Welcome to Shopping and Product Reviews


Friday, July 06, 2007

Flower Delivery on Birthdays - Make Them More Memorable

Flowers can prove to be wonderful gifts for birthdays. This is why, people all around the world, love gifting fresh pansies and dew kissed roses to their dear ones. Gifting flowers on one's birthday is symbolic of gifting lots of colours and sweet fragrance for the day and for the year to come. Now you can gift flowers to your dear ones, even if you are far away from them. With the help of online flower delivery service, it is no longer impossible to send your best representatives – all nice and fresh – back home.

Birthday, for most of us is the most important day in the year. It is that day when we are a celebrity in our own rights. Wishes from everywhere, keep pouring in, filling the day with joy and excitement. But amidst all the wishes, often we seek the wishes of those whom we hold close to our heart.

As Lewis Carroll had rightly said, “There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents ... and only one for birthday presents, you know.” Birthday gifts have their own special importance, and this significance is beyond competition. Nothing like a surprise bouquet of lovely flowers on the birthday morning just as your dear one opens the door.

Now bouquets are getting even better. Nicely wrapped up with beautiful wrappers, coupled with surprise gifts like classiest of wines or sparkling champagne along with mouth watering chocolates and cookies, you can send your deep felt wishes along with flowers to your favourite birthday guy/ girl.

All you need to do is log in and go for a nice and reliable online flower delivery site and fill in all the details along with your personalised message. Rest assured your flowers along with your message gets delivered on time.

Surprise those who are close to your heart with fresh flower delivery on their birthday. This way you can tell them – you are not far from them.

Online Flower Shops Compete for Web Traffic With Discounts

The top online flower shops make up nearly half the market for site traffic in the weeks leading up to Mothers Day as lesser known flower shops find other ways to keep up.

As recently reported on internetretailer.com, the top online flowers sellers had the most online visits for flowers and gifts according to internet traffic monitoring service Hitwise.

Capturing the number 1 spot, flower seller 1-800-Flowers.com had over 18% of all visits to flower and gift sites for the week ending Mother’s Day. FTD.com held claim to second place with nearly 14% of all visits, followed by ProFlowers.com with better than 10% of all visits. The fourth place finisher, Teleflora.com made up 2.26% of all visits with Flowers.com finishing in fifth place with 0.86%.

Hitwise also reported that 1-800-Flowers.com share of site traffic was 7.5 times greater then it was two weeks earlier in the build up in anticipation of Mothers Day.

What accounts for such dominance by the top flower shops can be chalk up to strong marketing and traditional print and television advertising. The top flower sellers are increasing their brand awareness with consumers with traditional commercial advertising usually dominated by brick and mortar retailers, especially around holidays like Mothers Day, Valentines Day and Easter.

In the weeks leading up to Mothers Day many consumers saw 1-800-Flowers.com and ProFlowers.com run commercials just for Mothers Day. Using television advertising 1-800-Flowers and the like will most likely give online consumers and instant brand or URL to search for as they go online to buy flowers.

Some of the smaller retailers don’t have the same marketing budgets as the top tier retailers do and will struggle to compete without other aggressive marketing strategies. With out devising or incorporating other marketing plans many of the top flower shops will likely continue to increase their market share as more and more shoppers embrace the web as their preferred shopping medium.

With hundreds of floral shopping sites online many online floral shop owners are taking steps to broaden their customer base by partnering with related floral theme internet sites to help drive traffic to their sites.

Online stores are embracing partner sites as a new marketing channel to help increase traffic, exposure and drive sales. Some of these partner sites come in the form of blogs, coupon sites, and review sites and newsletters distributors.

Counting on the various partner sites to drive traffic and consumer interest provides the flower retailers, big or small, an opportunity to give consumers a way to see other money saving deals that exits online. As flower retailers take advantage of the traffic generated by partner sites they can look forward to not only more traffic but increased profits which is the ultimate aim.

As the number of online flower shop sites continues to expand, finding ways for smaller flower shops to drive traffic to stay competitive will come in the form of an increasing number partner sites. Ultimately the competition to drive more traffic between flower shops online will lead to better discount deals for consumers.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Out of the Box Gift Ideas to Surprise Your Loved Ones

It is your birthday and you are showered with T-shirts or chocolate boxes; come Valentine’s Day and there are at least five rose bouquets waiting for your attention, your parents’ wedding anniversary comes and your house becomes a dumping ground of cookware and bedspreads and the like that you can not find a place to fit them.

Just think a little; don’t you think you make the same mistake as it comes to the selection of gifts for a special person and end up buying the most boring gift, while your intention all along has been to make a unique statement of love and care with your gift?

Well, you need some help to stir up your imagination. Here are some offbeat ideas to make your gift stand out in the crowd.

Seasonal plants

If you have a garden, the fruits of it can make a beautiful gift for the person you care for. Suppose it is your best friend’s wedding anniversary; pluck roses from your garden; arrange them artistically in a basket and send her with your best wishes scribbled on a piece of paper.

The same way, a basketful of garden fresh seasonal fruits of your garden can add to your dad’s delight on Father’s Day.

Herbal beauty products

This is an age when organic products score over their chemical counterparts. As such a range of herbal skin care products including, bath soap, bath salt, moisturizers or face packs can make interesting gift for not only women, but for men as well.

Japanese Bonsai

Who doesn’t love greenery? So a green present is bound to be a hit with everybody. Make a green statement by presenting your loved one a bonsai plant. For a more attractive statement, look for a specimen that bears tiny fruits in it.

Sponsoring surfing course

Pens and books and blazers…the just graduated teenager has it all. If he is a sporty type sponsor him a surfing lesson on the nearest beach.

Stunning picture frame

Picture frames often make boring gifts. But not anymore when you tuck a beautiful picture inside it. Father’s Day is approaching; rummage through your mother’s drawer in search of an old photograph that features your dad as a dotting father. Present it to him on Father’s Day but stay prepared for some emotional outburst.

Feed your child's pursuit for knowledge

Books no longer interest most of the younger people these days. Make a gift of annual subscription of the Encarta series of digital multimedia encyclopedia to the studious child and see them brighten up instantly.

Charm bracelets

To mark any special event, gift your loved ones a charm bracelet. Get it personalized by adding the charms that bear the date of that special event. Depending on your budget, choose between sterling silver and white gold. For added glitter, choose one with Swarovski crystals.

Wine set

A personalized wine glass set makes for a very stylish gift idea. It makes a romantic statement if you present a pair of wine glasses to a couple with the couple’s name engraved in it.

Create the balance of negative and positive chi

Feng shui items could spark off the imagination of any person. Feng shui items like crystals, chimes, or a laughing Buddha all make ideal gifts for house warming parties.

Toolbox for the passionate cook

If you know someone to be an avid cook, you can please her/him by a making a gift of such items as an assortment of exotic spices. A set of knives or skillets or a set comprising such tools as kitchen thermometer, weighing scale etc can also make him or her delighted.

5 Reasons Why The Bissell Vacuum Designs Deliver

The Bissell vacuum company might very well be one of the best known and most trusted on the market today. Whether in America or around the world, it is synonymous with floor cleaning and has been for well over 100 years.

The company has earned the right to that reputation. The first Bissell vacuum was actually a carpet sweeper, designed by Melville Bissell. Back in the 1800s, Melville and his wife, Anna, owned a shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan. When Anna became fed up with having to clean sawdust from the carpets, Melville went to work to find a solution to the problem. The first Bissell sweeper was born.

By 1876, the sweeper had its own patent. In 1883, the first manufacturing plant opened. When Melville died a few short years later, Anna stepped up to the plate and pushed the vacuum company into corporate history. Not only did she become the first woman to be an American chief executive officer of a company, but she steered the company into worldwide fame.

As the years moved forward, the Bissell vacuum company not only produced sweepers, but also full-fledged vacuums, carpet shampooers, upholstery cleaners and more. The emphasis was on research and development much of the time, perhaps in homage to Melville Bissell's yin for invention.

Although sweepers put it on the map, the company's vacuums are well known for a number of reasons. The stand out features of these vacuums include:

* Availability. They can be found in just about any store that sells vacuums. From corner stores to big box chains, these vacuums are everywhere.

* Parts availability. Standard parts, such as bags and belts, can be found just about anywhere. The company's makes and models are so popular, it generally isn't a problem to find the right part when it's needed. There are even aftermarket replacement parts that can be found for many models. Actual hardware for the machines is generally fairly easy to find, as well.

* Power. They have a reputation for working rather well. Whether it's a shampooer or a vacuum, power and effectiveness tend to go into these designs.

* Pricing. One of these vacuums is generally quite affordable compared to the competition. They tend to offer something in almost every price range.

* Variety. Bissell vacuums come in a multitude of designs, offering different features for different buyers. From standard vacuums to those meant to help keep a house as allergen free as possible, the company has made sure to create an entry for almost any desired need.

With more than 100 years of corporate history and innovation backing them, it's little wonder their vacuum designs are about as well known as they come. From a wife's request to obtain a little help in tackling a dirty problem to a worldwide sensation, Bissell has come a long way and is still a major player in this field.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Why Online Gift Shops?

The rise of consumerism has paved way to most interesting methods of sales promotion and the baiting consumers towards the most alluring schemes. The consumers probably liked to be pampered so they also seem welcoming these new tactics. With the advent of the online marketing, the consumers have found a new channel of shopping with a mere click on their mouse.

Ere the Internet revolution, the high street shopping was the only way to shop. Take for instance a gift shop, one had to go all the way to a particular gift shop and laboriously choose the gifts out of a lot of options. If however, he was unable to find the suitable gift in a selected gift shop, then he had to find another gift shop and hunt for the suitable product from there. Thus the whole task became cumbersome and the the very thought looked like a nightmare.

Now these tiring exercises could be made simple with the concept of online gift shops, a trend, that has come in vogue like never before. There is a plethora of online gift shops that are ready to serve your interests and they could easily be located on the world wide web too, with the help of the various search engines. These websites have been carefully designed and well charted in accordance with the needs and requirements of the customers. And there are various dedicated sections for the occasions like Christmas gift, anniversary gifts, birthday gifts and so on. The customer can easily located the most suitable gift that caters to his interest. With a single click, you can easily make purchases out of a wide variety in a gift shop.

What is really remarkable about the online gift shop is the convenience attached to them. The customer can easily select a gift from a particular shop and if it doesn't appeal to him, he could easily switch on to the other shop. These shops also deliver your gifts in the shortest period of time directly to the person concerned. And you could also be offered free discount schemes, and several other lucrative incentives on your online purchase. So the whole package becomes all the more alluring.

Online Flower Delivery - When Words Fail Too

You simply can not deny Flower Power! Flowers speak a language that is universal. They can break all the barriers of caste, creed, nationality and gender and communicate true feelings like nothing else can. Even we humans fail with our words sometimes, but flowers never fail. And that is the reason why flowers are so popular and so extensively gifted. With the help of internet, now a days, even distance is no more a problem. More and more people choose online flower delivery service to express their feelings from lands far off.

Online flower delivery service is the trend of the times. Even those who stay in the same city, choose this method of gifting or wishing. This is so because of many reasons like: fast process
quick delivery
exact execution of order
date and time preference allowed

Plus there are many more reasons, one of the primary ones is that you can see the flowers that you would like to send. You can see the decoration and the way the bouquet is made which would be sent on your behalf.

The modern day ‘flower delivery’ sites have also given many add-on’s to make your gift look lovelier. There are many sites which also have gifts like sparkling champagne and classy wines, assorted or hand picked chocolates and helium balloons. These add-on’s not only make the entire package look beautiful but also delight the persons receiving them, to the core of their hearts.

Send them as surprise, send them on occasions or simply send them without any reason and create magic in the lives of those who are close to your heart. With the timely delivery that the good online florist sites provide, you can rest assured that you will get them delivered bang on time. Let your best representative – flowers – fill your absence.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Best Rear Projection TVs Review

There are a number of excellent online and offline resources available, from where you can learn a lot about the many brands of rear projection TVs now available in the market. Information contained in these rear projection TV ratings and reviews can be of great help, in case you are planning to invest in a rear projection TV for your home or office. Critics, with their discerning eye for quality outputs, give elaborate insights on the various brands of rear projection TVs, to help you choose the best rear projection TV, which suit your preferences.

One of the best resources to get to learn about best rear projection TVs is to go to CNet.com. Along with information, you can also see their recommendations of the top rear projection HDTVs listed in this site. The Sony KDS-R60XBR2 is according to David Katzmaier of CNet.com "one of the most loaded HDTVs we've ever reviewed." With regard to its picture quality, Katzmaier says “among the best we've seen in a rear-projection HDTV.” According to this site, the Samsung HL-S5687W is an equally good front-runner, while JVC HD-56FH97 offers good value for money. Samsung in their 1080p DLP model HL-S5679W have replaced the standard bulb with LEDs. This extends life cycle of the brand as well as keeps any rainbow effect out of the picture. According to CNet.com, the Panasonic PT-61DLX76 does not provide very good picture but is loaded with other features, which in turn makes it good value for money. In the price category which it belongs, the JVC HD-56G887, which is a 720 pixel LCoS rear projection TV is worth it.

According the critics of Consumer Reports, who also list the best rear projection TVs according to their judgment criteria, 1080p usually offer best picture qualities, though TVs which are less than 1080p are less expensive. With regard to the various modern technologies available today, the critics claim that LCDs, LCoS and DLP micro-displays are all thinner TVs and offer better overall better performance than CRT-based rear projection TVs.

How Can A Massage Chair Benefit Me?

At fancy gadget stores, you’ll often find at least one massage chair waiting for you to test. Moms, kids, or just about anyone will take advantage of a free massage. For some, the new massage chairs even look like Darth Vader’s bathtub. But are they buying the chair? Why would anyone want to buy a massage chair when you can go to a masseuse and get a quality massage. There are some compelling reasons why one would get a massage chair.

Massage chairs allow you to relax in your own home without any distractions. The main advantage of this would be the privacy provided with a massage chair. Sometimes individuals do not feel comfortable going to a masseuse or do not want to take off clothes to a stranger. By having the chair in one’s home, a person anxious about public massages would be able to feel more relaxed and comfortable.

Massage chairs are pricey. They could cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to even over ten thousand dollars. Ostensibly, the cost is steep. But the cost is a one-time cost. Think about the cost of a masseuse in a nice spa or massage organization. Each individual massage could run you around $100. If you were to have a massage 15 times a year, you’ll be spending $1,500 a year. A nice massage chair could pay for itself in a few years. As long as the model is a good quality chair, you can expect the chair to be available for many years.

You can also benefit by not worrying about making appointments to the masseuse. If all of the sudden you feel that your muscles are tightening or feel physically stressed, the massage chair is there for immediate use. The massage chair doesn’t make you wait. In fact, you’ll find that a lot of spas are booked on prime times. There could be some considerable work finding the right time to balance with your active lifestyle.

Not all masseuses offer clients more than one style, such as Swedish or Shiatsu. In a lot cases, the masseuse is a specialist in one or a very few styles. Today’s massage chairs provide more than one style. Since the massage chair rollers can mimic almost any hand pattern, it can give you more than one type of massage style. Importantly, this is all dependent of the type of chair. But as more of these instruments become advanced, the chairs will offer limitless options.

Physical benefits of massage chairs can match massages from a real person. You can benefit from back and neck relief, muscle loosening, better blood flow, fewer muscle spasms, improved back posture and much more.

It also allows you to customize certain motions and patterns for a unique massage experience. You may not be able to do that with a massage therapist. Moreover, if you go to a spa, you may not get the same masseuse that provides the massage that you like. At least with a massage chair, you can count on getting the same type of massage that you enjoy.