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

+ Bridge in the News - Bridge in the News

Thursday, June 4
Bridge Virtual Happy Hour
Event Date: Thursday, June 4

Bridge Virtual Happy Hour Event: Thursday, June 4
Location: Via GoToMeeting.com

FOR ALL MEMBERS

You're invited:
Join us for a happy hour where we'll learn and have a drink.

We'll:

Review new Bridge features.
Answer your questions.
Hear from members about what is working for their stores.

Date and time: Thursday, June 4th at 5 pm - 6 pm EST
The format will be casual.

Audience:

All members are invited. We will answers questions from stores, brands, and reps.

To join us, you can:

May 7
New Feature: Your Collection Pages Now Display A Lifestyle Picture at the Top

New Feature: Your Collection Pages Now Display A Lifestyle Picture at the Top May 7 Your software now outputs your lifestyle pictures at the top of your Collections page. This makes the page and the products look more engaging.

By default, the 'window' will center on the middle of the lifestyle image. If you wish, you can update the focus by using 'up' and 'down' arrows on the left-side of the window.

In this example, the brand member Vista Alegre is editing its pattern Alma de Lisboa. The member can load two lifestyle images for this collection. The ...
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May 7
Training Video: Bridge 101 for Retailers

Training Video: Bridge 101 for Retailers May 7 Watch this webinar to setup your Bridge account.

Watch:
https://vimeo.com/415201354/f4d8df6194

Webinar includes:

Learn what Bridge is.
Learn who created Bridge and why.
How to access and go through your Bridge account Success Checklist.
How to setup your Bridge Store, add your tax rate, and more.
See examples and tips.

After watching this webinar, you'll:

Know how to use your Bridge.
Rank higher in Google.
Better compete against Amazon.
Be ready to receive

Tuesday, May 5 - Wednesday, May 6
Bridge Software Training for Retailers
Event Date: Tuesday, May 5 - Wednesday, May 6

Bridge Software Training for Retailers Event: Tuesday, May 5 - Wednesday, May 6 FOR RETAILERS
Please join us for our new Bridge 101 webinar. We designed this training for new members. Existing members that want a refresher may also join us.

I'll take you through the Bridge platform and administrative settings.

I'll teach you how to:

Set up your Bridge Store.
Add products.
Add brands.
Setup taxes and shipping settings.
Navigate the important features needed to get your Bridge account up and running.

After attending this webinar, you'll...
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Thursday, May 7
Bridge Virtual Happy Hour
Event Date: Thursday, May 7

Bridge Virtual Happy Hour Event: Thursday, May 7
Location: Via GoToMeeting.com

FOR ALL MEMBERS

You're invited:
Join us for a happy hour where we'll learn and have a drink.

We'll:

Review new Bridge features.
Answer your questions.
Hear from members about what is working for their stores.

Date and time: Thursday, May 7th at 5 pm - 6 pm EST
The format will be casual.

Audience:

All members are invited. We will answers questions from stores, brands, and reps.

To join us, you can:

April 30
Your Store Is Now Easier to Navigate

Your Store Is Now Easier to Navigate April 30 Customers are more likely to click blue hyperlinks. Due to this, Bridge is updating accounts to use more blue links. If your account has a gray horizontal navigation bar, we're updating this bar to instead have a white background with blue links.

In the example shown, we can see before and after screenshots for the gift shop Barbara Stewart Interiors. On the left, we see a dark gray horizontal bar with white text links. On the right, we see the new white bar with blue text links.
...
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April 28
Offer Gift Cards At A Discount

Offer Gift Cards At A Discount April 28 What can indie stores learn from hotels? Sell now, redeem later. Hotels are selling gift cards and future stays at a discount—sometimes up to 33% off. Your store can likewise sell $100 gift cards for $66. Lesson: Do what it takes to get the money today.

I also recommend offering a gift card subscription service. Your customer pays, for example, $80 per month and you send it a $100 gift card. This brings in recurring revenue.

Read the full Times article:
...
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April 26
A Cure for Amazon: Turning the Tables On It

A Cure for Amazon: Turning the Tables On It April 26 If we want our communities to re-open after Covid, we'll need to do more than just beat Covid. We have to shop at local places online in order to ensure they are there when our communities re-open. Need shoes, a TV, or a book? Your local store can help you. And, money you spend there stays in your community.

As you may recall, Amazon’s growth was partially due to it encouraging shoppers to use local stores as ‘showrooms’ and then complete the purchase on Amazon. Let&...
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April 25
Niche Social Networks

Niche Social Networks April 25 Today’s Wall Street Journal surveys niche social networks like Strava for fitness, BakeSpace for cooking, and Rate Your Music for music.

To this list I’d add: Bridge. Bridge is a niche social-media network serving the retail community. We connect thousands of businesses including brands, retailers, sales reps, publications, and trade groups.

The article shares people last year spent 57 billion hours on social networking and messaging apps via Android devices.

...
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April 21
Zola Cuts Staff

Zola Cuts Staff April 21 Zola fired 20% of its staff, reports Fast Company. Please recall that just a year ago, the Times promoted that Zola may reach a $1 billion valuation.

Zola's slowdown is good news for indie stores--but Zola will likely be back. While it is over-leveraged with venture capital and over-valued, the wedding registry business will rebound next year.

Indie stores are not the only ones to get a reprieve: market buildings were playing defense against Faire, the wholesale ...
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April 20
New Feature: Dimensions Now Appear Below Product Titles

New Feature: Dimensions Now Appear Below Product Titles April 20 New Feature: More Easily See Product Dimensions

Your store and your shoppers can now more easily know how big something is. Below a product's name, your software now outputs the length, width, and height.

In the example shown, we see that this Juliska glass is W 3" x L 3" x H 6.5". An alternate way to enter this would be D 3" x H 6.5".

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April 20
New Feature: Customize Your Navigation Link Colors

New Feature: Customize Your Navigation Link Colors April 20 New features for retailers:
1. You can now customize your horizontal navigation's font and link colors.
Previously, your horizontal navigation ("Home," "Gift Registry," "Designers," etc.) was dark gray with white links. Now, you can make it any combination you'd like. In the example shown, it's a white background with gold links.

To customize your link colors, please do this:
A. Visit your Bridge account.
B. Log in.
C. Roll over "Management" ...
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April 20
Subscriptions Remove Friction

Subscriptions Remove Friction April 20 Many businesses are struggling during the state-mandated shelter in place orders. One industry that is weathering the storm well is technology. Technology companies often deliver services digitally, which obviously makes them ideal to side-step these orders--but they often utilize another feature that makes them profitable now and in general: subscriptions.

Scott Galloway, a business leader and host of an online business class called The Sprint, recently brought to my attention the importance...
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April 20
Amazon and Our Community's Ability to Respond to a Crisis

Amazon and Our Community's Ability to Respond to a Crisis April 20 Do businesses like Amazon that short-change our community affect our ability to respond to a crisis?

In this pandemic, Bridge thanks first responders and the many people that help our communities work together. When I think of communities during Covid-19, Amazon comes to mind. I do think there is value in looking back at the last 24 months leading up to today and asking: did Amazon slow down our community's ability to respond?

Amazon historically pays less in corporate taxes than other ...
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April 19
Stacy Mitchell Profile in the Times

Stacy Mitchell Profile in the Times April 19 Stacy Mitchell heads up the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which seeks to stop monopolies from hurting our local communities. Read today’s Times piece about the movement:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/technology/athena-mitchell-amazon.amp.html

Business leader Scott Galloway has also been speaking about the dangers of Amazon in his podcast Pivot.

Ms. Mitchell co-authored this insightful report about Amazon in 2016:
https://ilsr.org/amazon...
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April 17
Busch Beer's Wedding Contest

Busch Beer's Wedding Contest April 17 Busch beer is having a bit of fun with the havoc Covid is wrecking. Busch's contest:

Busch is picking 250 winners to share how they are dealing with their canceled weddings.
Affected couples need to post a photo of themselves to Instagram or Twitter with an explanation of how they plan to celebrate given the circumstances, and use the hashtags #BuschWeddingGift and #Sweepstakes.

Entries are due by May 1.

https://www.retaildive.com/news/retail-therapy-busch-is-giving-away-the-...
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April 13
Selling via Social Media

Selling via Social Media April 13 Retailers have asked us about selling via Facebook. For starters, you can easily share your products from Bridge to your Facebook account. Your Bridge account is the ideal resource to pick from thousands of products and share them via social media.

Facebook does offer options to let visitors buy within Facebook, and this route often 'Facebook Marketplace.' Please note this warning about selling via Facebook Marketplace: you will not get paid until 15 - 20 days after you ship the ...
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April 12
Wall St. Journal: Smaller Companies Face Higher Card Fees

Wall St. Journal: Smaller Companies Face Higher Card Fees April 12 Visa and Mastercard are most likely raising their fees on your business, shares the Wall St. Journal. The amount of fees collected from credit cards has doubled since 2012. In the article, one retailer shares that it paid almost $400,000 in credit card fees.

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April 9
Training Video: COVID-19 Webinar for Brands

Training Video: COVID-19 Webinar for Brands April 9 Watch this webinar to help your retailers. Learn how to:

Update your Smart Products. (Smart Products are the items that brands share in real-time with retailers.)
Connect with your retailers.
Connect with your sales reps.
Add custom links in your header.
Add banners.
Update your slides.
Update your logo and contact information.
Update your social media accounts.
Add news.

Bonus content: