Merchandise Monday: Here Comes the Bride!

Green grass, flowers and returning birds are not the only things that come with spring. This time of year also sees an abundance of weddings! Nothing goes better with starting a new chapter of life than the rebirth of nature in all its finest! And Hinda has the perfect assortment of gifts for the happy couple, no matter what their taste or interest!

Alexander Kalifano Vienna Glass Necklace or Bracelet in Light Sapphire, Crystal Volcano or Greige

Any bride will stand out when she wears the crystal Vienna Glass Necklace or Bracelet, which feature elegant design with faceted beads that add big sparkle to any outfit. The elastic bracelet stretches to fit your wrist and both pieces come in Light Sapphire, Crystal Volcano and Greige (all sold individually).

Alexander Kalifano iPhone® 5 Cover with Clear Czech or Rose Crystals

For four generations, the Alexander Kalifano family has been providing incomparable collections of jewelry and home decor products. You’ll feel extra glamorous when you outfit your favorite accessory with this sparkly iPhone® 5 case – whether you use it on your special day or every day!

Apollo Tools 53-piece Roadside/Emergency Tool Kit with Air Compressor

For the couple who likes to hit the road, the 53-piece roadside/emergency tool kit with compressor is a must.  The tools are heat treated and chrome-plated to resist corrosion and the package includes everything you need in case of emergency on your road trips.

Brother® Personal Handheld Labeler

Solve the “whose is whose” argument once and for all! This feature-packed personal labeler easily prints in six type sizes, nine type styles and one font for all different labeling needs. Just input your text and print. At the touch of a button, you can add the time and date with the choice of eight different formats.

Canon® Pixma MG3520 Wireless Photo All-in-One Printer

Print all your gorgeous memories with the Pixma Inkjet Photo All-In-One, which puts excellent print quality and remarkable convenience in one compact package. Its hybrid ink system combines dye ink for vivid colors and black pigment ink for crisp, sharp text – all without a trip to the photo counter!

DeʹLonghi MAGNIFICA Super Automatic Beverage Machine

Perfect for espresso lovers! This compact automatic espresso machine includes all of the features of larger machines in a smaller, more convenient size. Create authentic Italian drinks with the patented frother – simply place a container with milk under the nozzle to create a rich, creamy froth.

Fujifilm FinePix Water, Freeze, Dust, Shock Proof Digital Camera Bundle

The FinePix XP70 all-weather 16mp camera is just what the adventurous couple needs! It's waterproof to 33’, shockproof to 5’, freezeproof to 14-degrees F and dustproof. It features 5x wide-angle optical zoom lens, Full HD Movie, 10 advanced creative filters and Wi-Fi® connectivity!

Smart Solar San Nicola Triple LED Candle Lantern in Bronze

Add some elegance to your outdoor space with the San Nicola LED Candle Lantern. This battery powered triple pillar lantern is suitable for both outdoor and indoor use and features durable poly construction with real glass and metal hanging loop. Set the timer so the lantern lights up at the same time each day!

Uniflame® Outdoor LP Gas Patio Heater

For the couple who loves to entertain, the Outdoor LP Gas Patio Heater is just what you need for chillier evenings when you don’t want to take the party inside. It offers commercial grade stainless steel construction, 40,000 BTUs, a multi-spark igniter for easy starts and quick and easy assembly.

Weber® Performer Platinum Charcoal Grill

The Weber® Performer Charcoal Grill features a Touch-N-Go gas ignition system that ignites charcoal briquettes with the push of a button. Organizational features such as an attached work table, weather-protected charcoal storage, wire shelf and three tool hooks enable you to keep your focus on the food.

Merchandise Monday: Hinda Hits the Housewares Show Floor

The 2014 International Home + Housewares Show landed at Chicago’s McCormick Place last month and show officials reported very high attendance by buyers and significant growth from the international markets. The show's 2,100 exhibitors included 435 new vendors and more than 10,000 new products were displayed this year. Hinda’s own buying team was on the show floor and reported back with some of the new items they’re most excited about this year.

New releases from KitchenAid®, Keurig® and Vitamix® have Hinda’s buyers buzzing. KitchenAid has entered the fast-growing home carbonation category with the introduction of the Sparkling Beverage Maker, a premium countertop soda maker developed in collaboration with SodaStream International, Ltd., the world’s leading manufacturer and distributor of home carbonation systems.

KitchenAid also showcased its Pour-over Coffee Brewer – elevating the traditional coffee maker to another level. Pour over brew technology staggers water flow to fully optimize flavor extraction, a technique that is becoming increasingly popular among coffee aficionados.

Rather than heating the water in increments as standard coffee makers do, the Pour-over Coffee Brewer heats all of the water in the tank to 200-degrees prior to releasing it into the brew basket. By intermittently pouring and pausing the water flow over the coffee grounds, just as a trained barista would, this new model extracts flavors at a more finely calibrated pace than traditional coffee makers.

Speaking of coffee, Green Mountain Coffee® and Keurig brewing technology announced their new K-Carafe capability for its Keurig 2.0 Brewing System, available in Fall 2014. Keurig 2.0 brewers will be the first system to brew both one cup using a single serve pack and a carafe of coffee using the new Keurig K-Carafe pack.

Vitamix is redefining the personal blender with its S30, featuring variable speed control and pulse. The S30 makes it easy to create individual servings and small family meals it its 20-ounce travel up or 40-ounce pitcher. Create small batches of soups, sauces, frozen desserts and more.

KitchenAid is also reinventing the blender with the introduction of an ultra-powerful, first-of-its-kind blender that replaces the manual locking system with an interlocking magnetic drive system to power its blades and safely secure its jar. A thoughtfully designed magnetic coupler connecting the motor to the pitcher powers the blades and allows for a flat, smooth base with a front-load design. Instead of a complicated locking system that requires twisting and turning to connect and remove the pitcher from the base, the magnetic system allows the pitcher to easily glide in and out from the base.

These products are so new that they are not yet available at Hinda, but be sure to keep it tuned to Hinda Blog and our “Merchandise Monday” column for regular updates on these and other great new products arriving in our assortment!

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!