Shopping

Are There Still Unsecure And Safe Shops Online

Posted on by blogger

Let us say you found a $50 tablet computer online. Seems like a great deal. You feel wonderful that you chose not to shop at those branded retail online stores or you would not have found that great buy. The site even had those legal looking disclaimers and it asked all the right information about shipping details. And there was that thing that said it was secure. The question is, it is really secure?

The rule of thumb with online shopping is that if you have no clue from which business you are buying anything from don’t even try to shop there. You will risk losing money and personal information.

Security does not always mean convenience all the time. Most online shopping sites are open 24×7 from each and every corner of the globe. They try to vie for your attention by offering deals and attractive offers like comparison pricing, free gifts, discounts and free shipping. Most people who would like to save on gas and time, find shopping online very appealing.

However, are there still unsecure online shops that can wreak havoc in your life? The answer is yes.

If you would like to shop safely online, you need to abide by some basic security considerations:

1. Reputable online shops mean better protection. Shop with the more popular online retailers. Bigger retailers have more to lose if their reputation for security gets tossed out so they ensure that their sites are protected as much as possible. Their reputation is at stake if your information gets misused through any laxity of security on their part.

2. When you are in doubt, check out the retailer. If you find a great deal at an online store you have never heard of, look at their home page. Click the contact us link and look at the information. If there are no verifiable phone numbers and there is only an email address available, avoid that retailer like the plague. If there is a phone number, it would be best if you can try to call. If no human answers, or if the human can’t give you answers that make sense, do not risk shopping at that site.

3. Having encryption does not always mean security. When you shop online and you are about to enter the credit card information take a look at your browser’s address bar. You need the “http” to change into “https” plus a closed padlock icon needs to appear on the page. This padlock informs you that your information is secure. If that padlock is nowhere to be found and the URL does not change to “https” do not enter your credit card information. Even when there is the padlock and the “https”, it won’t hurt to look at the company’s privacy policy.

Another rule of thumb is that if the URL contains numbers in the beginning, like http://100.67.180.101@670%7878%, chances are, it is a scam.

4. Avoid using shared computers. Shared computers, especially the kind you see at a cyber-cafe is never safe. Many hackers can install a small device called the keylogger on the back of the keyboard. It is a device that captures everything you type. There are times when the keylogger is installed as software and therefor very hard to detect. The best thing to do is to avoid using shared computers when typing important information as credit card details or passwords.

5. Never pay with a debit card. Credit cards offer more protection. If a retailer tries to rip you off, you can always dispute the charges. With debit cards, the money is immediately credited to the retailer and it may take many months to get your money back if you ever actually get it back.

Shopping online can be a safe and secure experience provided you use your common sense and abide by certain basic security suggestions as those outlined above.

My Shopping Genie Review

Posted on by blogger

Recently the second version of My Shopping Genie resurfaced and that is what prompted us to write this My Shopping Genie Review. The review will consist of two part, the actual shopping tool itself and the business opportunity.

Lets start with the tool itself. The Shopping Genie initially launched about two years ago primarily as an ebay companion. The new offering called My Shopping Genie 4.0 is actually a lot more than that. I am typically pretty skeptical about products attached to network marketing companies but this was actually pretty cool. First off, its not a toolbar which is nice, its just basically an application that shows up when you are searching for things in your favorite search engine. It will automatically scour the internet and all the major shopping sites and a lot of smaller ones to find you the best deal. You simply scroll through the results and choose the one you want, pretty simple. As soon as you leave the search engine results pages, its gone.

So needless to say I was impressed with what they have done to revamp the tool itself, but what about the business side of things. Well, what initially started out as what I would call a subpar network marketing company has actually taken shape and grown as well. They have some powerful new elements to the program and from what I hear leadership as well, which goes a long way.

The new pay plan is a binary with all the fun stuff like bonus sharing pools and fast start bonuses, but all that pales in comparison to the coolest thing I have seen in a network marketing company is a long time. It’s a direct 50/50% revenue share on the click revenue generated from the genies themselves.

Let me explain, the genie itself generates click revenue when people are shopping and a fair amount of it at that. So what the company has done is code each genie that you give away for free and will split the money with you. That’s pretty cool, because it’s a free giveaway for you and it generates revenue, so kind of a no brainer.

All in all, I think My Shopping Genie has done a really good job revamping their overall product offering, commission structure and corporate image, I would feel confident referring people to this opportunity.

As with any network marketing company if you do decide to join, make sure you do so with a leader who has a good track record of creating success and duplication, so do your research! Enjoy and good luck out there

The advantages of online shopping for all

Posted on by blogger

The kind of benefits that accrue to both buyers and sellers in case of worldwide online shopping are truly amazing. The seller has no need to spend money on renting land or decorating his showroom. Another major cash saving is in terms of practically zero inventory in case of online shopping. There is no need to keep staff, train them and bother about their payrolls, employee relations, their benefits as well as training. In fact, all these savings can translate into higher profits for the seller as well as better and lower prices for the buyer. Besides, there is no middleman involved and hence there is a saving that way too. No wonder that worldwide online shopping is catching up real fast. >

For the buyer, online shopping has been a window to the world for them. They have access to the entire world literally. Now they can order any product or service from any part of the world. There is no need to wait for the product to hit your city. You can be in touch with the manufacturer directly through their website.

The kind of convenience offered by online shopping is mind boggling. Earlier shopping meant keeping a day or some time aside for it. With online shopping you can shop whenever you want. It can be early in the morning or late at night. Also, there is no time lost in moving through aisles looking for the products that you wish to buy. Worse still, you reach the relevant shelf just to realize that the product you want is out of stock. This is all taken care of in case of worldwide online shopping. Even if a particular item is not there, the site owner will ensure that he gets it from the warehouse or the manufacturer itself. There is no need to walk through unending aisles. Simply look for the items you want and click on them. Next, add these to your shopping cart. Shopping cannot get easier than this.

Now no more piling up of your car with goods bought at stores. Once you do online shopping, the products will get directly delivered at your doorstep. You can even specify the date and time when you would like the delivery. And many sites do not even charge you for these shipping costs. This kind of convenience is only in case of worldwide online shopping. This is why consumers are opting for it in a big way.

Lessons from a Shopping Mall

Posted on by blogger

On a cloudless summer day in suburban Chicago, a woman put her two children in the car and drove to the shopping mall. There she met one of her best girlfriends, who also came to the mall with her kids.

The group of two moms and four kids spent the whole day at the mall, having lunch in the cafeteria and then leisurely strolling, shopping and people watching. An afternoon movie in the attached theatre and malted milkshakes at the ice cream parlor finished off the mall excursion before the women drove back to their respective homes to prepare dinner.

These two women absolutely loved the mall. In their minds, it was one of the greatest places on Earth. After all, the mall was exciting, full of the latest and greatest retailers, a state-of-the-art movie theatre and plenty of free parking. Even better, the climate controlled indoor environment made it possible for a whole day of shopping and entertainment without being subjected to Chicago’s often extreme weather. No doubt about it; the mall was THE place to see and be seen.

That was 1968. It was the heyday of the enclosed regional shopping mall in America.

Here’s how this story might read in 2011:

A well-educated, working mom is able to duck out of her office for a couple hours at lunch to catch up on some long-deferred errands. With the kids in school, it’s her chance to actually get things done. That’s critical, because evenings and weekends are filled with dance lessons, soccer practice and select-league baseball games that often require the family to spend weekends at out-of-town tournaments.

Her challenge is to fit a whole day’s slate of errands into two hours. She drives her minivan to the power center located along the freeway. There she takes advantage of a 30%-off discount card she received in the mail from Kohl’s department store before stopping by the Wal-Mart Super Center to stock up on non-perishable consumables mostly manufactured in China. She takes care of mailing packages and dropping off dry cleaning at her friendly mega grocery store’s customer service counter.

Next, she speeds over to the lifestyle center, an outdoor mall with heavy landscaping, upscale national-chain retailers and a nice-but-fake-looking faade. There she purchases high-end cosmetics (the all-natural kind that are never tested on animals) and a dress for the coming weekend’s formal dinner. Before jumping in the minivan, she grabs a double latte, a little reward for getting so much done so quickly. She must head back to the office and cram in her work before picking up the kids from their after-school program.

Indeed, times have changed.

As the lives of retail customers have evolved, the retailers and the shopping mall owners have had to change in order to keep up. Today’s harried shopper simply doesn’t have the time to spend the whole day at the mall. Speed and convenience are critically important. Shoppers still want luxury and entertainment, but they have to be easily accessible and located close to homes or offices.

Consequently, we now see many of those old malls, the ones that were gleaming and glorious in 1968, being torn down and replaced with big-box retailers, open-air lifestyle centers and mixed-use “walkable” villages.

A perfect example is Randhurst Mall built in 1962 in the Chicago suburb of Mt. Prospect, Ill. According to Midwest Real Estate News, the once-popular Randhurst is now desolate, so crews are demolishing most of it to make way for a mixed-use center that will be home to offices, a hotel and a bunch of entertainment businesses in addition to an updated mix of retailers.

Retailers and retail landlords either keep up with the trends or they die.

Well, retailers certainly aren’t alone, are they? Your business needs to adapt too.

Keep in mind that, as a person, you are essentially a business. You are a business of one, a business unto yourself. In a lot of ways, you (as a business of one) have much in common with retailers. Like a retailer, you are selling a product (yourself). Like a retailer, you want to portray your product in the most desirable way while making it extremely convenient to your customers. Like a retailer, you must adapt to the changing needs and preferences of the public.

Regardless of what you do for a living, you must place your clients on a pedestal. Their needs and wants are not only paramount, they’re moving targets.

Are you doing whatever it takes to keep up? Are you willing to tear down a 1960’s-era mall and replace it with one of today’s hot new shopping developments? Stay ahead of the trend or risk being squashed by it!

Forzieri A Five-star Shopping Experience

Posted on by blogger

There can be many questions when shopping at an online store that you are not familiar with. With stores that carry import luxury goods, there is the additional concern that the items are 100% authentic. To that end, I received the following from a friend and thought I would share his experience:

It is not uncommon to hear of people taking long and costly flights to Europe in order to save money on luxury brands like Gucci and Hugo Boss, whose prices are hiked up outside of the European Union due to hefty tariffs. However, unless you are buying several dozen Balenciaga handbags, the sheer cost of the flight these days, especially with airport tax and fuel costs skyrocketing almost daily, will far outweigh your retail expenditure. Since flying to Europe was cost-prohibitive, I turned to a highly-recommended online store distributing reputable European luxury wear Forzieri.com. The famous service experience offered in its boutique store in Florence, Italy, has been exquisitely translated to a fantastic online shopping experience.

The website design itself speaks volumes classy and elegant, it sums up the mission and vision of the store. Navigation was simple, and my attention was immediately caught by the front page’s bold announcement Winter Sale!

The range of items on display was in a word, stunning. With commendable attention to detail, each broad category of sales items is further subdivided into intriguing sub-categories such as “Tuscan Workshop” for the bags section. With a thorough photo gallery for every single product and a concise but insightful description, it is very easy to make informed selections.

Once you place an order, most online shopping purchases take a week or two to arrive. With Forzieri, I found out that if you want your order to arrive sooner, you can splash out a little more for Premium Standard Delivery. For orders delivered to the US, the site will inform you that the approximate delivery time is between 1 and 2 days. I opted for Premium Standard Delivery and they delivered fully on their promise. Imagine my delight when just the next evening, my purchases arrived fresh on my doorstep!

Like a kid at Christmas, I tore apart the admittedly beautiful packaging to get at my new clothes. The two David and Scotti bags were in perfect condition luxe Italian leather with intricate pleat and stitch patterns. I knew right then and there that my bag shopping for the year was done. The leather jacket also arrived in pristine condition.