The world around us

Have you heard about team buying? First reported by Springwise, it’s a concept that has started in China, where people team up to visit stores together to literally bombard shopkeepers into giving them high discounts. The concept is now being introduced to the US by StoreMob. Using StoreMob’s resources, consumers can list products they want to buy and group together to buy similar items so they can get larger discounts. How it works is that consumers meet at a predetermined location using the information from the boards at StoreMob and get bulk discounts at stores. Eliot Sykes the creator behind StoreMob is extremely interactive and forward thinking, and is sure to create a success of this new concept. It’s not just consumers that benefit from this type of shopping, retailers are also keen to be selected as the store that is "mobbed", as they can end up making quite a tidy profit themselves.

We love to travel and have traveled extensively in the past two years. Our last vacation was earlier this month itself to Goa, which is one of our favorite haunts. Our next trip we’d like to be an international trip, to South East Asian destinations such as Singapore and Malaysia or Sri Lanka most likely. Since the ongoing problems in Sri Lanka are always a deterrent, we are thinking Singapore would a great place to spend a few days. My husband is already familiar with all of South East Asia and has traveled to the area several times, but this would be my first trip to Singapore.

One major advantage of going to Singapore would be that we could make our reservations on HotelReservations, which is a really great way to plan a vacation. We have done our travel bookings with them before and have been quite satisfied with the results. What I really like about the site, is that they have managed to tie in all aspects of travel such as hotels, flights, cars, packages etc, so there is no need to look for any support services elsewhere. I have also managed to find some hidden gems of hotels at Hotel Reservations that are not available anywhere else.

With extremely competitive pricing on hotels, motels, resorts, long-term vacation rentals, the site is a great start for any vacation. With lots of deals available and great discounts, HotelReservations is where you should head the moment you start thinking of a vacation. The company is over 6 years old and has already established itself in the market as one of the best. They have tie ups with over 70,000 properties across the world, ranging from luxury hotels, business hotels, bed and breakfast inns, condominiums and even all inclusive resorts. So head over to HotelReservations the next time you have to plan a vacation, just as we do.

The Loot chain of stores announced that it will be going public in 2009. The company is promoted by Jay Retailing and Merchandising. The company is yet to come up with the size of the funds it will require, the main factor determining it is to be the company’s sales turnover of Rs 100 crore. The company has 10 stroes in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Nasik and Pune and plans to expand its reach to another 15 stores 2009. The company is targeting capital cities, suburbs near airports and other cities with a population of over 600,000 to open its stores.

Here’s your chance to get in the door and make money online at Comments (0)

Who doesn’t love Vegas? What’s not to love really? There’s something for everyone in Las Vegas. At one time it was just a gambler’s paradise or an adult vacation spot, but now Las Vegas has become a great family vacation place too. There’s plenty of spa’s for a luxurious and relaxing vacation if you want to stay away from the strip and there are lots and lots of shows to chose from for an evening’s entertainment from the best of singers to theatricals to magic shows. Las Vegas just has something for everyone.

I find it really amazing how the city has created a niche for itself based on architecture. The architects and planners have turned a small dusty town in the middle of the desert and made it one of the most exciting places in the world. If you haven’t been to Paris or Venice or the Pyramids, no problem, go to Las Vegas and you’ll see it all there. The reconstruction of canals and buildings of Venice is simply outstanding for its attention to detail, amazingly lit roofs, gondolas and an overall atmosphere that immediately takes you to the original location. Las Vegas homes are also known for their grandiosity and their unique ways to handle the heat and the dust of the desert. Architecture has come to be what has separate Las Vegas from all other gambling towns.

Is it wierd that on some blog platforms you find it easier to write and on others simply draw a blank? I seem to be doing a lot of that lately, since each time I open either of my blogspot blogs, I come up with tons and tons of new stuff to write about, but on my other sites, just clam up and wonder what the right thing to write about is. It might just be that since my other blogs are relatively new and haven’t really created a niche for themselves as yet or some such thing. I am however looking forward to posting more on this blog, since I like the WP system and have become quite familiar with it over the past few months.

Retailers are honing in on talent in new places now, such as agricultural universities and specialized educational institutions. Graduates with agri-sourcing background have suddenly become highly sought after as retail companies try to streamline processes of procurement, quality control and logistics. According to Damodar Mall, president and CEO of the Food Business division of Future Group, the company has already formed an agreement with several universities and colleges in the states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttranghal and Punjab. These institutions offer specialization in agri business. The Indian Institute of Plantation Management in Hyderabad, National Institute of Agricultural Marketing in Jaipur and the Institute of Agri Business Management in Bikaner are some of the other institutions that retailers are making the rounds of in an effort to recruit employees.

Sales of books in traditional stores is fast declining and greater number of consumers are buying books at discounters such as Target, Costo and Wal-Mart. Book chains Borders and Barnes & Noble are both initiating major restructuring to improve things after dissapoining quarterly results. Borders will be remodeling some of its stores and Barnes & Noble will be shutting down its warehouse that it uses for its Internet sales.

Barnes & Noble’s decision to shut down the warehouse it uses exclusively for its Internet business is a telling sign that the company has effectively given up hope of matching Amazon’s book-selling volume over the Internet. Amazon doesn’t officially disclose the percentage of its $10.7 billion in annual sales that it derives from books. But industry followers estimate the number at 50%, or over $5 billion. That’s about 10 times Barnes & Noble’s online book sales, which stood at $459 million a year ago, according to the company’s 2005 annual report.

As ironic as it can be, in this world of modern communication and 24/7 connectivity, we have somehow lost the art of making personal friends and keeping in touch. There are people everywhere, but everyone is alone and lonely. It doesn’t make any sense but it is the truth about a lot of people’s lives. Most people don’t know their neighbors, let alone their relatives. So how do people find and connect to other like minded beings?

Dating sites like Justsayhi.com is one way that has seen a lot of success by making it possible for people to find others who have similar interests and outlooks. They have come to be known as one of the best online dating sites since they maintain high quality and are completely free to use. No credit cards are ever required at Justsayhi. Now there are a lot of other dating sites like eHarmony, but they charge money and you can’t compare them to Justsayhi, which is a totally unique and different kind of site.

The D-day is almost here and I have still to decide if I will be participating or not. Not clued in to what I am talking about? Shutdown Day of course! March 24th is the day that everyone can participate in shutting down their computers to see what it feels like to go through a day without a computer. I was immediately interested in participating in this social experiment, but then logical sense struck me. Since I work full time on saturdays too, if I don’t do any work tomorrow, I will have to work on sunday to make up for it. Hmmmm, dilemma, dilemma….

Read up on their blog and decide for yourself if you’d like to participate in Shutdown Day.