"Are you happy?” That’s a question you may ask yourself. Your parents and friends also likely inquire (I hope!). While it may seem flaky to say, happiness is important. This topic was the subject of Dr. Edward Diener, who passed away in April of this year. Dr. Diener, who studied happiness and earned the moniker “Dr. Happiness,” reported that happiness often correlates with social relationships, being with others, and not being alone.
Reading his obituary, it led me to ask: Am I building software that makes our merchants (and their customers) happier? What would it take to foster online relationships between business friends? To inspire a sense of purpose in running an online store? To reduce being alone in managing a website?
Thankfully, I think that much of what we’re doing with Bridge helps accomplish these goals. And, fittingly, it makes me happy to provide happiness via our software. We are creating a unique platform that allows members to connect, share, affirm, and reward each other.
How do Dr. Diener’s studies relate to e-commerce platforms in general? I believe that Shopify, a software provider with a $160b market capitalization, offers a siloed, solo, “me” experience to merchant sellers. This results in businesses often being alone when they use the software, which I imagine Dr. Diener would’ve taken issue with. On the other end of the software spectrum, there are marketplaces like those provided by Amazon.com. On Amazon, the merchant is reduced to one of the millions of sellers on the site. One’s business logo doesn’t appear in the upper left of the website—Amazon’s does. A merchant doesn’t receive the customer’s contact information like their email. An Amazon merchant is a faceless, nameless seller, and Amazon prefers this. It sells commodities and reduces sellers to a commodity. I’d call this “them” software.
I don’t think either of these models bring happiness to a merchant. What if there was a happy medium between Shopify and Amazon? I think Bridge is this answer. Bridge gives businesses an online store like Shopify but also helps them connect, share, and socialize. Unlike Amazon, merchants keep their identities and interact directly with consumers. Between “me” and “them” software, I’d call Bridge “we” software.
E-commerce companies often promote their features, such as an easy checkout, sales reporting, or tax preparation. One unique feature Bridge software delivers: happiness.
I can imagine our magazine advertisement: the Bridge logo with the tagline “It’s Your Business to Be Happy.”