by admin on January 25, 2010
January went by so quickly that this was our first podcast of the year. Just in time for February, we decided to review Valentine’s Day merchants. Cindy led most of the podcast because she has been knee-deep in planning Valentine’s Day promotions for some of our websites.
Show notes:
* Quick recap of Affiliate Summit and some of the benefits of attending this year.
* Flowers always work for Valentine’s Day and 1-800-Flowers has a lot of different options. Be sure to understand the difference between having your flowers delivered by FedEx and those delivered by local florists.
* Bath & Body Works and The Perfume Spot have good options for both men and women. I got my favorite new perfume (Pink Sugar) from The Perfume Spot. Bath & Body Works has a terrific new Godiva candle available only online.
* Crazy for Bargains is great for fun pajamas for women, men, and kids. Personally, I like the boxers for holidays. Romantic Gowns actually has some great lingerie, including some cute pink and red sets that would be perfect for Valentine’s Day. (Here the mother/daughter podcast got a little bit awkward).
* Jewelry is traditional for Valentine’s Day and May Leigh has some nice options. Women seem to be wearing more jewelry these days, including multiple bracelets and necklaces at a time and mixing silver and gold. Things Remembered has both jewelry and other items available for personalization.
* You usually can’t go wrong with food (especially if the gift is for me). David’s Cookies makes homemade tasting cookies that can be ordered through the 10th. Ghirardelli is an impressive brand name with high quality chocolates.
* From the customer standpoint, these were all merchants that we personally like to shop through.
Lots of great Valentine’s Day gift ideas today. Hopefully a little something for everyone.
by admin on December 15, 2009
Christmas is coming! Are you ready? Almost all of us needs a last minute gift or two. How can you order last minute gifts online without breaking the bank? Cindy and I found some great gift ideas that you can take advantage of this year. And you will find every one of these merchant on Sunshine Rewards! You’ll find cashback and coupons for almost every one of them (including some great free shipping deals).
Show Notes:
* Food Gifts. It’s relatively easy to find food gifts that can be shipped as late as December 22 and make it in time for Christmas. Good choices include Hickory Farms, David’s Cookies, Mrs. Prindables, Kosher.com, Wolferman’s, and Omaha Steaks.
* Non-food gifts. This category was a little bit harder for us but we did find some great deals. Check out Ice.com, magazines.com, 1-800-Flowers, Amazon.com and Vann’s.
* Gift Certificates and Gift Cards. This is the most traditional category of last minute gifts. There are some things to watch for, however, such as shipping and handling fees or delayed shipping. Look for electronic gift certificates from places like Apple iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Home Depot, GameFly, and Restaurant.com.
This will probably be our last podcast of the year, so happy holidays from Cindy and Tricia!
by admin on December 15, 2009
This week starts some changes to the She Shops Around podcast that hopefully everyone will like. The first change is that instead of focusing on just 3 merchants, we are spreading the love around a little more and talking about many different merchants that fit the topic.
With the release of the second movie in the Twilight series coming this month (Twilight Saga New Moon on November 20), we decided to focus on all things Twilight. Cindy hasn’t seen the movie or read the books, which balanced out Tricia, who is a little addicted.
Show Notes:
* Official Twilight Merchandise. We talked about places where you can buy the most official Twilight merchandise including Amazon, Hot Topic, Nordstrom, Entertainment Earth, and Toys R Us.
* Fan Made Merchandise. Tricia’s favorite place for fan-made Twilight merchandise is CafePress, but you can also find some great items at Zazzle, Customized Girl, and eBay.
* Odds and Ends. Although they don’t have a lot of items each, there are a number of merchants with just a few items worth mentioning. Some of them are AllPosters.com, Skinit.com, Emitations, Fandango, TFAW.com, and Celebrate Express.
* Costumes. We could have spent hours on this topic but touched briefly on BowlingShirt.com, Chickdowntown, Coastal Contacts, and PacSun.
* General Twilight gift ideas for the Twilight fan in your life.
* Highlighted how you can all of the Twilight merchandise you could ever want at BuyTwilightStuff.com.
On the next podcast we will start looking into holiday shopping bargains with an eye toward some guests joining us after the New Year.
by admin on October 22, 2009
Crazy as it seems, Halloween is right around the corner. I heard somewhere (besides in the podcast) that decor sales for Halloween are second only to decor sales for Christmas. It’s not surprising when you see all of the cute stuff out there. It was hard to pick only three merchants to discuss today when we have a lot of favorites. Angie took over the “MC” position for me as I didn’t want to cough the whole time.
Show Notes:
* Tricia and Angie will be spending Halloween on a Disney Cruise. Group costumes are apparently in order.
* Cindy walked us through BuyCostumes.com their selection of both Halloween costumes and party supplies. Did you know that they have a $5 deal each day? Terrific bargains on costumes if you can catch them in the morning. Also be sure to look for coupons and free shipping when you can get it. (Get BuyCostumes.com coupons and cash back from Sunshine Rewards)
* Tricia drooled over The Popcorn Factory. Bad idea to diet and review that merchant because you’ll want to buy everything you see. They have a great selection of flavored popcorns as well as gift samplers. (Get The Popcorn Factory coupons and cash back from Sunshine Rewards)
* Angie introduced HalloweenMart and pointed out not only the plus sized costumes but also the extremely scary decorations. Once we started talking about the “adult” costume section, we needed to end the call. Our conversation continued afterward and suffice to say you can find some really unique costumes that your friends would get a kick out of. (Get HalloweenMart coupons and cash back from Sunshine Rewards)
It was hard to keep this podcast down to time because we could have talked all day about these three merchants. We’ve seen great feedback about all of them and enjoyed reviewing them. Click here to see the entire Sunshine Rewards Halloween shopping category.
by admin on September 29, 2009
In the absence of a good theme this week, we decided to talk about the last place that each of us shopped online. Interestingly, we had all shopped at the places that the others had last shopped (that sentence seems weird). It was our second week using the free conference calling site instead of Skype and it went well.
Show Notes:
* Cindy explained why she shopped at KraftyKid.com despite the fact that she has no kids at home. She got so caught up in the excitement of everyone else buying the craft grab bags that she ended up buying some for her grandsons. (Earn 10% cash back at Sunshine Rewards)
* We’re hoping that KraftyKid.com will be able to stay in business even though their site says that they are no longer doing the Craft of the Month clubs. The grab bags are terrific.
* Tricia talked about drugstore.com and the volumizing hairspray that she purchased there the other day. Everyone was in agreement that drugstore.com has a huge selection of different types of items as well as regular coupons and discounts. (Get drugstore.com coupons and earn 5% cash back).
* Cindy loves the “BOGO.” Angie thought Tricia’s talk about the Sexual Well Being section was TMI.
* Angie introduced Restaurant.com and everyone talked about what a great deal their restaurant gift certificates are as well as how it helps you to try out new restaurants. (Shout out from Tricia to Mudsocks in Noblesville, Indiana!) (Get Restaurant.com coupons and earn 7% cash back)
Next time we will be back to a more traditionally themed podcast. Maybe.
