“With companies offering great prices on toys this year, shoppers may want to act fast if they have one of those items on their shopping list,” said Tracy Mullin, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation, in a statement. After all, these shoppers are hunting for bargains more than ever this year, with more than half of them basing their purchases around sales and discounts, if not everyday low prices.

Of course, high demand could easily make up for the low selling points of this season’s most popular toys. Take Zhu Zhu Pets, the tenth most popular toys for girls and, essentially, the cutesy, rodent version of Hot Wheels and Ferbies combined. These battery-powered hamsters sell regularly for $9.99, but on eBay and Amazon, they can cost as much as $40, as Business Week reports. Meanwhile, while a Card Booster Pack from the Bakugan Battle Brawlers line –  the seventh most popular toys for boys — only cost $3.89 for Amazon, shoppers will often buy them in conjunction with their higher-priced Starter Packs  ($12.01 each) and Battle Packs ($19.99 each).

So while bargain shoppers often start the hunt for these lower-priced gifts early, wholesalers should still keep them in stock long after Thanksgiving. Even though Black Friday and Cyber Monday drove last year’s holiday sales, the National Retail Federation reported that 20.5 percent of people did not begin shopping until less than a week before Christmas, the biggest procrastinators being men and 18 to 34-year-olds.

Video Games

Though experts deemed the video game industry recession-proof in 2008, it finally began to show some weakness in 2009, as profits fell 14 percent in July from the same month last year. In efforts to counter this fall, publishers are shifting their priorities to promoting upcoming video game sequels. Call of Duty, Need for Speed and Assassin’s Creed are all games whose second or third chapter comes out this fall, though perhaps the most anticipated of them all, for gamers and analysts alike, is The Beatles: Rock Band. (Find out why at Newsday.)

Apparel

As their industry quickly became susceptible to economic decline, apparel retailers have begged designers since last year to create lines catering to today’s thrifty consumer. Designers have finally answered those prayers in their upcoming spring collections,  offering high-quality casual contemporary separates with a timeless feel.

“It’s creating a product that is buy-now, wear now,” said designer Peter Som to WWD. “At the end of the day, it’s a partnership with a retailer, and understanding what the customer is looking for, then taking that information and giving them that and something they didn’t know they were looking for. It’s the ultimate dance of commerce and creativity.” (Find out more at WWD.)

Movies

Re-releasing Disney’s cinematic classics is a selling strategy that Walt Disney created himself. But the upcoming theatrical showings of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are taking this marketing strategy to a  level beyond even 3-D, as they lay the groundwork for next year’s Toy Story 3.

A new line of consumer products, featuring Halloween costumes, DVD rereleases and toys, are set to follow the  theatrical releases.  As a result, the company hopes that Toy Story 3 will become one of Disney’s most profitable movies in years, with a level of success echoing that of its predecessors. (Find more information at the Wall Street Journal.)

Retailers, which of your tried-and-true products have carried you through the current economy? What do your customers like about them?

For some, this decrease could be interpreted as a preventive measure against inflation, as Bloomberg reported this morning. Wholesale prices last declined in December 2008, by 1.8 percent.

Measured by the producer price index, wholesale prices serve as one of three gauges of inflation calculated monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Rapidly declining energy prices led the overall decrease, as the costs of both gasoline and home heating oil each declined by 13 percent.

On the other hand, the prices of finished goods sans food and energy had increased by 0.1 percent, following a 0.4 percent increase in February.

Prices of women, girls and infants’ apparel fell slightly in March, after a 1.5 percent increase the month before. Prices of toys and consumer plastic products fell less than they had in February, while prices of sporting and athletic goods rose by 0.6 percent after a 3.5 percent decline.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the rise yesterday through its regular tracking of wholesale prices of crude, intermediate and finished goods, cumulatively referred to as the producer price index.

Finance and economics journalist James Picerno called the price increase paired with the 22 percent rise in new housing starts “more than just a dead cat bounce.”

“Is it safe to declare the deflation risk over? No, not yet, but it’s not too soon to start thinking about the light at the end of the tunnel, dim though it’s likely for the time being,” he wrote in his blog, The Capital Spectator.

Prices of finished consumer goods sans food and energy rose by 0.4 percent, following the 0.3 percent increase observed in January.

Within this category, prices of both household appliances and women’s, girls’ and infants’ apparel rose by 1.5 percent after smaller increases during the previous month. Meanwhile, prices of sporting goods and toys experienced the steepest declines, of 1.7 and 3.5 percent respectively.

But once her family knew what to do – take shorter showers, turn off the faucet while brushing their teeth – Smith still found herself struggling to break old habits of her husband and teenage kids.

“And then it just occurred to me,” as Smith recalled, “it would have been a lot easier to learn those things when you’re very young.”

What could have remained a wistful thought instead became the premise behind one of this year’s most talked-about toys. Both BusinessWeek and Time have taken note of Idbids – the company formed by Smith and fellow mother Sarah Albarez – and their Eco-friendly Starter Kits. Made entirely out of recycled and organic materials, these kits also deliver to children what could be their first lessons in environmentally conscious behavior.

Leading such lessons are three characters – Scout the cloud, Lola the flower, and Waverly the water drop – in a picture book and “field guide” printed on recycled paper with eco-friendly inks. In plush form, they are made entirely out of organic cotton, like the kit’s backpack in which everything can be stowed. These characters, according to Smith, were designed as deliberately as they were made.

“We have made Idbids characters look very simple because kids like to draw things all the time. They may draw that cloud and do the face on it [like Scout],” she said. “The thing is, when they look up at the sky and the clouds, we hope that they will look at it a little differently – that they’ll think it’s something that they do want to take care of and learn about.”

Finding the right cotton for their plush toys – which Smith described as feeling “almost like your lovable ol’ blankee” – became the most difficult part of creating the kit. After the company became a member of the Organic Trade Association, its co-founders researched extensively online to find a manufacturer that grew and processed its cotton properly, with valid certifications.

“Because of the nature of what we’re trying to teach, we are going to strive to make our products in the most environmentally friendly way that we can,” Smith said.

And, as Idbids and its kits rose to popularity, the steps Smith’s family has made to conserve has also amounted up to one very environmentally-conscious household.

“Surprisingly enough, our habits have changed a lot,” she said, “though I still think it would have been easier if I had Waverly when the kids were two or three.”

Idbids, P.O. Box 888405, Atlanta, GA 30356. Call 1-877-443-2437 or visit www.idbids.com .