Best 5 Tips for last-minute 'Christmas Shoppers'

Twas' the weekend before Christmas and all through the mall... nothing but lines and people wall to wall.
It's true: the week before Christmas is always busy. Stephanie Schnare, Halifax Shopping Centre's marketing director, says it's up there with Boxing Day and Black Friday. She has a few helpful tips for shoppers looking to score those last minute gifts without incident.

1. Show up early

"A great time to come out would be earlier in the morning," said Schare, adding the busiest time is after supper.
She says the biggest advantage to showing up early is getting a prime parking spot.

2. Have a plan

"It's also very helpful to have an idea of what you're looking for as well," Schnare said. She says guest services can point shoppers in the right direction.

3. If all else fails, get a gift card

It's not tacky.
"If you're really stumped, look for some quick solutions like a gift card which can always be appreciated," Schnare said.
"That way the person who receives the gift has some flexibility as to what they buy themselves."
Another bonus of the gift card is being able to take advantage of Boxing Day sales.

4. Use the gift wrapping services

"If you are somebody who is not the best wrapper, [Halifax Shopping Centre] has the IWK gift wrap booth on site so they're able to wrap their gifts for you and donations go to support the IWK Health Centre," she said.

5. Remember the reason for the season

"Be happy. Stay calm. It's only a day," said Karen Ferguson, who spent Friday night at Halifax Shopping Centre finishing her Christmas shopping.
"I think everyone is still in the Christmas spirit. No Grinches yet."

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Instacart Shoppers Can Now Choose to Be Real Employees

 

Grocery delivery company Instacart—one of Silicon Valley’s fastest-growing upstarts in the emerging on-demand economy—is giving its army of personal shoppers the chance to become actual employees of the company.
Instacart says it is rolling out the option to become part-time employees to its shoppers in Boston and Chicago beginning today. Until now, Instacart’s shoppers all worked as independent contractors. Workers in more cities will get the same option in the coming months, the startup said.

Workers who choose to convert from contractor status to part-time will get workers’ compensation, and Instacart will pay for their unemployment, Social Security, and Medicare taxes, according to the company. But Instacart says employees will still have flexibility when it comes to picking their own shifts—a key selling point in attracting workers. The company also says it will not impose a minimum number of hours of work for its new part-time employees, though it will cap their number of hours worked per week to keep them below the full-time threshold. 

“When you look at the difficulty of shopping, picking and delivering items such as fruit or eggs that need to be carefully selected, you realize that grocery shopping can be complicated,” says Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta. “For this reason, we want to provide supervision and training, which can only be done with employees.”

Worker Unrest

Instacart’s announcement comes at a time when on-demand companies like Uber, Lyft, Postmates and others are surging in popularity and reach, creating a vast pool of cheap and flexible labor. According to the nonprofit Freelancers Union, 53 million Americans now work as freelance contractors—about one in three US workers. By 2020, according to estimates by software company Intuit, freelancers will make up as much as 40 percent of the US labor force—and on-demand workers are set to represent a significant chunk of those workers.
But some on-demand workers are finding the seeming freedom offered by their jobs comes at a cost. Some discover that they don’t end up enjoying the flexible hours or wages the’ve been led to expect. Others have discovered that having to manage their own equipment for the job, such as paying for gas and vehicle maintenance and factoring in depreciation costs, can be expensive. And if equipment gets damaged or contractors get hurt and can’t work, they lose the chance to make money.

Giving Workers a Choice

Most on-demand companies seem loath to convert their thousands of independent contractors to employees because of costs that could run to tens of thousands of dollars per worker. And those costs could mount quickly as well-funded startups seek a steady stream of workers to expand and scale quickly to meet investors’ expectations.

source: http://goo.gl/j8WrxF

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12 Things Where You Can Save Big by Buying Used

You can save a lot by buying used rather than new. Think "used" for products that:

• Will have a short lifespan in your possession. If you expect to discard an item soon, why pay top dollar for a shiny new model?
• Likely saw limited use by their previous owners. Think of these products as "almost new" rather than "used."
• Have been refurbished by trusted manufacturers to operate like new.
• Will get dinged and dirty in your possession. Who cares about an existing scratch or two on something that you'll beat up on your own?

There are many ways to find used items -- at consignment shops specializing in used items, at retailers selling both new and used wares, and from strangers at yard sales or online. One popular source for is Craigslist.org., but beware that scammers can use the site to take advantage of people looking for deals.
source:  http://goo.gl/IeRpP4

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Portico New York opens its first store in Chandigarh

 
 
Home fashion brand, Portico New York has recently launched its first store in Chandigarh. Located in the Elante Mall, the store will house Portico New York’s exquisite range of products in bed & bath linen.

The new store is part of Portico New York’s aggressive expansion plan to open more than 300 outlets across retail chains and home furnishing MBOs in India. More than 100 cities now have access to trending designs through leading home fashion, lifestyle and large format stories. Portico New York intends to multiply the magnitude of the home fashion revolution by establishing EBOs as well. This will ensure that Portico New York’s products are available in throughout the country.

Commenting on the addition to their expanding retail outlets, Arun Bhawsingka, CEO, Creative Portico Pvt. Ltd.said, “Chandigarh is an emerging market and customer base for us. We are thrilled at this opportunity as it gives us better access to our customers in Chandigarh and vice versa. India’s home fashion landscape is changing and, we, at Portico New York are the torch bearers of this change. With innovation and creativity at the heart of everything we do, we are ushering global fashion into Indian homes. More rooms in Chandigarh will now live and breathe style, just like the people who inhabit them.”

Portico New York’s range include a mix of bed sheets, duvets, duvet covers, soya bean quilts, blankets, memory foam pillows, towels, shower curtains, a wide range of kids licensed merchandise and the Therapeia range of health bedding products. Portico New York has also tied up with renowned fashion designers and important environmental causes. Indian designers Manish Arora, Neeta Lulla and Nishka Lulla have brought their design aesthetic and launched exclusive collections. 
source: http://goo.gl/ij7zWO

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Walmart Workers Start Early Protests With D.C. Sit-Down

The union-backed groups that have organized Black Friday strikes at Walmart (WMT) locations the past two years are gearing up for a third -- and things have started early.

According to the group OUR Walmart, workers have already walked off the job or started protesting at stores in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and in various cities and towns in Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas, Maryland, Oregon, Minnesota, California, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Employees started a sit-down strike in a new D.C. store on H Street NW.

Walmart spokesman Kory Lundberg told DailyFinance that the company had heard only of the D.C. store sit-down and that it lasted approximately 15 minutes. "We recognized people [among the protesters] from various stores, including that one," Lundberg said, although he claimed they were "not the majority" of the protesters.

More Protests on Black Friday?

OUR Walmart did not make someone available for an interview before publication. Twitter posts using the hashtag #walmartstrikers purported to show images from protests at other stores, including ones in Arlington, Texas and Dallas.

Walmart workers had already submitted formal strike notices in at least six states in anticipation of actions on Black Friday, according to the Huffington Post.

OUR Walmart has publicly said that the main protests are timed for Black Friday, although it seems likely that the group will try to do something on Thanksgiving Day, as most of the stores will be open all day on Thursday as they have since 1988, according to Huffington Post.

The group has said that it plans to hold strikes and protests at 1,600 of Walmart's roughly 5,000 U.S. locations on Friday. However, it is unclear how many stores they will actually visit.

Lundberg claimed that last year protesters appeared at only approximately 300 stores in "made-for-TV" events. However, he did admit that there were "big demonstrations" at some locations that disrupted business.
source: http://goo.gl/xR2guu

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New flower flip-flops from Melissa shoes

Do you love Melissa’s plastic fantastic shoes? We do, and we’re really excited about the new releases for August 2014, especially the new flower flip-flops! Here are 17 pairs of new Melissa shoes you need to check out


What’s not to love when it comes to Melissa shoes? The fact that you can wear them in Singapore no matter the weather, that they’re available in fun fashion colours and that they’re easy on the wallet all add up to why Melissa’s plastic fantastic shoes are so popular in Singapore.
For August 2014 the brand has released a bunch of new styles like more of the fab Virtue + Jason Wu II ballet flats and the cute bow-bedecked Doris III style and the really on-trend Flox sandals in
day-glo colours.



But our absolute favourites are the new flowery flip-flops and sandals; the Harmonic Garden (pictured above in pink) and Solar Garden styles have amazing three-dimensional flowers all over them … Love!
Check out our 17 favourite picks in the gallery below.

resource: http://www.herworldplus.com/shopping/updates/new-flower-flip-flops-melissa-shoes#.U-ssOXZwYUM

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H&M brings e-commerce to USA

American shoppers can rejoice, Swedish high street brand H&M launches its US e-commerce website

The H&M storefront (http://www.hm.com/us/) ©All Rights Reserved

After over a decade of waiting, the Swedish high street fashion giant has finally pulled back the curtain on its US e-commerce site, with a selection of fun treats for shoppers.
H&M launched in the USA 13 years ago but it's just now launched e-commerce for the country's approximately 313 million people. Online shopping debuted in Scandinavia and has rolled out slowly in Europe since 2006.
Launching August 1, the site offers a range of launch period special deals. The brand also promises additional sizes and exclusive "online-only" items which will be available all year-round. In addition, the site also marks the exclusive US debut of H&M Home, a collection of home textiles and accessories including towels, bed linens, and curtains.
For additional excitement there's a "50 States of Fashion" project which will see some of the country's top fashion bloggers searching for America's top H&M look by asking their readers to tag themselves in the brand's clothes on Instagram.
Fashionistas in the US will also be excited by the news that internet shoppers will get exclusive access to the Paris Collection, which was shown earlier this year during a celebrity-packed presentation at the Musée Rodin in Paris. H&M fans will be able to shop the collection online from August 22, well before the clothes hit retail in around 200 stores on September 5.
The same day, August 22, will see the brand open a pop-up shop in New York City's Meatpacking District which is set to feature the Paris Show Collection (ready for customers to try on), and iPads running a virtual check-out system.
resource: http://www.herworldplus.com/shopping/updates/hm-brings-e-commerce-usa

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Uniqlo to launch UT Pop-Up! Singapore with local art and music

This weekend, shop for tees and bask in Singapore art and live music at Uniqlo’s UT Pop-Up! Singapore event

If tees, music and art sound like a good combination to you, don’t miss the UT Pop-Up! Singapore that’s taking place on May 4 and 5 at Mohamed Sultan Road.

Besides celebrating 10 years’ of UT tee-shirt collaborations, this Uniqlo pop-up store will also feature performances by Singapore musicians and the works of local artists.

Get to jive to live music by eight local bands including Jonathan Chan, Sapporo Safaris, while viewing the t-shirt designs by the artists of Noise Singapore, as well as some of the previous UT tee collections.

Top row: Keith Haring UT Collection, second row: Andy Warhol UT collection. PHOTOS: Uniqlo Singapore

Be it Star Wars, Lulu Guinness or Coca Cola, Uniqlo has had a tee collaboration with them all.

Shoppers will be able to browse and buy these designs and more, along with the yet-to-be released Keith Haring UT collection.

There are t-shirt discounts to be had too, if you’re feeling camera-ready. To get the tees at discounted prices, wear a UT tee to the event pose for an animated photo with the UT Camera app. Prices for these discounted Uniqlo UT tees start from $14.90.

resource:http://www.herworldplus.com/shopping/updates/uniqlo-launch-ut-pop-singapore-local-art-and-music

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Get an exclusive Lancôme skincare set at Changi Airport

Lancôme and Nuance-Watson bring you an exclusive skincare set available only at Changi Airport


French beauty brand Lancôme and travel retailer Nuance-Watson Singapore have come together to bring you an exclusive skincare set available only at Perfumes & Cosmetics Changi Airport.

Aimed at rejuvenating skin and targeting signs of ageing with its combination of botanical ingredients and scientific processes, this travel special comprises three full-size products from the Absolue anti-aging range — namely the Absolue BX Lotion (150ml), Absolue BX Eyes (20ml) and Absolue Premium BX Crème (50ml) — and three complimentary travel-size extras — the Absolue Nuit Precious Cream (15ml), UV Expert GN Shield SPF50, and Génifique Youth Concentrate Serum (15ml).

Perfumed with a delicate rose fragrance, the Absolue range of products work by repairing the skin’s structure and reducing the appearance of fine lines by delivering hydration and restoring moisture.
This limited edition Lancôme skincare set, $400, is available exclusively at Perfumes & Cosmetics Changi Airport. Enjoy savings of 20 per cent when you purchase Lancôme products at Perfumes & Cosmetics Changi Airport.

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