Merchandise Monday: All About Mom!

Mother’s Day is coming up, and what kind of merchandisers would we be if we didn’t drop everything to tell you all about the great products we’ve got for Mom’s big day! From gardening and getting glam to DIY and de-stressing, Hinda has the perfect gift to shower every mom with on May 11 (don’t worry, we know you remembered)!

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi® eReader

Whether she’s into mysteries or a sucker for romance, the Kindle Paperwhite is designed to deliver the best reading experience. No screen glare in bright sunlight means Mom can enjoy the outdoors without sacrificing prime reading time. And since it’s over 30 percent lighter than some tablets, she can hold it with one hand while the other is occupied.

Brother® Project Runway™ Computerized Sewing and Embroidery Machine

Watch Mom unleash her design and creative potential with the Project Runway™ Limited Edition sewing and embroidery machine—the only Project Runway machine to offer embroidery! With computer connectivity, the machine allows for importing .pes designs from a PC or designs purchased from www.ibroidery.com and other web sites.

Conair® True Glow™ Hot/Cold Therapy Facial Sauna

The True Glow™ Hot/Cold Therapy Facial Sauna features an exclusive 2-step system. Warm steam opens pores and cleanses while a cool mist closes pores and hydrates. True Glow defends against dryness, signs of aging and environmental damage. Other features include auto-shutoff and a timer with five settings to choose the length of the facial.

Homedics® Shiatsu + Vibrating Massage Pillow with Heat

Treat Mom to deep-kneading Shiatsu massage plus invigorating vibration massage for the neck, back, shoulders and more. Four massage nodes provide extended coverage with a soothing heat option for a more relaxing experience. The ultra-soft and luxurious quilted pillow wrapped in a plush fabric conforms to the body.

Howard Miller® Picture This Table Clock

A generous space for a photo adds a warm and personal touch to this titanium-finished alarm clock with a folding easel-back stand. Large, easy-to-read LCD numbers tell the time alongside a month and day display and a thermometer that measures in degrees F or C. This would add the perfect personal touch to Mom’s office – or her favorite room in the house!

Nordic Ware® Set of 4 Prep n' Serve Bowls

Whether she’s a professional chef, a home cook, a kitchen novice or just likes to eat, these multi-purpose bowls are perfect for mixing, microwaving and serving. The 4-piece set includes 2-, 3.5-, 5- and 7-quart heavy duty bowls with silicone non-skid bases and nest into each other for easy storage. Made of BPA- and melamine-free plastic.

Sterling Silver Heart Necklace

Give Mom a piece of your heart that she can wear every day! This sterling silver heart necklace features a classically styled heart-shaped pendant strung on a black cord. It’s perfect for everyday wear and makes a great gift!

Wüsthof 2-Piece Garden Shears Set

This 2-piece sent includes 6” flower shears and 8” pruning shears. Flower shears are ideal for cutting fresh flowers or herbs, trimming dead or dying stems and flowers. The pruning shears cut through thicker stems, up to a half-inch in diameter and are perfect for cutting a variety of vegetables and fruit to keeping shrubbery and houseplants well-groomed.

To Redeem, or Not to Redeem…

Depending on how you look at it, 2012 is either one-third empty or two-thirds full. We don’t know where the time goes, either, but what we do know is that a lot has happened in the first quarter – specifically in the area of award redemption and fulfillment. Recently, Hinda had a meeting to discuss redemptions so far this year, and it’s interesting to see what people have been redeeming for since January.

As expected, many of these redemptions fall into the “Electronics” category. This shows no sign of slowing down. People love their gadgets, and with new versions and varieties coming out all the time, people like to stay up to date. Another popular redemption category is “Home,” with many people redeeming for items such as coffeemakers and cookware. As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, this is a trend we see in this particular economy, as people cut back on dining out and trips to trendy coffee bars.

Here we present the top ten redemptions according to dollar value. This is where most of the gadgety stuff comes in to play:

Apple® iPad® 2 Apple iPod® Touch Amazon Kindle Fire 7" Multi-Touch Wi-Fi Keurig® Special Edition B60 Single-Cup Home Brewing System HP® 15.6" Notebook Computer Coby® 19" Wide Screen LCD HDTV Nikon Coolpix® S6100 16MP Digital Camera with 7x Zoom Coby 32" HDTV LCD 1080p 120Hz Microsoft Xbox 360® 250GB Bundle Bose® QuietComfort® 15 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphones

This list outlines Hinda’s top redeemers according to units fulfilled. Much of this list contains the home and housewares redemptions:

World Kitchen® 18-Piece Glass Storage Set with Lids Wagan® Battery Jumper With Air Compressor Royal Consumer 10-Sheet Crosscut Paper Shredder Titleist® Pro VI Golf Ball Dozen Apple iPod Touch® 8GB with FaceTime (Black) Lipper Bamboo Thin Cutting Boards Conair® Weight Watchers® Body Analysis Scale Dirt Devil®  Swift Stick Vacuum Coby Dual USB Car Charger for iPod® And Other USB Powered Devices Black and Decker® Six-Cup Rice Cooker and Steamer

It’s kind of cool to see what people have been saving up their points for, and it will be interesting to see how these lists change – or if they change – as we move into the rest of 2012. Keep your radar tuned to Hinda Blog for more updates in the future!

E-Books Look To Stuff Stockings This Holiday

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If you're wondering about what's going to be a hot ticket item this holiday season, you'd be making a safe bet banking on e-books.

Way back in the day, Sony had the only game in town with a huge cumbersome e-reader. Eventually Amazon stole the show with their Kindle. For the longest time, Kindle has been the go-to device for e-reading with its plethora of content and grayscale, easy-on-the-eyes screen. However, the growth of the e-reader market has exploded with competitors looking to take over Kindle's throne. A recent article from Fast Company noted that e-books are now a $1 billion industry. With that market size comes more aspiring "Kindle Killers" to take a piece of that pie.

Barnes and Noble's Nook has seen a facelift of late with the release of the Nook Color. This device not only provides a sleek 7-inch color touchscreen to enhance the reader experience but also runs on an Android platform. The Nook upgrade also has a kid-friendly feature in its "Read to Me" application, a feature that has a professional narrator reading select children's books aloud via the device. In addition, Nook Color is a social device, making sharing book discussions a seamless experience for users via Facebook, Twitter and Google.

Other e-readers look to mix things up to. Sony's e-reader provides a lightweight portable device with one redeeming feature - battery life. Sony claims that users are able to enjoy up to two weeks worth of reading enjoyment on one single battery charge (in comparison to Nook Color's eight hour lifespan). Another device that will also crash the e-reader party will be the iPad. Though it's not first and foremost an e-reader, its iBooks application provides a very interactive reading experience for its users and looks to make even more waves in the e-reader scene.

The e-reader market has grown exponentially over the last couple of years. Do you see this being over-hyped? Or will these devices really be a holiday hit?

Lower Price Points Help Raise Kindle's Value: Merch Monday

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Just like it's in a limbo competition, consumers are asking Kindle "How low can you go?"

It's not just the size of the Kindle that is reducing these days. In the continuing battle of e-reader supremacy (something we talked about last January here) Amazon is taking strides attempting to make the Kindle the best bang for its buck.

The newest edition, the Kindle 3, currently has a retail value of $139 and some commentary is leading many to believe that price will drop below $100 by Christmas - an answer to Barnes and Noble's most recent move of dropping their e-reader down to $99.

Like most electronics, lower prices don't always mean less features. As technology grows, consumers gradually get more for their money.  The new Kindle design provides a 21% reduction in size while still maintaining it's 6-inch reading surface. This allows the device to feel lighter than your average paperback book, wi-fi capabilities and darker contrasting text with a no-glare screen to improve the ease of reading for its users. 

Will the Kindle 3 win the battle of the e-readers for the impending holiday season. Amazon will have its work cut out for them but with greater portability and a wide distribution of content via smartphone and tablet applications, they are off to a pretty good start.