Rewards 'R Us

The folks at Express wised up to their $15 gift certificate giveaway with their new 2005 pants line...and cancelled the offer. Now they are offering a knit camisole for $15 if you BUY one of their pants. A huge bit of a letdown. It's also a shame because this weekend, some of the dress shirts went on sale for $29.50, and with the $15 free, it would have cost $15 to get a shirt. But with everything going on, I didn't get to Express until they had changed the deal. Grrr.

In other news, Express is also offering their huge leather tote bag for $30 with a $75 purchase. Not that there's anything worth buying in Express right now!

Bath and Body Works has an email offer for a free True Blue Spa Island GetAway Lotion with a $15 purchase from the True Blue collection. With the purchase, they'll also give you a coupon for a free lip balm from the new C.O. Bigelow collection with purchase for next week. The C.O. Bigelow collection rocks. I recommend that everyone try it. When I went to take advantage of this offer, the metrosexual of the decade made me sample the entire new Island GetAway line from the margarita scrub to the bodymilk rinse. In my opinion, it's not a good line. It's really oily, the scents are overwhelming, and it was at best ordinary. I would stick with the original True Blue line; at least they have some excellent products. But the C.O. Bigelow collection? Amazing. Everyone should try their lemon body lotion. I cannot wait for the lip balm next week.

Other business tidbits: Krispy Kreme may be filing for bankruptcy soon...that's what you get for expanding too fast without a cohesive vision. Marshall Field's is set to unveil their shopping site online this spring...financial advisors estimate that Field's has lost millions of dollars by not utilizing their online potential sooner. Ann Taylor is still having their clearance sales. So is Banana Republic.

Finally, per a conversation with Kunjali, as I work on this blog, I realize more and more how emotionally tied I am to shopping, as I am with other things in life. It is interesting to realize that no matter how hard I try, I cannot take a distant, unbiased, or unfettered look at the stuff that centers my life.

The Express Pant Getting To Know You with a $15 Reward...SIGN ME UP!

Been really busy lately with things...but this was too good of a deal not to write about.

So the Express Semi-Annual Sale is over and done with, speaking of which, I wonder how the Limited sale is because I really wanted that capelet thing...I guess I have to go by there one day and see if the sale is still going on. Anyway. So they have rolled out all their new 2005 pant editions. And in order to raise revenue, draw interest, whatever, there is one of the best promotional deals out now until February 21st.

For women: try on a pair of Editor pants or the new Correspondent pant. For guys: try on the Producer pant. Once you do, you can get a $15 gift certificate to buy something right then or to keep until the 21st when it expires. Simple. Try on a pair of pants, get $15 for a purchase. Sweet. And if you do go, I've noticed that the guys are a lot nicer about the deal than the salesgirls. I'm not sure what the reason is, but the salesgirls basically ignore you, but the guy will tell you right off the bat about the promotion. Props to them.

I don't know the deal with the Express marketing department, but they used to have those $15 off a $19.50 purchase coupons or something like $25 off a $50 purchase coupons that they would send you in the mail. A one time use. Excellent marketing ploy: get people in, make them look around, and chances are, they would buy something...and buy more than they expected.
For some reason, they cut that and turned to Semi-Annual Sales. Now they're turning to these one-time promotions. Some of them are great in that they send you a card, tell you to come in, make a purchase, and they'll give you something for free or at a discount. But there are the others that tell you to come in, try something on, and they'll give you something. Not exactly the most reasonable rationale to encourage revenues, but I supposedly don't know anything since I am not in marketing.

What I do know is this is an excellent promotion for the customer. Who would pass up $15?? Who cares about the pants; they'll go on sale later this season, and I'll buy them then. In the meantime, I'll stock up on the basic classics. Here are just two that I bought today.