She’s hit the big time...hasn’t she? Personal shopper, Annie Valentine, is presenting her own popular TV fashion series. But despite this being Annie’s dream job, success isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and suddenly Annie is feeling the pressure! Especially as boyfriend Ed is left at home looking after their brand-new twin babies, whilst Annie comes to terms with fame. And as Annie gets more and more sucked into the celebrity showbiz world, she feels like she’s losing more and more of who she really is. Could the big break she’s always wanted, actually be a big mistake? Fans of Sophie Kinsella, Lindsey Kelk and Paige Toon will love this laugh-out-loud romantic comedy from bestselling author Carmen Reid. What readers are saying! "If you love shopping as much as you love a great read, try this. Wonderful." Bestselling author, Katie Fforde "Annie Valentine is a wonderful character - I want her to burst into my life and sort out my wardrobe for me!" Bestselling author, Jill Mansell "You will enjoy getting to know Annie Valentine; laughing with her and crying with her. You may even fall in love with her . . . I have! A fantastic read!"⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader review "Fantastic read, couldn't put it down" ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader review "Can't wait to read the next one!"⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader review

'I loved her then, I love her now. Annie's back and she's better than ever! Fun, feel good and feisty - Annie Valentine is the woman you want to share a cocktail with!' Portia MacIntosh Can she get her life back online? Tired of being underestimated, Annie Valentine is determined to prove to everyone that she can make her life a success. Her job as a personal shopper is brilliant, but she’s now intent on setting up a shoe and handbag empire of her own. To get there, she’ll do anything and go anywhere - the handbag factories of Italy are calling! But what started out as a fun after hours project is getting slightly out of hand. Because Annie is working around the clock to bag the perfect bargain, and her family life and relationship with adorable Ed is feeling the strain. Annie knows she is getting in too deep, but the more she tries to pull back, the more risks she takes. Soon, everything Annie loves is on the line and perhaps the only way to have it all is to step into the real world again.... Fans of Sophie Kinsella, Lindsey Kelk and Paige Toon will love this laugh-out-loud romantic comedy from bestselling author Carmen Reid. What readers are saying! "If you love shopping as much as you love a great read, try this. Wonderful." Bestselling author, Katie Fforde "Annie Valentine is a wonderful character - I want her to burst into my life and sort out my wardrobe for me!" Bestselling author, Jill Mansell "You will enjoy getting to know Annie Valentine; laughing with her and crying with her. You may even fall in love with her . . . I have! A fantastic read!"⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader review "Fantastic read, couldn't put it down" ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader review "Can't wait to read the next one!"⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reader review

British Fashion Design explores the tensions between fashion as art form, and the demands of a ruthlessly commercial industry. Based on interviews and research conducted over a number of years, Angela McRobbie charts the flow of art school fashion graduates into the industry; their attempts to reconcile training with practice, and their precarious position between the twin supports of the education system and the commercial sector. Stressing the social context of cultural production, McRobbie focuses on British fashion and its graduate designers as products of youth street culture, and analyses how designers from diverse backgrounds have created a labour market for themselves, remodelling `enterprise culture` to suit their own careers.

The British Retail Consortium represents UK retailers of all sizes and sectors, and seeks to promote wider understanding of the industry's contribution to the UK economy. This yearbook provides information on the organisation, membership and activities, with a directory of membership. It contains an essay on the value of retailing within the economy as well as other perspectives on retailing, such as: corporate responsibility; emerging markets; falling margins and regional reviews.

What do Katrina victims waiting for federal disaster relief, millionaire rappers buying vintage champagne, Ivy League professors waiting for taxis, and ghetto hustlers trying to find steady work have in common? All have claimed to be victims of racism. These days almost no one openly expresses racist beliefs or defends bigoted motives. So lots of people are victims of bigotry, but no one's a bigot? What gives? Either a lot of people are lying about their true beliefs and motivations, or a lot of people are jumping to unwarranted conclusions--or just playing the race card. As the label of "prejudice" is applied to more and more situations, it loses a clear and agreed-upon meaning. This makes it easy for self-serving individuals and political hacks to use accusations of racism, sexism, homophobia, and other types of "bias" to advance their own ends. Richard Thompson Ford, a Stanford Law School professor, brings sophisticated legal analysis, lively and eye-popping anecdotes, and plain old common sense to this heated topic. He offers ways to separate valid claims from bellyaching. Daring, entertaining, and incisive, The Race Card is a call for us to treat racism as a social problem that must be objectively understood and honestly evaluated.

Aggressive product placement and retail tie-ins are as much a part of moviemaking today as high-concept scripts and computer-generated special effects, but this phenomenon is hardly recent. Since the silent era, Hollywood studios have proved remarkably adept at advertising both their own products and a bewildering variety of consumer commodities, successfully promoting the idea of consumption itself. Hollywood Goes Shopping brings together leading film studies scholars to explore the complex and sometimes contradictory relationship between American cinema and consumer culture, providing an innovative reading of both film history and the evolution of consumerism in the twentieth century.

Sales is the lifeblood of the vast majority of companies. Without the influx of new business, most organizations would wither and die. So sales must be successful, not just once in a while but constantly — every month, every week, every day. Because we constantly need more sales we also need new ideas for identifying and contacting our prospects, for understanding and meeting their needs and most of all, for inspiration to fight the good fight. This book will be a wise and ambitious member of your sales team, a one-time investment that will pay for itself over and over again. No commissions required! 151 Quick Ideas to Increase Sales is all about increasing the return on the investment you make in your organization's business development program. It will break down the walls between the sales function and the other promotional elements in a typical marketing mix, allowing for a more synergistic approach to sales. 151 Quick Ideas to Increase Sales shows you proven sales tactics from a variety of business models and how to put them to work in your own programs. Tactics such as: -Branding Your Products -Creating Cross Promotions -Letting direct mail deliver -Selling More to Existing Clients -Reaching Out to the Community These ideas will allow you to leverage the assets and momentum present in your existing system, and use your skills and knowledge to get exactly what you need and want more sales! Linda Sparks has spent more than 25 years in the field of sales. She began her career as an outside sales representative, learning to unearth customer needs then sell products and services to meet those needs. In 1990, Sparks founded Performance Development Company, a business consulting and training firm, where she served as president for 10 years. For the last five years, Sparks has worked as an independent consultant, helping her clients take a more integrated approach to business development. She is the co-author of Business Development is Everyone's Business. She and her husband Jim live in Tucson, Arizona.

The hunters become the hunted... Shopping for wedding gifts is enjoyable, unless like Gwen you witness a Weevil massacre in the shopping centre. A trip to the zoo is a great day out, until a date goes tragically wrong and Ianto is badly injured by stolen alien tech. And Halloween is a day of fun and frights, before unspeakable monsters invade the streets of Cardiff and it's no longer a trick or a treat for the terrified population. Torchwood can control small groups of scavengers, but now someone has given large numbers of predators a season ticket to Earth. Jack's investigation is hampered when he finds he's being investigated himself. Owen is convinced that it's just one guy who's toying with them. But will Torchwood find out before it's too late that the game is horribly real, and the deck is stacked against them? Featuring Captain Jack Harkness as played by John Barrowman, with Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato and Ianto Jones as played by Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Naoki Mori and Gareth David-Lloyd, in the hit science fiction series created by Russell T Davies for BBC Television.

The journey to purchase for the family shop or the B2B buyer is impacted by media, advice, packaging and trial. The sales and marketing challenge is what to say, and where to say it. Shoppernomics, based on research and case studies from US and UK, examines the path taken by the potential buyer. The authors describe the key drivers and barriers on the journey to purchase. They identify the need to get key messages, key partners and key media all working together, and a framework for success. The authors challenge the budget split between sales and marketing as possibly the largest barrier to successful shopper marketing and identify core stores and the areas they serve as being equally important targets for investment. Shoppernomics provides the manual for achieving successful companies serving happy and loyal customers, as the ultimate goal for manufacturers, retailers and brands. It reminds marketers that it is what customers take from their product or service that is important, not what they think they are delivering. It reminds sales people that nothing is more important than matching supply and demand in the eyes of the customer regardless of who actually makes the ultimate sale. Shoppernomics is designed to deliver fast results for companies prepared to recognise that they are not perfect, and go the extra mile to find out why.