www.FineGifts.com

It was great seeing many of my clients at the Fall show last week.  If you weren’t able to make it with all the craziness going on with the economy, gas, etc., I surely missed you.  It was great to hear stories from many of you about how the Ganz products are actually helping keep your sales going.  Keep in mind that this is NOT the time to stop buying.  But it IS time to start buying SMART. 

 Don’t convince yourself that that old stuff in the back room will eventually sell - it will be even older next year!  CLEAR IT OUT and put that cash to work in products that are still turning.  Or pay off some debt!  Don’t let yourself get caught up in the hype with all the credit card offers coming in the mail.  Some of those banks out there will prey on small retailers in trouble.

Some of the products I was excited about during the Fall show were in the Ganz Fall promotional book.  When it was slow one day, I arranged some of the items I thought were “hot” and wanted to get these items out to my clients quickly.  I say quickly because some of the items have already SOLD OUT and I had to ask my husband to somehow ”Photoshop” them out of the picture - (bye, bye angels!).

 But, there are still some really nice items available.  On a few there were less than 100 left in the entire warehouse (for the whole COUNTRY), so please get in touch with me quickly to place an order.  Here’s the photo!

I was really pulled into a recent article in the Wall Street Journal about price fixing.  Now you may know that this supposedly outlawed way back in 1911.  But with a recent ruling by the US Supreme Court ruling involving a small Dallas retailer called Kay’s Kloset, it is all set to change (again??).  Price fixing is back.

It seems that Leegin cut off Kay’s Kloset for discounting (probably Brighton Purses).  Of course Kay’s parent company sued.  But, now the surprise - the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Leegin!  Quickly, Nine West jumped on the band wagon and petitioned to reinstate pricing agreements with it’s retailers.

 Wow!  This is serious business.  My family had retail gift stores for years and we were constantly on one side or the other of this debate - either mad at the store down the street (or on the internet) for discounting - OR - wishing we could discount when lines didn’t sell as well in our area or when it seemed like EVERYONE else was doing it.

 Let’s all keep an eye on this to see if it becomes a trend as manufacturers aim to “maintain a premium brand” position or desire to protect the retailers who are commited to providing a high degree of service, product depth, and availability for the retail consumer.

Price-Fixing Makes Comeback

• Wall Street Journal

Submitted: Aug 17, 2008 - Manufacturers are embracing broad new legal powers that amount to a type of price-fixing — enabling them to set minimum prices on their products and force retailers to refrain from discounting.

» Full Story on Wall Street Journal