I just returned home from Specialty Retail Report's tradeshow for the cart and kiosk industry, SPREE. SPREE was a huge success—attracting attendees from all around the world and close to 200 exhibitors!

We had so many unique products at the show this year, and here are four really fun concepts I loved.

Expressive Fortunes
These oversized, adorable fortune cookies come in 48 designs and are perfect for special occasions and holidays. Plus, you can write your own fortune, or they'll help you come up with your own. It's a great year-round cart concept—the company tested six kiosks and had fabulous sales. The cookies wholesale for $8 and retail for between $26.95-$28.95.

Unitech Toys, Inc.
Unitech has a great demonstration product geared toward pre-tweens and tweens that allows a simple wand to "magically" levitate three dimensional shapes. I brought a sample from the the show to test it on my six-year-old daughter and she absolutely loved it. (It entertained her for hours!)

Mr. Fuzzy
The product, as the name implies, is a very fuzzy worm that is connected to a fish line and it's another fabulous demonstration product aimed at pre-tweens and tweens. The demonstrator moves the worm using the fish line and it appears as if the worm is magically moving on its own. I also tested this product on my daughter and she thought it was a winner!

Name in the Frame
Name in the Frame's line includes more than 500 designs and is a fantastic personalized product. The retailer simply drops in the customer's name to create a personalized gift. It's a great program because there are no inventory requirements—you order the prints over the web every time you sell one. The artwork can then be printed on high-quality paper or on canvas. According to the owner, this concept was tested in a mall in Dallas and did very well. The wholesale cost on the prints is $12, suggested retail $36. You can sell upgraded frames and mattes to increase your average sale.

I also did a presentation at SPREE, "45 Unique Specialty Retail Concepts." If you missed it, or you're interested in new retail avenues, you can download a copy for only $20—it's one of the many ways Specialty Retail Report can help you stay connected to what's going on in the industry.

Last week I hosted a Tweet Chat to discuss low-cost marketing ideas with retailers. Some really fantastic strategies were proposed and here are my top five favorites:

Run a special sale every week/month alternating lines.
The sale would be called the "featured product" of the week/month and wouldn't be promoted in advance. And make sure you cross-market the sale through email blasts, blog posts and website updates.

Give away one big prize during the month.
Many vendors are now supporting retailers by donating product for giveaways. Create a huge basket to give to one of your lucky customers during the month, and don't forget to take their picture and feature the customer on your website or in your store email newsletter. You could even have their picture on display in the store near the sign-up area at your cash wrap.

Have a product giveaway with purchase.
This promotion would be similar to what department store cosmetics companies do (receiving a free lip gloss or makeup bag with purchase)—for example, every jar candle purchased means your customer receives a free votive. Retailers mentioned that many vendors are supporting this type of giveaway program with merchandise as well, so make sure you ask your vendors.

Co-op advertising.
I blogged about using co-op advertising for your store last month and the topic came up during our discussion. One of retailers noted that when three or four local retailers participate in a co-op, it creates a destination event.

Frequent buyer program.
Reward your loyal customers when they spend a certain amount every year in your store.

To see all the ideas, download this PDF of the TweetChat and be sure to join us next time!

I just read an inspiring article about local businesses and residents in Kauai who decided to work together and fix a national park road in need of repair due to severe flooding. The government had told them it would take years and $4 million to get it done, but many businesses on the island would've been forced to shut down because the park is such a big tourist destination. So one local resident organized, got volunteers and they fixed the road in eight days—for free. This is a great reminder that one person and one community can work together to get something done.

If you're looking to make a difference in the amount of traffic you get in your store, I'm organizing a TweetChat (a group of people having a live conversation via Twitter.com) to discuss no cost or low-cost marketing ideas for your store. If you want to participate and you're unsure how it works, drop me an email at norins@giftshopmag.com, call me at 800.936.6297 ext. 11 or leave a comment below. I'm looking forward to your ideas!

If there's ever been a time to beef up your marketing campaign, it's now. In a session I did last week at the Boston Gift Show, I suggested that this is the year retailers need to spend more money on marketing, not less. I know it's tough if your sales are down and cash flow is tight, so here are a few very inexpensive ideas to get your marketing message out there.

Email marketing
Emails are a very low-cost way to reach out to your active customers. If you're not already collecting email addresses, you should start right away. I encourage you to use an incentive when asking for the address, but rather than saying, "Can I get your email address to notify you of special sales," I suggest you also offer a special gift.

I love the story of Bath & Body Works, who collected approximately 10 million email addresses in three months. The sales people all participated and asked each customer if they would share their email address to get a free gift. A coupon was then emailed to the customer which they could bring back to the store to redeem for a free lip gloss. This worked great because it achieved two objectives: the customer had to give a valid email address if they wanted the free gift, and when the customers came back to redeem their gift, they spent an average of $25 on their return visit. And be sure to email regularly—once every two-three weeks is great.

Host more store events
This isn't a new concept, but it isn't used as often as it could be to drive more traffic to your store. Get creative and try some new events. As customers cut back on spending, they are looking for fun ways to have some inexpensive entertainment.

Work with another store to cross-promote one another
Identify a store in your community that isn't a direct competitor (such as a local florist, photographer or bookstore) and you could each offer to put out a flyer or postcard for the other in your store. Or even go one step further and drop the postcard in each customers' shopping bag.

If you're interested in discussing additional low-cost or no-cost marketing ideas, I encourage you to join me and fellow retailers for a TweetChat tomorrow on TweetChat.com, April 10th at 1PM EST. Use the hashtag #giftshopsuccess to participate in the conversation. I hope to see you there!

A user on the gift shop forum forwarded me an article on Tweetchatting and suggested I give it a try. If you Twitter (or are planning to start soon) be sure to check out this cool feature.

According to Anita Campbell a tweetchat is, "an organized group conversation that happens using the Twitter platform. Participants use an assigned hashtag (say, #sbbuzz) for their tweets during the discussion. The use of the hashtag code is how other participants follow along." She goes on to explain in the article that it's easier to follow on TweetChat.com, as it isolates the conversations with the hashtags from all the other ones you're following.

I thought it would be fun to try a tweetchat, so I'm inviting you to participate this Friday from 1PM to 2PM EST. I'd like to host a freeform discussion on creative, low-cost or no-cost marketing ideas for your store in 2009. (I suggest you go to TweetChat.com to view only the conversations from this group.) Use the hashtag code #giftshopsuccess to participate in the conversation.

Last week I found out about a great non-profit organization, the 3/50 Project, from a fellow retailer I connected with on Twitter. This organization has put together a wonderful flyer that you can distribute to your customers promoting how and why they should (continue to) shop locally. (They are also in the process of partnering with the Chicago Market to create window clings about the project.) To request one for your store, visit their website and register as a supporter.

I believe that the essence of an effective buy-local campaign is to have literature and signage that supports why buying local is important for the economy. This flyer achieves that goal and more—it empowers and challenges your customers to take action by giving them a feasible way they can contribute in their own community. It's a brilliant marketing piece that I encourage you to use in your store right away.

I'm feeling inspired to go shopping tonight—how about you?

I've always believed that regardless of the economic environment, there are opportunities for growth and success. Previous Seattle real estate agent and home stager Katrina Puetz is doing just that—finding success because of the slowdown in the retail estate market.

In December 2008, Katrina decided to enter the world of the retail. She set up Furnishments in Seattle, a store that sells gently-used furniture from other home stagers. They get help selling furniture they no longer need/use and customers (and other home stagers) get a great deal.

Her success story is a reminder: look around and find the opportunities that this economic downturn have created.

I'll be covering more of her story, and 49 other retail concepts, at my seminar on April 23 at the Specialty Retail Entrepreneur Expo & Conference in Las Vegas. I hope to see some of you there!