Contents

1. For Retailers
2. For Brands

For Retailers

Design

What will your website look like when you use the Smart Products service?
How your website looks depends on how you choose to add Smart Products online. You can use your own website or our Bridge Store ~ View examples

Syncing and Products

Can you sync products with any Smart Products brand?
You can request to sync products with any of our partner Smart Brands. The brand may approve or deny this request. This is the equivalent of asking someone to be his or her friend on Facebook.

To sync products with a Smart Products brand, you will first sync with the brand. For example, if you want to sync with Waterford, you will send Waterford a sync request. (Syncing allows all of Waterford's items to appear in your Bridge Store without any work needed by you.)

Can a customer buy any Smart Product online?
Yes. By default, when you sync products with a Smart Brand, all of its products appear in your Bridge Store. Bridge Store uses a 'price floor' feature to save you from having to take orders that result in little profit. By default, this price floor feature works by only allowing Smart Products with a retail price above $50 to be purchased online. When a shopper views products below this price floor, they are shown your phone number and encouraged to call to order the item. You can change this price floor to the dollar amount that you'd like, even to $0 if you wish. Note: gift registry items do not use this price floor feature. This reason for this is that most gift registry purchases are given in the form of a gift card.

Can a retailer just sign up for the Bridge Store & Registry and not the Smart Products service?
Yes.

When syncing products with a Smart Brand, can your store pick only the SKUs that it carries or does it have to display all the SKUs?
You can show what you'd like. By default, you sync all of the Smart Products from the Smart Brand. Then, you can choose to 'hide' patterns or specific items. As such, your website starts with 100% of the Smart Brand's offering and then your narrow it down as you see fit. In order to better compete with Amazon and other large online retailers, we encourage you to show as many products as you can.

Can you add any product to your Bridge Store?
Yes. You can add any item that you want to your Bridge Store. Learn more about Bridge Store.

Do Smart Products work with your bridal & gift registries?
Yes. Smart Products can power your bridal registry. If you use the Bridge Store, it comes with an online gift registry store.

Your business would like to export Smart Product data. What data does the export include?
The export includes complete product information including prices, professional pictures, and product dimensions. Retailers use this data to import into their own website and POS. Retailers use e-commerce software such as Magento, Shopify, and Squarespace.

What format does the export come in?
XML, Excel, and CSV.
Learn more about the Bridge export feature.

Orders

How orders are processed depends on if you are using Bridge Store or your own 3rd-party store. If you are using your own 3rd-party store, then how you process orders is up to that 3rd party. If you are using Bridge Store, please view the Bridge Store FAQ.

Domain and Access

Can you use your own domain name?
Yes. Whether you use the Bridge store, or copy our data, you can use your own domain name. When you use Bridge Store as your primary site, please ask us about adding the 'domain masking service.'

Pricing for Service

How much does the Smart Products service cost?
You can display (and sell) Smart Products using your Bridge account for free. There is a charge to download Smart Products. Learn more about Smart Products pricing.

Does Bridge charge you a commission on orders placed via its software?
No. Plans are billed at a flat rate per month starting at $0/month. As such, you can sell items and pay us $0.

Which services are eligible for the free trial?
Bridge Store is eligible for the free trial. Bridge's data stream membership does not include a free trial.

Additional Information

Questions about the Bridge Store?
Please visit our Bridge Store FAQ page.

Have more questions about how Bridge works?
Please visit our Support Portal.

Where can I see a list of the pre-fixes that each Smart Brand has?
View Smart Brand prefixes here.

For Brands

How will a sale be made?

1. The consumer purchases the item on the retailer's site. The consumer's money is transferred to the retailer's bank account. The retailer receives notification about this order via e-mail.
2. The retailer looks at its inventory. If it has the item in stock, it ships what it has in stock. If the item is not in stock, the retailer will place an order for the item with the brand. Learn more about how Bridge works here.

Does a brand have to drop ship to be a Smart Brand partner?
No, a brand does not have to drop ship. If the brand drop ships, then a retailer may ask the brand to drop ship a Smart Product order. If the brand does not drop ship, then the brand may mail the item to the retailer, and the retailer will mail it to the customer. With this model, the retailer charges enough to cover shipping costs and the cost to ship the item to the customer.

What if a brand has a minimum order amount for retailers?
If a brand has a minimum order amount, and the retailer has a Bridge order in hand, the retailer will first assess if the order is over the minimum or not. If it's over the minimum, the retailer places the order. If the order is under the minimum, the retailer may decide if there is additional product it would like to order. In order to meet the minimum requirement, the retailer may order product to fulfill the order as well as to stock its store.

How much time does maintaining a brand's Smart Products require?
About one hour per month.

Does a brand select with which retailers it syncs its brand's products?
Yes. A Smart Brand member's products will not show up on all Bridge retailers' sites. The brand chooses with which retailers it syncs its products. Please note: the retailer must also accept the sync request. Likewise, a retailer can send a sync request. The brand can choose to accept or decline this request.

Can a brand load stock for its Smart Products?
Yes, a brand can load stock for its Smart Products. The brand has two choices to load stock: 1. Once it logins to its Bridge, it can manually upload an Excel file with stock, or 2. The brand can setup an automated FTP process to share stock. If a brand wishes to use FTP, please contact Bridge for details.

Retailers and reps will only see stock when logged in. Stock does not appear to the general public nor unauthorized accounts. Sharing stock is optional. A Smart Brand member is not required to share its stock.

More FAQs and Help

View more questions and tips on Bridge's Knowledge Base Support Portal.