Lori's completed file on Feb. 3, 2014
March 5, 2014
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Get App-y

Ready to take your loyalty card mobile? While there are many apps for small biz, we think Perka offers gift retailers some of the best features and most affordable pricing ($50 a month, no contract required). It's probably the closest app to paper punch cards. (Note: If you're using a loyalty app you 
like, we'd love to hear more: joyce@giftbeat.com.)
Trend Alert

Bring on the heat! Tropical influence is coming to fashion and home decor, with palm fronds and ferns prominent motifs. Click here to view a slide show from Elle Decor.
Just posted on
Our March interview with Jason Womack, author of Your Best Just Got Better 
 
Click here to read the full text.
Quick Links 
Facebook Tip: Let's Get Personal

Want to get your customers' attention on Facebook? Start taking fun photos of you and your team in the store, then post them on your page. We just wrote about a Montana retailer whose "likes" - and sales - went UP once she started showing more personal photos. It's easy to work faces into your posts, especially if you carry scarves or other fashion accessories. The next time a box arrives, snap a few shots of sales associates modeling the new arrivals. For some inspiration, visit Stitchin' Post Gifts, where retailer Pam Hylton Coffield does a great job of working herself and her team into photos (including store cat-in-chief Sasha, who even has her own page!).
Pick: An "Ooh-Aah" Baby Gift
 

With their lower price point and smaller size, Tighter cropped jpgTubby Minis are a perfect baby shower gift (or grandma bait item!). From AM PM Kids, the towels are 23 by 31 inches (for newborns up to 2 years); cost is $14.50. Offered in a variety of whimsical designs, including flowers, duck, frog, monkey, owl and crocodile. You can also bring in the company's regular Tubbys (27 by 50 inches; $19.50 cost), which offer an opportunity to sell a second towel for the newborn's older sibling. Now how could a grandmother say no to that? :)

Positive Thoughts
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
-- Aristotle
Thanks for joining me. Have you started following my Editor's Picks Pinterest board yet? I add new ideas throughout the month. See you next time!