Sunday, April 20, 2008

Gift Cards - Is It Time to Use Them for My Business?

You re probably thinking, here we go again somebody is trying to sell me something that I really don t need. I m sure it will benefit them, but will it benefit me? Firstly let me say that my company, Solutions Ink does sell gift and loyalty cards. The market out there while huge is certainly not for anyone. Who then are these cards good for?
These cards are great for chain stores with multiple locations and for stores with very loyal repeat customers. Why are these stores prime candidates? First let s examine the large chain stores. Today more than ever people s disposable time is very limited. Buying a gift for someone takes time and effort in researching a product the person might enjoy , and then finding the right size and color. Today everybody is looking for convenience. It takes 2 minutes at a cash register to get a gift card. Firstly the price you want to pay is exactly the amount on the card. If the recipient wants something more expensive, they can simply add onto it. The recepient can spend his time finding the right size and color and shop when he or she wants the item.
As far as the store goes, they know that once they ve sold you the gift card, the sale is coming. Their cash flow is improved because the cash sits in their bank account t ill you use it. More importantly a growing percent of people who receive these cards never use them. Lastly, most people end up spending more then thier gift card in the store. The question really isn t why should I invest in gift cards but rather why I am I not running out to purchase them?
Another great reason is dut to the technological revolution. With bar codes and mag stripes affixed on the back of the cards, the stores are now able to capture important information about the end user. They can see who uses them, what they use them for and create new marketing campaigns targetted to these people and uses to get an even larger percent of these people s discretionary income.
The second type of person is a smaller business store who is trying to direct more traffic to their store. A new twist on these gift cards is actually selling the cards at a discount or partnering up with some loyalty card company to offer them as rewards. What ever discount they give either to the purchaser or to the loyalty card program is easily made up on the benefits of the cards, whether it be directed new sales, never used cards or getting their customer to spend more than the gift card amount.
Why are we letting just the big guys make the easy money? Let Walmart, The Gap, Macy s, Chapters, Barnes and Nobles, Starbucks, and Sear s know that we re all going to get a piece of this lucrative market. business plans



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Monday, April 14, 2008

How to Buy Genuine Rolex Watches

Today, millions of people are buying and selling Rolex watches and other fine timepieces over the internet. It is said that Rolex produces around 650,000 to 800,000 watches annually. Sadly enough, counterfeiters around the world produce 10 times that amount each year, turning what was once a business operated in street vendors into a multi-billion dollar industry
Without knowing what tell-tale signs to look for, the average Rolex consumer may easily fall victim to scammers. And while connoisseurs will certainly discern between a $5,000 Rolex and a $50 replica, the existence of large number of counterfeits inevitably affects demand at some level
The best and most accurate way to tell a Rolex from a replica is by checking its Serial , Model , Case back ID, and Movement Signature (the 4 primary verification methods used by professionals) by looking between its bottom lugs (part where the band connects to case), top lugs, and by opening the case back respectively.
Clear Casebacks If you encounter one of these, don t bother strapping them on. Often times, a replica will have a clear caseback allowing you to see the inside of the watch. Rolex does not make watches with clear casebacks!
Engraved Casebacks Again, with the exception of a rare Ladies model (circa 1990 s) and the Sea-Dweller model, Rolex does not engrave any logos or slogans on their casebacks. Moreover, they are free of any engravings.
Hologram Stickers A newly purchased Rolex watch will come with a 3-D hologram-encoded sticker on the caseback. The Rolex crown trademark is featured just above the case reference number and can be easily identified when viewed. Often times, a fake hologram sticker won t even have the 3-D effect when viewed. It is simply a hard, concrete pattern that won t change in appearance one bit. If this is evident, it is surely a counterfeit Rolex.
Date Magnification All genuine Rolex watches excluding the Sea-Dweller features the cyclops that magnifies the date by 2.5x. As you can see in the picture above, the cyclops on the counterfeit is significantly smaller and a bit misaligned. These are common flaws made by counterfeits and you will see many of them today with a larger font date to fool the average consumer.
Triplock Crown Seal This pertains to the owners or future owners of the Sea-Dweller, Submariner, and the Daytona. These three models feature the Triplock crown . The image above shows that the genuine Rolex utilizes the extra seal by the rubber o-ring on the winding tube whereas the counterfeit comes with no seal at all. It is also worth mentioning this to be a case by case situation when purchasing a pre-owned Rolex, in which many original Rolex parts or accessories can be replaced by aftermarket parts and accessories.
Micro-etched Crystal In 2002, Rolex began micro-etching the Rolex coronet or crown right below the 6 o clock marker. Though it is better distinguishable using a jeweler s loupe, you can see by the illustration that the genuine crown is much more distinguishable and robust as opposed to the counterfeit. Moreover, the counterfeit is poorly designed and is a clear indication of a fake
How and where to buy Genuine Rolex Watches? melrosejewelers.com - is the fastest way to buy Authentic Preowned Rolex Watches @Discount Prices Men s & Ladies Preowned Rolex President and Datejust Wristwatches, All at Discount Prices. Visit or Call Us Today! 888-574-1250.



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Friday, April 11, 2008

Samsung G600 vs Sony Ericsson S500i - The mighty clash

Wherever there is progress and development, you are bound to face competition from rivals in your area of specialisation. Fact is, with the access to a steadily evolving technology, experimenting with newer possibilities has become a lot easier for all the players almost to a point of accurate development every time. More so aggressive is the competition in the mobile phone industry as this sector has shown enough resolve and potential to be easily voted as one of the most booming arenas in the commercial world today. With the current market trend showing a generous tilt towards flashy as well as feature rich mobile phones, my attention gets carried towards two of the most promising phones for a comparative study. The Samsung G600 and the Sony Ericsson S500i step up as two strong competitors in the market today.
The Samsung G600 is a state-of-the-art Quad Band technology enabled slider phone with amazingly good looks and a sturdy frame. Ideally targeted as a camera rich phone by the South Korean electronics legend, the Samsung G600 carries a 5.0 megapixel camera with flash and autofocus to ward off competition from possible threats in the market. Surprisingly, the phone has not been equipped with 3G technology to make it a worthy player, although it takes in the popular entertainment quotient of a music player and a stereo FM Radio. Some of the major attraction of the Samsung G600 are mobile printing, TV Out, Bluetooth A2DP, USB, GPRS, EDGE, WAP 2.0, XHTML NetFront and HTML.
The Quad Band technology based Sony Ericsson S500i slider phone, which although has not been created in the lines of the Samsung G600, still comfortably manages to impress beholders and users through an organised assortment of some very useful features. A 2.0 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, picture blogging and viewfinder display offers users with decent photography. Other attractive features include music player, Bluetooth stereo A2DP, flight mode, EDGE, USB, Access NetFront Web browser, RSS feeds and modem.
A cluttered and misdirected move by Samsung gives the Sony Ericsson S500i easy room to emerge as the better of the two.



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