From the barter desk of Bob Meyer…01/22/08

Buckle Your Seat-belts For Impending Downturn

The coming recession may be worse than the other two serious economic downturns that have hit the U.S. economy in the past 25 years, according to The Wall Street Journal. Three reasons why: the housing market is horrible, energy prices are very high, and the job market is weakening.

Ultimate Sales University Promises Results

The CEO of the American Basketball Association (ABA) and long time marketing whiz, Joe Newman, has put his passion for quality training in reach of everyone at www.UltimateSalesUniversity.com.

China Soon To Be Largest Web Market

The total number of internet users in China soared 53% to 210 million at the end of 2007, up from 137 million at the end of 2006. China is now just 5 million short of passing the USA.


Gift Card Sales Continue Dramatic Growth

Gift card sales totaled $97 billion in 2007, up from $83 billion in 2006, according to data from the Tower Group and the New York Times.

Less attention by the media has been given to “breakage,” which is the money retailers get when gift cards are not used or leftover funds remain. Tower put breakage amount at $7.8 billion for 2007.


Gender Differences On Entrepreneurship

Discover credit card’s survey of 1,000 small businesses shows how different men and women are. In short, whether you choose business ownership to have greater control or more flexibility may depend on your sex.

Among female respondents, 32% wanted flexibility and 17% wanted to be their own boss. Men were more evenly divided: 27% wanted to be their own boss and 24% sought flexibility.

Also, 39% of male business owners think women have an easier time starting businesses, and 34% think men have it easier. Among women, 20% of small-business owners think men have an easier time starting businesses; 15% think women have it easier.

New Vacation Booking Web Site

Zonder.com is a new vacation-booking web site for home, condo and cabin rentals in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. They’re offering a 10% discount on bookings made before February 14, with a cap of $250 in savings per book. Use promo code “BeyondHotels” during checkout.

This column, “From the Desk” is the first section of the weekly Tuesday Barter Report. To read the entire report see: TUESDAY

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 2:04 pm and is filed under From the Desk of Bob Meyer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.