News from Bridge about e-commerce, gift & bridal registries, self-updating products, and self-updating stores

+ Bridge in the News - Bridge in the News

December 19, 2020
Promoting Your Website’s Accessibility

Promoting Your Website’s Accessibility December 19, 2020 Your Bridge Store now more clearly welcomes visitors with disabilities.

On the left-hand side of your home page, there is an accessibility notice with a link to a new Accessibility page.
In the footer of most pages, there is a link to the new Accessibility page.

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December 17, 2020
HFN: Lenox Makes List of Most Popular Gift Registry Picks

HFN: Lenox Makes List of Most Popular Gift Registry Picks December 17, 2020 HFN's Allison Zisko covers The Knot's 2020 list of the most registered for items.

We were happy to see Lenox, a Smart Brand partner, have a product on the list.

Leading choices included:

KitchenAid Artisan Series 5 Qt. Stand Mixer
Nautica Belle Haven 6-Piece Towel Set
iRobot Roomba e5 (5150) Wi-Fi Connected Robot Vacuum
Rachael Ray Cucina 10-Piece Non-Stick Bakeware Set
OXO Good Grips POP 20-Piece Food Storage Set with Lids
Pyrex 4-Piece Measuring Cup Set
Dyson V7 Motorhead

December 17, 2020
RetailDive: Shoppers increasingly picking stores with a website and physical location

RetailDive: Shoppers increasingly picking stores with a website and physical location December 17, 2020 RetailDive shares that shoppers want a store with both a great website and a convenient location--something that retail leader Amazon may not offer.

Article highlights:

40% of stores now offer BOPIS.
Even with stores now being open (after the mandatory Covid-19 closures), e-commerce growth is still up 40% over 2019.
80% of consumers told FTI Consulting that they're going to shop more online this year compared to last, ...But many of those customers will be going to their

December 14, 2020
New Feature: Update Expected Delivery Dates

New Feature: Update Expected Delivery Dates December 14, 2020 New feature: you can now control expected delivery dates for products.

On your Details pages, your software outputs a date by which a customer can expect a product. Showing this date is a compelling strategy to get customers to order. As a reference, Amazon offers these expected delivery dates.

You can now change that date. For example, if today's date is May 1st, you can set the date to May 5th or May 15th.

You can edit this setting on the "General Settings" page under &...
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December 13, 2020
FedEx Buys Online Shipping Service

FedEx Buys Online Shipping Service December 13, 2020 FedEx bought a ShopRunner, and online shipping platform that had already received $115 in venture-capital backing and an investment from UPS last year, shares RetailDive.

One doesn't shop on ShopRunner, rather one shops on other stores and looks for the ShopRunner logo when checking out. (Learn more about how it works here: https://www.shoprunner.com/how-it-works .)

A missing component for FedEx and UPS remains an e-commerce platform, such as Shopify, Big Cartel, ...
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December 13, 2020
RetailDive Shares News About Indie Stores But Misses Important Details

RetailDive Shares News About Indie Stores But Misses Important Details December 13, 2020 In last week's RetailDive, Kaarin Vembar penned an article about small businesses and their pains during the pandemic. Ms. Vembar and RetailDive promote the groundswell to e-commerce but sadly shortcut its existence in their very article.

She interviews the owner of Adorned Abode in Tacoma but doesn't add a link to the store's website--which would've boosted the store's Google ranking and increased clicks from readers, and she doesn't give much attention to the store's website offerings. ...
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December 9, 2020
Will Your Business Deal With an ADA Lawsuit? It's Likely...

Will Your Business Deal With an ADA Lawsuit? It's Likely... December 9, 2020 Will your store or brand be sued? It's increasingly likely. Lawyers are targeting retailers using the Americans with Disability Act as a reason to sue your store. In a presentation by William M. Jay, Andrew Kim, and Tim Springer, we find some startling statistics about the increase in ADA lawsuits.

Retail websites are the top target of ADA lawsuits.
In the last 3 years, ADA lawsuits are up more than 200%.
Just 20 firms account for almost 90% of the lawsuits.

Bridge runs audits...
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December 9, 2020
Local shopping in Park Slope, Brooklyn

Local shopping in Park Slope, Brooklyn December 9, 2020 Recently, there has been a big push to shop local in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Small businesses are promoting each other through signs posted in windows. It's great to see indie shops build a network of support and take a stand against big-box stores!

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December 7, 2020
New Feature: Promote How Many Brands You Offer from a Department

New Feature: Promote How Many Brands You Offer from a Department December 7, 2020 Online selection is very important. This leads one to ask: from how many dining and entertaining brands can your customers shop? How many bedding brands?

Your Bridge now quickly tells you and your customers this information. Please:

Visit your Designers page.
Look to the right of the department name. You will see a dynamic brand count. e.g. "Decorating & Accessories: 44 Brands"

At the top of the page, your Bridge displays the total numbers of brands ...
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December 6, 2020
Ginori ad in the NYT 'T' magazine

Ginori ad in the NYT 'T' magazine December 6, 2020 Happy to see Ginori, a Smart Brand member, in the Times’ ‘T’ magazine.

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December 6, 2020
NYT: Shopify vs Amazon

NYT: Shopify vs Amazon December 6, 2020 Yiren Lu shares her experience of setting up a Shopify store in the New York Times magazine. Ms. Lu reports the setup process was easy, but her online Shopify store failed because it lacked marketing, aka eyeballs and orders. In her next article, I hope Ms. Lu tries Bridge. Bridge Store helps members fill the marketing component that Shopify is missing. When a store joins Bridge, Bridge instantly points hundreds of links to the store from other Bridge members, which Google sees and ...
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December 5, 2020
'Pattern Recognition'

'Pattern Recognition' December 5, 2020 Taking inspiration from the Meissen collaboration with Adidas, I decided to try our hand at a Meissen inspired Bridge logo.

Bridge was founded in the tableware and fine china industry, and one could say that china made Bridge. In this logo design, we take our origin story literally :)

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December 4, 2020
'Made in China:' MEISSEN x ADIDAS

'Made in China:' MEISSEN x ADIDAS December 4, 2020 The Meissen porcelain brand and Adidas have teamed up to create a pair of iconic tennis shoes. Art meets the street. Stay tuned for pricing and availability.

Read DeVine's news post about this:
https://devinetableware.bridgecatalog.com/news.cfm?id=20290

Meissen is a Smart Brand partner. Shop for Meissen here:
https://devinetableware.bridgecatalog.com/collections.cfm/Meissen
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December 1, 2020
Patriotic Duty: Buy Online to Flatten the Curve? ...But at What Cost?

Patriotic Duty: Buy Online to Flatten the Curve? ...But at What Cost? December 1, 2020 Alec MacGillis shares in the Times how online shopping and Amazon in particular are wrecking havoc on retail.

Highlights:

Nationwide, 9,800 stores shuttered in 2019, among them 220 Sears stores.
Analysts predict that brick-and-mortar store closures could reach 25,000 by year’s end.
J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus and J. Crew filed for bankruptcy, Macy’s furloughed nearly all of its 125,000 workers for months, and countless independent businesses have closed for good.

November 30, 2020
Wall Street Journal: In-Store traffic drops by 50%

Wall Street Journal: In-Store traffic drops by 50% November 30, 2020 Black Friday foot traffic was half what it was last year, reports the WSJ. Meanwhile, online shopping was up 22%.

Read the full article:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/black-friday-was-a-bust-for-many-stores-better-for-online-11606676355

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November 28, 2020
New Yorker Magazine: How Venture Capitalists May Be Deforming Our Industry

New Yorker Magazine: How Venture Capitalists May Be Deforming Our Industry November 28, 2020 In this week's New Yorker magazine, Charles Duhigg explores how venture capitalists may be harming our businesses. The article shares that instead of the best company winning, the charismatic charlatan with the most venture capital backing may be winning. In WeWork's case, the company almost won by reaching its IPO. Yet, even bottomless buckets of money couldn't save the company from the economics of office sharing--and its wildcard CEO Adam Neumann.

We have a few businesses in our retail ...
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November 27, 2020
Save Local

Save Local November 27, 2020 This is our 'Save Local' seal. Save Local has a double meaning: one can save money by shopping locally and they can support local businesses.

Shopping online may result in shipping charges. When shopping local, one can skip the shipping charges--and receive the item instantly.

A hallmark of indie stores is that they are often in walkable areas. For this reason, the sticker has a shoe and a bicycle. When one shops at big box stores, one often doesn't walk. They drive. Similarly,...
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November 24, 2020
Two Updated Features: Gift Alert and Gift Wrapping Promotion

Two Updated Features: Gift Alert and Gift Wrapping Promotion November 24, 2020 We're updated two features on your gift registry lists:

On a gift registry, customers buy gifts and a threshold may be met for gifts desired. When this occurs, no more gifts for the item are needed. When this occurs, the software needs to visually alert other customers to choose other gifts. With our update, purchased items now show a gray, translucent screen over them with a blue ribbon "Gifting Completed." Previously, we simply

November 24, 2020
'Save Local Here' Sidewalk Decal

'Save Local Here' Sidewalk Decal November 24, 2020 While walking on 9th St. in Manhattan, I noticed an American Express sidewalk decal. This decal inspired me to create a Bridge sidewalk decal for indie stores.

I think that stating 'shop local' or 'shop small' misses many of the key desires by shoppers. I think that customers want low prices, lots of selection, and fast delivery. Those are the reasons they shop at Amazon and at other big box stores. Ask yourself: would you shop at a store that has less selection? Higher prices? Slower ...
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November 23, 2020
7 Steps to Prepare for Black Friday / Cyber Monday

7 Steps to Prepare for Black Friday / Cyber Monday November 23, 2020 It's just 3 days till Black Friday. And on Monday, we have Cyber Monday. Online sales will reach $189 billion this holiday season--a 33% increase over last year. Is your website ready?

I've created these 7 steps to help you get ready:

1. Place products on sale

Be prepared to cut prices more than normal.
Clearly list end dates for sales to create urgency.

Tip: Here is how to place items on sale:
https://support.bridgecatalog.com/kb/a186/place-an-item-on-sale....
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Bridge in the News

July 2020
Four Trade Publications Report on Bridge's Growth

March 2020
HFN Editor Praises Bridge

January 2020
Seminars Offer Strategies for Independent Stores

November 2019
Tableware Today Article: Chart Your Future Before Big Tech Does

May 2019
HFN Publishes Jason Solarek's 'Letter to the Editor'

March 2018
HFN Shares Juliska is Joining Bridge

January 2018
HFN Reports Bridge's Product Syncing Service Helps Indie Stores

June 2017
Bridge Brand Conference

December 2016
HFN Magazine: Bridge Crosses $2 Million in Registry Sales

November 2015
HFN Magazine: Bridge Passes $1 Million Milestone in Registry Sales

May 2015
Tableware Today: Jason Solarek Pens 'Last Word' Column

May 2015
HFN Magazine: E-commerce Update

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