Bridge Smart Products

Helping the Retail Industry Share 68,662 Products

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Shop for Annieglass products
Shop for Anna Weatherley products
Shop for Arte Italica products
Shop for Beatriz Ball products
Shop for Casafina products
Shop for Gien products
Shop for Herend products
Shop for Juliska products
Shop for Lenox products
Shop for Michael Aram products
Shop for Mottahedeh products
Shop for Reed & Barton products
Shop for Royal Crown Derby products
Shop for Skyros products
Shop for Vera Wang products
Shop for Vietri products
Shop for Waterford products
Shop for Wedgwood products
Featured Smart Product Partners

Bridge's Smart Products service helps businesses share and sell thousands of products. Your business can use our platform as a 'one-stop shop' to more easily share product information to run your business.

  • Who uses the service?
    Retailers, brands, and sales reps in the United States, Caribbean, and Canada. Of the top-10 selling tableware and giftware brands, all ten (100%) use the Smart Products service. Of the top-20 selling brands, 90% use the service.
  • What is being shared?
    Members are sharing 68,662 products from 113 brand partners. The shared product data includes prices, professional pictures, dimensions, descriptions, and thirty other key variables. Retailers use this data to keep their websites and in-store POS systems up to date. Members also share news, files, and sales data. Please note: a member has to be approved by the product owner to share data; a member cannot join Bridge and get unapproved access to a partner brand’s product data.
  • How does the Smart Product service work?
    Bridge's Smart Products service is a data-sharing and file-sharing platform. The service allows businesses to store and share product data in real-time from one central, secure library (database). Read a walk through of how the Smart Products service works.
  • Why do we call the shared products 'Smart Products'?
    We call them Smart Products because it's as if the products have a brain inside them and they know when to get on and off the retailer's 'digital shelf.' This intelligent product approach is made possible by the brands maintaining their respective items in Bridge.

Learn how Smart Products can help your business:

 
Are You a Retailer?
 

For Retailers

A retailer uses the Smart Products service to display and sell products from its popular brands (View brand members). The retailer saves time and money because the service enables it to skip downloading product content from many brands' websites. If a retailer sells tens of brands, it would have to visit tens of brand sites to get this data that Bridge has compiled and made uniform in one account.

Are You a Brand
or Distributor?

For Brands

A brand places its products in the Smart Products database to more efficiently share its items with authorized stores.

  • A brand's products appear in the retailer's Bridge account in the same organization as the brand arranged the products in its account. In this way, the brand helps its retailers properly organize its items.
  • A brand only has to update a product once in its Bridge account and that change will take effect everywhere in the network.
  • This technology ensures that new products, price changes, and discontinued products are taken care of for the retailers.
  • Since retailers can instantly sell what is in the database, the brand will sell more.
 
Are You a
Sales Rep?
 

For Sales Reps

A sales rep uses its free Bridge account to view Smart Product data from brands it reps. The rep saves time by doing this on its Bridge account instead of visiting many brand websites. If a rep works with many brands, it would have to visit many sites to get this data that Bridge has compiled and made uniform in one location.

  • When a rep logs in to its account, it may view orders that its retailers have received for Smart Products. This helps the rep service the retailers.
  • The rep keeps its contact information up to date in Bridge. Stores use Bridge to see the rep's telephone number and email address. This makes reordering easier for stores.
  • The rep uses Bridge to learn about new introductions and price updates in one spot vs visiting many brand sites.
For Trade Organizations • For Web Designers

Sell 13% More

Retailers' Average Increase in Sales
Retailers' average increase in sales due to Bridge's product-syncing service

Survey base: 42 brick-and-mortar Bridge retailers
Two studies have shown that Smart Products help businesses sell 13% more. In a survey conducted by Bridge, retailers reported selling 13.5% more when they use Bridge's Smart Products service. In study conducted by DeVine Corporation, retailers reported selling 13% more than those that did not use the program.

See the results from the Smart Products survey

Save Time and Money

Time Required to Add 1,000 Products

Average time of adding an item

Cost to Add 1,000 Products

Average cost of adding an item

A retailer spends hundreds of hours each year adding products to its websites. Bridge calculates that a retailer often spends 50 hours to add one thousand products to a website. If it were to add, for example, two thousand products, it would take 100 hours. In today's era, a retailer needs tens of thousands of products to be competitive. This results in weeks and even months of labor. In contrast, the Smart Products service reduces this time to about 4 minutes per one thousand products. The retailer simply needs approval from the Smart Brand to sync products and all of its products will appear in the retailer’s Bridge Store.

A retailer spends thousands of dollars each year adding products to its websites. Bridge calculates that a retailer often spends $750 to add one thousand products to a website. If it were to add, for example, two thousand products, it would cost $1,500. In today's era, a retailer needs tens of thousands of products to be competitive. This results in tends of thousands of dollars in costs. In contrast, the Smart Products services reduces this cost to zero dollars. The retailer simply needs approval from brand and all of its products will appear in the retailer’s Bridge Store.

Using the above calculations, let’s compare the costs a retailer incurs by manually adding products vs using the Smart Products service:

Brand Number of Products Time to Add to Website Manually Cost to Add to Website Manually Annual Cost to Maintain Manual Products Cost to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service Time to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service
Annieglass 244 2.4 Days $183 $46 Free 4 Minutes
Beatriz Ball 783 7.8 Days $587 $147 Free 4 Minutes
Casafina 787 7.9 Days $590 $148 Free 4 Minutes
Herend 4,988 49.9 Days $3,741 $935 Free 4 Minutes
Juliska 689 6.9 Days $517 $129 Free 4 Minutes
Mottahedeh 800 8.0 Days $600 $150 Free 4 Minutes
VIETRI 1,993 19.9 Days $1,495 $374 Free 4 Minutes
Waterford 566 5.7 Days $425 $106 Free 4 Minutes
Annieglass
Number of Products 244
Time to Add to Website Manually 2.4 Days
Cost to Add to Website Manually $183
Annual Cost to Maintain Manual Products $46
Cost to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service Free
Time to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service 4 Minutes
Beatriz Ball
Number of Products 783
Time to Add to Website Manually 7.8 Days
Cost to Add to Website Manually $587
Annual Cost to Maintain Manual Products $147
Cost to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service Free
Time to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service 4 Minutes
Casafina
Number of Products 787
Time to Add to Website Manually 7.9 Days
Cost to Add to Website Manually $590
Annual Cost to Maintain Manual Products $148
Cost to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service Free
Time to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service 4 Minutes
Herend
Number of Products 4,988
Time to Add to Website Manually 49.9 Days
Cost to Add to Website Manually $3,741
Annual Cost to Maintain Manual Products $935
Cost to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service Free
Time to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service 4 Minutes
Juliska
Number of Products 689
Time to Add to Website Manually 6.9 Days
Cost to Add to Website Manually $517
Annual Cost to Maintain Manual Products $129
Cost to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service Free
Time to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service 4 Minutes
Mottahedeh
Number of Products 800
Time to Add to Website Manually 8.0 Days
Cost to Add to Website Manually $600
Annual Cost to Maintain Manual Products $150
Cost to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service Free
Time to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service 4 Minutes
VIETRI
Number of Products 1,993
Time to Add to Website Manually 19.9 Days
Cost to Add to Website Manually $1,495
Annual Cost to Maintain Manual Products $374
Cost to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service Free
Time to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service 4 Minutes
Waterford
Number of Products 566
Time to Add to Website Manually 5.7 Days
Cost to Add to Website Manually $425
Annual Cost to Maintain Manual Products $106
Cost to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service Free
Time to Add to Website Using Smart Products Service 4 Minutes

Calculation: Paying person $15/hour / Person adds 20 items/hour

Do You Hate Dealing With Dropbox and Excel?

Bridge is easier and faster

Skip using these tools and save yourself time. With Bridge's Smart Product service, you can instantly share product data with the businesses that you need to.

What Information Is Included With Each Smart Product?

Each Smart Product contains up to 40 different variables including price, length, width, and multiple picture sizes. Each product's data is maintained by its respective brand. Smart Product variables include:

Stock Sharing

Smart Brands may choose to share their stock with their authorized retailers and sales reps via Bridge. Only businesses that the brands approve see their stock, and they will only see it once they log in.

Featured brands that currently share stock via Bridge:

Showing stock on Bridge makes it easier for authorized retailers and reps to get stock information. They can set reasonable delivery expectations and reduce calls to customer service.

Bridge offers different paths to collect stock information from a brand.

Cost: We offer stock sharing for free to Bridge Smart Brands as part of their membership. Please contact Bridge for more information.

What Problem Does The Smart Products Service Solve?

  • Current options for sharing product data take too long.
  • Current options for adding products to websites are expensive.
  • Businesses that can’t efficiently share data are losing market share.

Meet the Team Building Bridge

Designed and Built by Industry Experts

We've been designing and building websites for businesses since 2001. Today, our platform services hundreds of businesses and processes millions of dollars in sales for clients. Our software leverages 19 years of retail experience to connect the retail and wholesale worlds.
» Learn more about the Bridge team and their motivation

Jason Solarek of Bridge

Bridge in the News

Read the HFN articleHFN Magazine
Read the Tableware Today articleTableware Today
American Express

Page tags: automated product updates, self-updating products, image library, image vault, file sharing, image repository, supply chain management, datafeed, social commerce, SoComm, product sharing, optimizing product content, collaboration, team, efficiency, data management, product information management, PIM, Digital Asset Management, DAM, product syncing service, product data syndication