Alexandria Sage

Attention all eaters (and shoppers)!  
    
Today, as the scent of turkey and spice wafts through your cozy abode ahead of the big meal, you may feel frustrated that your natural instinct to hunt and gather -- remember our forefathers? -- is thwarted by store opening hours. 
    
But never fear! You don't have to wait for the stroke of midnight, when many retailers will open wide their doors. Assuage your instincts now by clicking on Reuters' selection of holiday shopping stories, from women shoppers finally buying for themselves to food donations by Wal-Mart. Or how about a look at retailers vying for more full-price sales, or social media providing a boost to sales.
    
Reuters will be sending its reporters across the country to visit stores, interview shoppers and retailers throughout the long weekend, providing an advance look for investors, and shoppers, of how the crucial holiday sales season is shaping up.

(Reuters photo)

EBay, the online marketplace where shoppers can find anything from toys to cars to designer handbags, has launched a digital magazine. 
    
The magazine, www.theinsidesource.com, is geared to "inspired shoppers" and features stories based on what eBay's millions of users are looking for, according to the publication.

It will feature articles, analysis and opinions from eBay shoppers and journalists. The site will also point to eBay's most-watched and most-searched items.
 
"The Inside Source content will reflect what inspires us on eBay, from a profile of an art dealer discovering museum-quality pieces to a breakdown of the hottest trends in handbags," said Managing Editor Meredith Barnett.
    
Perusal of the site revealed postings on a variety of topics, from Kim Kardashian's style and cocktail rings for under $30 to Jane Birkin's kitchen and items made of hemp.     
    
The magazine is part of the company's recent marketing efforts to reenergize its marketplaces business, which competes with a host of e-commerce rivals, including Amazon.com.

(Photo: Screenshot of www.theinsidesource.com)

Ever think about what happens to your jeans after you're done with them? Levi Strauss has, and the company wants to avoid having them end up in a landfill.

The jeans giant is partnering with Goodwill and adding a message on its product care tag that reminds people to donate old clothing.

Some 23.8 billion pounds of your cast-offs end up in U.S. landfills each year, according to Goodwill.

"Our collective goal is to extend the idea of Care Tags beyond washing, drying and ironing -- to encouraging consumers to donate those clothes when no longer needed," said Deborah Alvarez-Rodriguez, CEO of Goodwill of San Francisco.

Levi's also said it was encouraging consumers to wash less, wash in cold water and line dry when possible.
    
The tags will appear inside Levi's jeans in January in the United States and globally next fall.

(Image of care tag courtesy of Levi Strauss)

By Nivedita Bhattacharjee.

That staple in women’s fashion just turned 75!

Levi Strauss & Co created the first 701 denims for women in 1934 (the iconic 501 for men came long before) as ranchwear. But the company's women's jeans are now as much a favorite with the hip and chic as with the more casual wearer.

The company is celebrating the 75th anniversary of its women’s jeans by arranging store events in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago -- showing off women’s jeans and memorabilia from bygone eras as well as offering special discounts.

“The Levi’s brand has a rich heritage of making jeans for fiercely independent and original women – from the pioneering women of the American West who first adopted men’s jeans and inspired the creation of a women’s jeans range, to today's movie icons,” said You Nguyen, senior vice president and creative director of the Levi's brand, in a statement.

Though jeans have been the one salvation for apparel retailers in the tough selling climate, San Francisco-based Levi Strauss swung into the red in its second quarter on global currency fluctuations and soft global sales.

Meanwhile, the competition gets a bit tougher this year as host of brands crowd the women's jeans market from Gap  to Ann Taylor.

Here’s wishing the original pair of blues a happy 100!

(Photo: Levi Strauss)

By Dhanya Skariachan

The recession spelled doomsday for many furnishings retailers. The ones who survived learned the need to downsize. So what does the $133 billion highly-fragmented furnishings industry need right now?

How about a promotional campaign that actually manages to reach the consumer?

Robert Maricich, President and CEO of furnishings showroom and trade complex World Market Center, thinks it could work.

And that's exactly why World Market Center Las Vegas, along with leading industry groups including the National Home Furnishings Association and Western Home Furnishing Association, just recently launched the “Is it Home yet?” campaign.

The $20 million multi-year campaign, which marks September as “National Home Furnishings Month,” culminates in a highly promoted 10-day sales event at the end of the month. The industry-wide event, supported by retailers, will include sweepstakes throughout the month in which five winners per week will win room makeovers valued at $5000.

"We want to paint this picture that investing in your home is something that's very, very rewarding and we think this resonates with consumers," Maricich said in a interview. "An investment in your home is a good and valid investment. It maybe is an emotional one, but it's really akin to investing in your family."

So why would people who are worried about job security be willing to spend money on furniture -- the most discretionary of purchases?

"This may be a better time to invest in your home than there's ever been because of the value and the whole idea of 'stay-cations' where people are not going out and staying at home," Maricich said.

The initiative is also aimed at building momentum for the World Market Center's upcoming Fall Las Vegas Market Show, slated for Sept 14 - 17.

But will the "Is it Home yet" campaign have legs?

"We think that there will be a hangover into October and early November from our efforts in September," he said. "It's our hope that not only are we able to get some 'mind-share' of consumers but that we actually ring the cash register!"

(Photo: Reuters)

 The MAGIC apparel trade show, the largest clothing convention in the country, is again being held in sweltering Las Vegas but the organizers, at least, are feeling cool.

"Everything is up, exhibitors are up 15 percent. It's wonderful news for the industry," said Chris DeMoulin, president of MAGIC International, organizer of the bi-annual event.

Yet the devastation of the last year on the once-booming industry -- versus just two years ago when apparel brands didn't hesitate to erect lavish booths throw parties and hand out freebies -- is still on the minds of all.

"People are very cautious about what they're buying," said Stella Cho, owner of women's contemporary brand Miss Me.

Lynne Koplin, president of women's at Oxford Industries Tommy Bahama brand, estimates that the visits by retail accounts to her booth are off 25 percent. 

"The salesmen have to be on the road," Koplin said, noting that it takes more effort to book a sale in a new environment in which consumers have cut back spending and major retailers have suffered double-digit monthly sales declines.

A visitor to the MAGIC show is greeted by a dizzying display of garments, footwear and accessories for sale - from bejeweled jeans to tailored men's suits to flowing tie-dyed dresses. A brand can easily get overlooked among all the competition, so some are spending more to attract notice, and banking on pent-up demand they say will hopefully drive growth next year.

Cho said she spent on a bigger booth this time and flew in more employees from the company's Los Angeles headquarters.  She's encouraged by the fact that her jeans lines are "doing better than ever."

At men's outerwear company Weatherproof Garment Co, overall advertising spending is up by a third, and President Fredric Stollmack says the company is "taking advantage of a weak media market."

"We're having a good show. We're selling to big stores and they're all here with their top  management," he said.

Still, no one really knows just how the fall and winter season will play out, despite what many say is a positive start to the big trade show that sells for spring.

Stollmack summed up the question on everyone's mind: "How are the stores going to do? No one knows."

(Photo: Reuters)

Parents -- ever feel like a walking ATM? Want to teach your kids about responsible financial management (and get them to stop pestering you for their allowance every week in the bargain?)

Check out PayPal's new program for students, launching today, in which a sub-account for your child is linked to your own PayPal account.

The program, Student Account, is designed to balance convenience for parents and their kids with financial responsibility, said Don Fotsch, vice president of customer experience and design at PayPal.
    
It's also a push by the fast-growing online payments company, which is eBay Inc's growth engine, to expand in new directions. The program addresses a "clearly underserved" market of the estimated 17 million students headed to college in the United States this year, Fotsch said. 
    
PayPal currently has about 75 million active account holders across the globe. 

Fotsch said the question asked by the program's designers was: "How do we deliver for the kids financial independence and optimize financial learnings ... and for the parents to support financial responsibility?" 
    
Parents can transfer money to their kids' accounts in "allowance mode" or "on-demand." Requests for money from kids can be sent by text on cellphones and transfers are automatic performed once mom or dad approves.                         
    
Students also get a debit MasterCard to use in stores or use to take out cash.
According to Fotsch, what parents like best about the program, which has been in test mode for half a year, is the ability to track expenditures since the account details each transaction.

Other online companies are similarly hoping to tap the hot student market. Earlier this year, BillMyParents.com launched a program that allows parents to approve or reject their teens' online purchases.

Wannabe vampires can now suck up some "Twilight" love -- ummm, read fashion -- at department store Nordstrom. The retailer has announced a deal with Summit Entertainment for an exclusive clothing and jewelry collection inspired by the upcoming film "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."

"Twilight," of course, is the smash hit movie romance ($382 million global box office) about a teenager (Bella Swan) and her forbidden love for a vampire (Edward Cullen) and all the blood-sucking complications that can bring. "New Moon" is its sequel, due in theaters this November.

Shoppers can find their plaid tunics, "Team Jacob" T-shirts or "I love Edward" heart pendants starting October 1. The collection, created by Awake Inc, "reflects the mood and spirit of the film," according to a press release. Prices range from $32 for a T-shirt to $58 for a jacket.

An Entertainment Weekly blog described the line as "supercute" but bemoaned the lack of life-size cutouts of heartthrob Robert Pattinson (Edward) in a suit for sale. That's him at right with Kristen Stewart (Bella).

Nordstrom is also holding events in stores in advance of the release of the second installment of the vampire saga, including advance screening parties, and has launched an online countdown on a special website.

But if you're trying to re-create a bare-chested werewolf look, don't go to Nordstrom -- there's no love there. You're on your own.

(Photo: Reuters)

Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos puts his quirky on in an online introduction geared to employees of Web shoe retailer Zappos.com.

The chief executive of the world's largest online retailer, in an 8 minute YouTube video posted on Zappos' website, told folks he "gets all weak-kneed when I see a customer-obsessed company."

Bezos, wearing a purple-red button-down shirt and standing in a very non-corporate-looking garden under natural light -- which gives the spot a quasi-online video dating feel -- enthuses about Zappos and his excitement over acquiring the zany online shoe company. Amazon announced on Wednesday the approximately $928 million deal, mostly in stock.

The video was included in an online letter posted by Zappos' CEO Tony Hsieh to employees, in which he assures staff that the acquisition is amicable and  suggests a headline for the deal as "Zappos and Amazon sitting in a tree." Readers will remember the next line of that juvenile rhyme is "K-I-S-S-I-N-G." Online video dating moves fast.

Using an easel and a large pad of white paper (uh-oh, vaguely corporate feeling is invading the garden) Bezos explains what he calls the short list of things he learned running Amazon for the past 15 years -- "obsess over customers"; "invent"; and "think long term."

He tells war stories about the early days of his company, some of which are admittedly endearing -- as when he admits that Amazon's first customers were the employees' mothers, or describes a software snafu.

"Customers could order a negative quantity of books and we would credit their credit card with the price," Bezos sheepishly explains. "We fixed that one. It's fixed."

Bezos says he's "totally excited over what can happen over time" with Zappos and reminds employees that "It's always Day 1."

Amazon.com reports second-quarter results this week and the online retailer is likely hoping projected market share gains take the focus off of two embarrassing Kindle blunders last week.  

 On Friday, Amazon acknowledged that it had deleted certain purchased e-books from the Kindles of an undisclosed number of owners. Why? Turns out that Amazon never had the rights in the first place to sell digital copies of the works. Poof! They went away.
    
As one blogger on Gizmodo wrote: "If you can't be sure that you own something after you pay for it, what's the point?"     
 
Amazon later acknowledged that it should have alerted its customers.
 
"These books were added to our catalog using our self-service platform by a third-party who did not have the rights to the books.  When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers' devices, and refunded customers," said a spokesman. 

Ironically, the books at issue were George Orwell's totalitarianism-themed classics "1984" and "Animal Farm."
 
The vanishing book episode was the second public relations snafu in a week for the Seattle-based company, whose $299 Kindle or $489 Kindle DX are touted as the future of reading. On Wednesday, a lawsuit was filed in Seattle by a Kindle owner claiming its protective cover, which is sold separately, actually can end up damaging the device. The lawsuit is seeking class action status.
 
Kindle users download books, magazines and newspapers from the Kindle Store, and are billed accordingly.
 
Amazon watchers aren't sure just how profitable the device and its downloaded content are for the company, and a host of variables from competition to the economics of publishing complicate the discussion.

But today, Credit Suisse estimated the company will gain about $420 million in total Kindle revenue - devices and content - in 2009, growing potentially to $3.9 billion by 2014.
 
Analyst Spencer Wang estimates a gross profit per unit of $69 for the Kindle, based on an estimated cost of goods of $230. That's a 23 percent gross margin, which could rise north of the 30s as cost of goods decline, he wrote.
 
Wang acknowledged that "growth in the Kindle is likely to cannibalize to some extent Amazon's core business of selling printed books" and said the Kindle should not be viewed as a "material driver to Amazon's fundamentals in the medium term."

(Photo: Reuters)