Wunderlich

A customer called me recently and asked me whether I think he should focus on non branded clothing or brand name clothing.

His question is based on the following idea.

Brand name clothing is highly recognizable by customers because the brands spend millions of dollars marketing themselves. Non branded clothing, basically clothing by smaller labels or imported from overseas, have no name recognition. But the flip side is that non branded clothing can be purchased and resold for allot less than branded clothing.

So how do you decide between selling non branded and brand name clothing?

For starters you need to know who your customers are.

Although the following might not be politically correct you need to understand this.

Lower income customers might want brand name clothing but they cannot afford it. So even though they would love to have brand name clothing they will usually settle for non branded clothing.

On the other hand more affluent customers will want only branded clothing because they have more pressure in terms of keeping up with the latest styles.

Now the above is true in the theoretical world. But in the real world everyone wants brand name clothing.

So how do you as a reseller buy brand name clothing at prices low enough to sell to your poorer customers?

You need to purchase overstock clothing.

Overstock clothing consists of clothing which a department store did not sell within a set period of time. A department store wants to always have new merchandise on its racks. Whatever does not sell within a set period of time will be sold out as overstock.

Since the overstock consists of brand names you have a great opportunity.

You can get a hold of brand new clothing by leading brands at a fraction of the regular wholesale price.

Whats the catch?

When you purchase overstock clothing you will receive a wide assortment of styles and sizes. You cant specify the number of pants or skirts, or sizes for that matter.

So while this might discourage some people from purchasing overstock clothing, just think of the advantages of buying brand names like Polo Ralph Lauren, Tommy, Liz Claiborne, Ecko, and Baby Phat, for a fraction of the regular wholesale price.

I stress on my site, closeoutexplosion.com, that customers will receive an assortment of brands and styles, and also the average retail price of the items that I have.

This way resellers can decide the merits of buying and selling overstock merchandise for themselves.

While overstock clothing might not work if you need a full range of sizes for a given item, it definitely works if you want to buy brand name clothing at the lowest possible wholesale prices.

Donny Lowy operates the following wholesale sites:

http://www.closeoutexplosion.com
http://www.salehoo.net
http://www.wholesalecloseoutforum.com

Worn Out on Traditional Volleyball Warm-Ups

Keeping volleyball practices fun and exciting is a challenge that plagues most coaches as the season progresses. Whereas players are full of energy and zeal at the beginning of the year they often run out of steam as the season dwindles on, especially once games begin overtaking practices as your weekly meetings. Follow these few simple coaching tips for volleyball to keep your players involved and having so much fun they barely even notice theyre improving their skills at the same time.

The first of my coaching tips for volleyball involves making warm-ups more engaging. One of the biggest complaints that I always heard from my players following volleyball practice was that warm-ups were dull and boring. While we all know that warming up is a crucial element of exercise, it doesnt mean it has to be all running laps and stretching. So I listened to my players and we brainstormed a list of alternate means of warming up, both before practice and games. As a result we replaced the traditional warm-up with a 10-minute version of some of my teams favorite playground games, freeze tag and dodgeball.

I got you and now youre frozen!

For freeze tag, designate one person as it whose job it is to run around and tag everyone. Once tagged, a player becomes frozen to the spot where they were tagged and they are to stand with their legs wide apart. In order to unfreeze someone, you must dive between their legs. If the player who is it can successfully tag and freeze everyone, then they are declared victorious. Sometime I name two its so that they have a better chance of tagging everyone and neither one gets too exhausted. This game is also great because it gets players working on their dives when unfreezing others.

Dodge This!

Another game that gets the blood flowing is Dodgeball. Start by dividing your team into 2 groups who stand on opposite sides of the playing area. We use a basketball court, with the center line as the dividing line between the teams. Each team is given a ball with the goal of hitting as many members of the opposing team as they can.

The catch is that once you are hit or your throw is caught by the other team, you are sent to the jail which lines the back of the opposite teams playing area. However, you can free yourself from jail by getting a ball and hitting someone on the opponents team. This game is a great way to emphasize accuracy in throwing and teamwork.

Volleyball Goals for the Future

Finally, I offer the notion of goal-setting as the next on my list of coaching tips for volleyball. This can be done in a variety of ways, including both individual and team goals. At the beginning of the season, have each player write down a list of 3 things they want to improve about the way they play and come up with ways to achieve these goals.

Work with each player individually to achieve their goals, and also take 5 minutes at the end of each practice to come up with a team goal, and reinforce how that will happen. By coming up with specific things to work on instead of just a lets win the next game attitude, your team will learn to focus on where they need improvement as well as earn a self-esteem booster every time a goal is achieved.

Larry Reid has been coaching volleyball for well over a decade. You can get instant access to his championship volleyball practice plans by visiting his website:

http://www.volleyballpracticeplans.com/