, vanilla, coffee and fruit pop. All scents were formulated and made in the U.S.A. and each scent comes in three different styles.

By Crystal Silvas

A few months from now, expect to see a ton more movement on your favorite retail sites—literally. That’s because smart retailers will be supplementing static thumbnail images with product demonstration videos, and so can you.

Even if you don’t have access to thousands of bucks that can help you create a product-video library, you can still give consumers the video view that they increasingly want and expect. But before I explain how, let’s discuss why.

Why do I think that video is coming really soon to a shopping cart near you? Well, for one thing, YouTube, which didn’t even exist two years ago, is now a Top 10 site. Consumers’ computers have finally caught up with their moving-picture preferences and they expect you to step up and give them what they want: video everywhere they surf or shop.

Midwestern Wholesale’s September Item of the Month Special:

White TV Stand/Cabinet
A simple yet elegantly designed piece of furniture, this sturdy TV stand fits beautifully in almost any living room or study, while the shelf and cabinet area easily hold and hide every television accessory.

SUGGESTED RETAIL: $169.95

SALE PRICE: $51.49
Come visit us at http://www.midwesternwholesale.com where we offer thousands of high quality gift items, home and garden decor, and decorative collectibles at true wholesale prices.

By Crystal Silvas

According to a study conducted by DoubleClick Performics, the performance marketing division of DoubleClick Inc., advertisers should incorporate search engine marketing to reach moms planning online and offline purchases and vacations.

The research, entitled “Searcher Moms—A Search Behavior and Usage Study”, was completed in cooperation with Microsoft and ROI Research. The results show heavy use of search engines when it comes to planning activities among moms.

“With over two-thirds of the moms in our study spending 16 or more minutes online, and 86 percent [saying] that search engines are the most efficient way to find information, it’s clear that they rely heavily on search,” said Stuart Larkins, VP of search for DoubleClick Performics.

The study shows that moms rely on search engines for a wide range of daily tasks.

1 Fashion Clothing, Inc.
Published by Mr. Nir Arie
A sister company to Big Deal 4 U, 1 Fashion Clothing’s home office is at the core of the “melting pot” of the ever booming Los Angeles, California. 1 Fashion Clothing, Inc., a wholesaler of stylish women’s attire and accessories has been repeatedly sought not only by tourists but by locals as well. The site effectively meets all of their one stop shopping demands. People from all walks of life never have to be concerned that they may give up an arm and a leg because our merchandise is competitively priced and quality approved. Instead, they anticipate indulging themselves in shopping delight rather than dreading the task.

Superdvdmart.com, which prides itself on customer service and meeting the needs of it’s expanding customer base, has answered the call for same day shipping of adult videos. That answer came in the form of a huge expansion. Partnering with leading adult manufacturers, SuperDVDMart.com has dramatically increased the size of its shipping and distribution facilities to accomodate its new “same day” shipping policy.

The expansion was a neccesity to accomodate the fast growth in adult DVD sales and the increased demand for same day shipping. Don Bloom, Sales Manager for SuperDVDMart, was excited by the partnership saying “As an adult DVD distributor, we stand behind our commitment to service and the satisfaction of our customers. Every Adult DVD reseller wants their vidoes to ship as soon as they hang up the phone with us, and we have taken these steps to further ensure top quality service. We pride ourselves in the ability to ship our adult rated DVDs out within 24 hours. We saw the need to stay a step ahead of other adult DVD distributors and expand our operations to meet increased demand for our wholesale products”.

By Crystal Silvas

Shelter Distributors, a division of Sunny & Omi Sales, is the smart shopper’s choice for wholesale knives. With a minimum purchase requirement of only $50, just about anyone can take advantage of their incredible deals. Although a reseller’s certificate isn’t necessary for purchase, they do offer wholesale accounts and discounts at four different levels of membership. Creating a wholesale account can prove very beneficial to those shoppers who will be making regular purchases of $150 or more.

For those non-wholesale shoppers, they offer a 15% discount off purchases of $300 or more. They offer a very wide variety of wholesale knives and swords, but that’s not all. They also offer wholesale air rifles, daggers, folding knives, throwing knives, axes, crossbows, flasks, poker chips, binoculars, hunting gear, scissors and more. They even offer tools for safety and defense such as LED lights and survival knives. If you’re on a very limited budget, or if you just love to save money, be sure to check out their page of knife and sword close outs.

By Crystal Silvas

Is employee theft in the workplace affecting your bottom line? Are Workman’s Comp payouts killing you? Or do you feel like something shady is going on in your work place? Hopefully you’re one of the lucky few who doesn’t deal with such issues on a regular basis, but according to a recent whitepaper by Ernst & Young, fraud in the workplace is a lot more common than you might think. It happens every day and the impact of it can be a major drain on the bottom line of corporate America.

Workplace fraud costs U.S. businesses an estimated $600 billion a year according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) in their “Report to the Nation.” To prevent fraud in the workplace, a corporate culture of honesty, integrity, and conscience has to be cultivated and carefully nurtured. Prevention of corporate fraud leads to organizational success. But creating such an environment is much easier said than done.