Posts Tagged ‘for teens’
A Perfect Gift from Buckle
How does a retailer defy gravity, posting quarterly sales increases in recession while the competition falls flat? My guess is customer service with great products. And that store bucking the economic trend? Buckle.
I have to admit, I have not visited Buckle, an upscale clothing store known for its designer denim for young men and women. But my MBA marketing professor has, and he shared this story in class.
My professor and his wife were searching the mall for a gift for their seventeen-year-old daughter. (“And you know how hard that is,” he said. “Seventeen-year-olds are impossible to shop for.”) They stroll past Buckle, and he stops. Turning back, he describes to his wife how Buckle is thriving in an abysmal retail economy. Maybe there’s a gift in there for their daughter. “Let’s check this out,” he said.
So begins one of the best retail experiences my professor has encountered. The sales teammate (Buckle’s term) listened and asked questions about their daughter. From the nearly 1,000 denim options for women, she picked a pair that she assured them that their daughter would love. The designer jeans were more expensive than they were used to paying, but they agreed. The sales teammate offered to gift wrap the jeans and did so. Twenty minutes later, my professor and his wife left Buckle with the “perfect gift.”
Fast forward to the daughter receiving the gift, with the parents looking on. Removing the gift wrap, she saw the tell-tale cardboard box that signals “clothing.” Her initial expression read, “Oh no, my parents bought me clothes!” Pushing on, she opened the box and held up the jeans. She is stunned.
Finally, she said, “These are cool.”
“We got them at Buckle,” my professor added.
“Wow. These are very cool.”
The Buckle sales teammate was absolutely right: the daughter cherishes her new jeans, the perfect gift. Maybe that’s how a retailer survives this downturn.
Tags: clothing, customer service, for her, for teens, gift ideas, shopping, surprise
Some colleges are shy when it comes to e-commerce. Sure, they have an online store for college apparel and gifts. But you would never know it from their university home pages or main site navigation.
That’s where College Gift Finder 2009 comes in. I’ve updated and directly linked to the online shops of more than 1,300 U.S. four-year colleges. The index compiles 1,644 links, organized alphabetically by college and by state. New this year are links to Fathead’s line of collegiate wall graphics and the Victoria’s Secret PINK Collegiate Collection.
So if you need a gift for someone who is college-bound or a proud alum, be sure to visit the updated College Gift Finder.
Tags: back to school, clothing, college, for teens, gift ideas, gift sites
Victoria’s Secret PINK launched its “Class of 2009″ online today, offering new collegiate-themed women’s apparel for 24 universities. Select from pull-over hoodie sweatshirts, logo tee shirts and drawstring sweatpants for the following colleges:
- Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
- Indiana University
- Michigan State University
- New York University
- Oklahoma State University
- Oregon State University
- Purdue University
- Rutgers University
- Syracuse University
- Stanford University
- State University of New York Binghamton University
- United States Naval Academy
- University of Central Florida
- University of Cincinnati
- University of Connecticut
- University of Iowa
- University of Louisville
- University of Missouri – Columbia (Mizzou)
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of South Florida
- University of Virginia
- Virginia Tech
- Washington State University
- West Virginia University
The sleepwear/lingerie retailer chose the two dozen new schools through online voting, bringing the collection to 58 colleges. I added all of the Victoria’s Secret schools to Gift Giving Guy’s College Gift Finder.
Update: Victoria’s Secret discontinued some colleges and dropped some from online purchase, so I removed links for 14 colleges above.
Tags: back to school, clothing, college, for grads, for her, for teens, gift ideas, gift sites
Yesterday, my parents surprised me with a mid-day visit at my workplace — calling first, of course. They gave me a card that read, “Here’s something to smooth out the bumps in the road of life.” Inside was a very generous check. My parents let me know all my brothers and sisters received a money gift. I was floored. I hugged them both and thanked them. I’m putting the thank-you card in tomorrow’s mail.
Money gifts may be a powerful present, if given appropriately. Cultural differences apply, but for me, spouses and older relatives generally should not receive cash. Money gifts can work for weddings, college savings for kids and teens, employee recognition, graduations, and gifts to your children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. I suggest giving money with a note card that lightly suggests a purpose.
For example, I received my favorite money gift as a wedding present from the person who introduced me to my wife. She and her husband gave us an oblong black box with a sliding cover that reads:
The Black Box: Stuff to make life’s frownies go away. May it never be empty. May the magic never end.
Inside are scores of gold-foil-wrapped chocolate coins. But if you look carefully, mingled with the chocolates, you would see plenty of Sacagawea dollar coins. (The U.S. Mint first issued the golden coins in 2000, the year of our wedding.) She included a Crane’s stationery note card, wishing us health and wealth to smooth our journey ahead.
Tags: chocolate+candy, for kids, for teens, for work, gift ideas, money gifts, note cards, surprise, thank you
The Class of 2012 is gearing up for college this fall. While small appliances like mini-fridges and microwaves are freshman favorites, you may not know if the roommate is already packing these home electronics for the dorm room. Instead, consider these 13 gifts for freshmen going to college.
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#1. Official Collegiate Wear (price varies). Yes, this is a shameless plug for my new College Gift Finder, more than 1,500 links strong. Confirm his or her Big Freshman On Campus status with a college hoodie. |
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#2. iPod Speakers |
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#3. Desk Lamp with iPod Speakers |
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#4. College Guide – The Naked Roommate |
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#5. Doorganizer ($15 from UncommonGoods.com). For the absent-minded genius, the Doorganizer keeps keys and important notes visible as your student leaves the dorm room. I wish I had one of these in college to keep me from locking myself out of my room. |
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#6. Freshman Survival Kit ($58 to $78 from HipKits.com). Give a collection of college essentials, including flip-flops for the dorm’s community showers. Hip Kits offer college gift baskets you can customize to nearly 150 universities. See more college care packages from Hip Kits. |
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#7. Milk Crates for Storage ($10 each from The Container Store). Authentic dairy crates are a classic stackable storage solution for tight dorm quarters. Pile up notebooks, textbooks, sweatshirts and anything else that will lie flat. |
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#8. Mini-Mantle Bedpost Shelf ($10 from Dormbuys.com). Throughout my college years, I always chose the bunkbed’s top bunk. I would have loved owning this mini-mantle. The 6-by-14-inch shelf attaches to a bed or loft post to rest a book, pens, glasses, a water bottle or TV remote. |
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#9. Book Bungie Bookmarks ($30 for a set of five from Levenger). Let your student wrap a book bungie around that massive Organic Chemistry textbook to mark his or her progress. Unlike a typical bookmark, these bungies won’t lose their place. |
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#10. Margin Maker Note Paper ($18 from Levenger). These self-adhesive strips of green and yellow paper maximize a textbook’s resale value by never marking up a page. Students can tear off the right length of paper and make notes in the margin. |
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#11. Bookbumpers ($10 for 10 sheets, 4 bumpers per sheet, from Levenger). One more book innovation from Levenger, offering “tools for serious readers.” Many textbooks come in paperback and take a lot of abuse. Prevent dogearred book covers with the plastic protection of Bookbumpers. |
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#12. JimiX Wallet ($16 from Mr. Smith, Inc.). The JimiX sports a super-thin design that stores four cards, plus a sturdy money clip. The translucent shell, made from 100% recycled polypropylene, makes flashing that university ID card simple. This compact wallet is available in light blue, safety orange, clear and stealth black. |
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#13. Kone Cordless Hand Vacuum |
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See also from 2007: Ten Going-to-College Gifts
Tags: back to school, books, college, for her, for teens, gift ideas, guy gifts
