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9:10 AM • Yesterday Do You Agree Defaults Are Important? ✅ Yes ___ No
Do You Agree Defaults Are Important? ✅ Yes ___ No
9:10 AM • Yesterday
When you look at your driver’s license, it lists if you’re an organ donor. Twenty years ago, only 20% of people were donors, but today 80% are—thereby saving millions of lives. Did people become more kind? No, the question on the application was changed from opt-in to opt-out. People signing up for or renewing a license are now by default enlisted in organ donation. Lesson: the right default answer in medical care can save millions of lives. Similarly, the right defaults ...
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December 28, 2022 Referrals: Johnny Softwareseed 👨‍🌾 🍎
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Referrals: Johnny Softwareseed 👨‍🌾 🍎
December 28, 2022
In the book The Cold Start Problem, Andrew Chen says that the 'network effect’ is really three effects: 
  • The acquisition effect 
  • The engagement effect
  • The monetization effect 

In the beginning, a business seeking to build a network has to concentrate on acquiring users, even if they are non-paying. Companies often give away the service, especially software companies, and we can see that with Facebook, Slack, TikTok, and many others.  Bridge didn’t do ...
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December 15, 2022 Next Generation ⏩️
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Next Generation ⏩️
December 15, 2022
When we brainstorm about making Bridge better, we want to turn over every stone. We explore many avenues, from increasing collaboration to lowering product prices to enhancing marketing. What if an improvement was right in front of us—constant to all of these concepts? Regardless of what feature we offer, there is one constant: navigation. Navigation is fundamental to allowing members to easily find what they need—and discover what they didn’t know they needed. 

If...
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December 8, 2022 What's on The Menu? Giving Back
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What's on The Menu? Giving Back
December 8, 2022
While drinking Athletic, a non-alcoholic (fake!) beer, I noticed that its box proclaims that it gives back 2% to local trails. I love walking trails, and I thought: the next time I venture to have a sober night, I’ll pick up another box of Athletic. (Thanks, Athletic, for giving out $2.5m in trail grants.) Warby Parker gives a pair of eyeglasses for each pair bought (they've given 10m pairs!), while Bombas does this for socks. Bookshop.org gives a percent back to small ...
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December 1, 2022 The Price is Right 🛒
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The Price is Right 🛒
December 1, 2022
When we talk about prices, there are two prices that are important: 
  • The price that we charge clients.
  • The price our clients charge their customers. 

We normally talk about the former, aka how our prices compare with other competitors, like Shopify or wholesale services like Faire. 

Of increasing importance to us is what our retailers charge their customers.  Walmart recently announced that it was taking brands to account and pressuring them to keep ...
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November 21, 2022 Reaganomics: Show Me the Money 📝
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Reaganomics: Show Me the Money 📝
November 21, 2022
Ronald Reagan said, “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.”  Reaganomics usually refers to tax cuts and trickle down economics, yet I propose that we take the Gipper’s quote and ask: How can simplicity contribute to a business's success?

When we share what leading companies do, we can often skip an explanation and sum it up in a brief sentence. Examples:
  • Walmart offers low prices.
  • Facebook connects us.
  • Hyatt offers a place to sleep.
  • Amazon offers
...
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November 9, 2022 Don't Laugh: Fun Is a Good Marketing Vehicle 🤹‍♂️
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Don't Laugh: Fun Is a Good Marketing Vehicle 🤹‍♂️
November 9, 2022
Bridge has something that every store needs, but doesn’t really want: product data. We get stores to trust us that they need our product data for 64,000 products from 109 brands. They really don’t want the data—they want the sales from it. The data itself is worthless, but the sales from it are invaluable. Do you know who also has this issue? Funeral directors.  Last week's Wall Street Journal shares that mortuaries are leveraging bonsai trees, setting up bouncy castles, ...
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November 2, 2022 Fight the Power ✊ ~ Activists and Advertisers
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Fight the Power ✊ ~ Activists and Advertisers
November 2, 2022
Last week, we talked about the power of advertising and how Dietrich Mateschitz, the co-founder of Red Bull, wielded it by sponsoring Mini Coopers, fringe sporting events, and Formula 1 races. Advertising makes a statement and helps people change their minds—specifically to make a purchase. There are people who do similar things in order to change society. We often call them activists. Activists and advertisers possess a similar skill set. In 1950, Ian Hamilton stole a stone slap ...
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November 2, 2022 Red Bull in a China Shop 🐃 🍽
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Red Bull in a China Shop 🐃 🍽
November 2, 2022
You’ve likely had a vodka-Red Bull cocktail in your lifetime, which was followed by a hangover for you—but helped drink co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz amass a $20b fortune. Mateschitz, who passed away last week at the age of 78, discovered the drink in the 1980s in Thailand and built it into a global brand. He promoted Red Bull, whose name is a translation of the drink’s Thai name "Krating Daeng,” via a variety of clever marketing initiatives. In the early 2000s, I ...
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October 25, 2022 Gogh Big or Gogh Home 🖼
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Gogh Big or Gogh Home 🖼
October 25, 2022
We work hard each day, and likely don’t mind if others notice.  We want others to see the ingenuity of our software. But what if that wasn’t the case? If you want an example of someone that got passed by, just ask Van Gogh.  Yeah, thaaaaat world-famous, earless, impressionist artist whose work today graces the walls of countless museums.  The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is currently running an exhibition showcasing how the world missed appreciating Van Gogh’s...
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October 12, 2022 Search Party 🔦
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Search Party 🔦
October 12, 2022
Google is often considered the first stop when searching for information. Looking for a product? You'll likely head to Amazon.com, where due to its 350m product listings, 25% of purchases reportedly start. Facebook will be your go-to for finding friends and family due to its 2b profiles of people.  Airbnb lets you search 5.6m places to stay.  These businesses are likely your choice because people want a massive selection when conducting a search.  Many of the world's most ...
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October 8, 2022 Winners Quit 🚪🏆
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Winners Quit 🚪🏆
October 8, 2022
In her new book ‘Quit,' Annie Duke shares that the best poker players only play 25% of the hands they are dealt, whereas others play 50%. Ms. Duke talks with Stewart Butterfield, the founder of a few startups, most recently Slack (which is an acronym, which I didn’t know). Slack wouldn’t have been born if Mr. Butterfield didn’t drop a video game company to start Slack. Likewise for Twitter which was born out of the failed blogging company Odeo. Ms. Duke's lesson: winners ...
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October 3, 2022 Are We Time Givers or Takers? ⌛️⏳
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Are We Time Givers or Takers? ⌛️⏳
October 3, 2022
Scott Galloway, the NYU business professor and firebrand, pens a weekly, attention-grabbing article about business trends. In last week’s post, he noted the rise of the attention economy.  (...Yes, my post is an attention-seeker writing about an attention-seeker writing about attention.) Comparing our current economy to those of the past, Mr. Galloway notes that today’s oil is time. He tracks the growth of digital companies like Netflix, Microsoft, Facebook, and TikTok that...
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September 23, 2022 Vanity 🪞
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Vanity 🪞
September 23, 2022
Today’s Gen Z gift registrants want to do everything online, often on their iPhone 14. They want to start a registry, add products, remove products, edit quantities, and view purchases. They don't want to call the store to do this.   

In the adoption of digital tools, another trend is also at play: female shoppers are busier than before. Today, more women graduate from college than men. Women are increasingly doctors, CEOs, and world leaders. (Italy just welcomed its ...
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September 19, 2022 Do We Have the Wright Stuff? 🛩
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Do We Have the Wright Stuff? 🛩
September 19, 2022
In the early 2000s, the board game Cranium became a hit.  The game combined elements of Scrabble and Pictionary with the goal of helping more people enjoy playing a game. Richard Tait, who created Cranium and sold it to Hasbro in 2008 for $77.5m, passed away in July.  Like Mr. Tait, I had been a paperboy, but he went beyond what I ever offered:  he came up with a new service that sold breakfast sandwiches along his newspaper route. He increased profits and made customers happier. ...
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September 8, 2022 Dollars and Sense Advice from Mom 👩‍🦰
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Dollars and Sense Advice from Mom 👩‍🦰
September 8, 2022
When I was a kid, my mom instilled in me a lesson to always get paid for my work. When I went to mow a lawn or do my newspaper route, she’d remind me,  “Be sure you get paid.”  As an adult, these flashbacks are vivid like a scene from Citizen Kane—just swap out the Rosebud sled with my newspaper delivery bike.  Today, this lesson still resonates when running Bridge. When calling a store that hasn’t paid its Bridge bill, I’m confident in asking ...
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September 1, 2022 Gift Cards Are a Gift to ...Stores 💸
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Gift Cards Are a Gift to ...Stores 💸
September 1, 2022
When is the last time you received a Starbucks gift card?  I’ve received them as holiday gifts, and I’ve given them to sales reps as thank you gifts. Starbucks gift cards, like their shops, are ubiquitous.  They are almost as popular as gift cards from our nemesis: Amazon.com. Just about every month, a company offers me an Amazon gift card if I sign up for a service. WBGO, the local, Newark-based, non-profit radio station known for jazz, recently offered me an Amazon gift ...
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August 26, 2022 Click Hear 🎧
Click Hear 🎧
August 26, 2022
Whenever I visit my 76-year-old mom in Myrtle Beach, SC, she picks me up and the oldies station is playing in her car. I’ve tried changing that dial, and one has a better chance of outmaneuvering tennis star Daniil Medvedev. I imagine the oldies music brings her back to her youth. I read a study that people’s favorite song is often when they were 17 years old.  That’s right: the 'best songs’ may not be the best songs but rather simply be what you heard in ...
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August 15, 2022 We Suck 🪠
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We Suck 🪠
August 15, 2022
Last week, Amazon bought iRobot, the company that makes Roomba, the robot vacuum cleaner, for $1.7b.  Why? Yes, their 'Rosie from the Jetsons' has AI and is in your home (which is where Amazon wants to be), but the reason Amazon wants it is because customers want it. Which leads us to ask: Why do customers want Roomba? Because it does something that humans find annoying and hate doing: cleaning. Roomba has spotted the value that robots bring to the world and it's not simply being ...
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August 10, 2022 We Deliver and Install
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We Deliver and Install
August 10, 2022
I don’t own a car, yet I have a strange desire to read Dan Neil's car column each weekend in The Wall St. Journal.  Why would someone who doesn’t own a car, won’t be buying one soon, and hasn’t owned one in 25 years read a car column? It's a mix of enjoying the design and technology of automobiles, wanting to know what Dwayne Johnson may be buying next, loving Dan’s witty writing style, and, confession, simply being 13-years old at heart. Cars are ...
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Next page

Bridge in the News
Bridge Helps Indie Stores Rank on Page 1 of Google in 76% of States
Bridge Helps Indie Stores Rank on Page 1 of Google in 76% of States
October 2022

HFN: Bridge Experiences Record Growth
HFN: Bridge Experiences Record Growth
August 2021

Press Release: Bridge Membership Surges 50%
Press Release: Bridge Membership Surges 50%
July 2021

Four Trade Publications Report on Bridge's Growth
Four Trade Publications Report on Bridge's Growth
July 2020

HFN Editor Praises Bridge
HFN Editor Praises Bridge
March 2020

Seminars Offer Strategies for Independent Stores
Seminars Offer Strategies for Independent Stores
January 2020

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

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

HFN Shares Juliska is Joining Bridge
HFN Shares Juliska is Joining Bridge
March 2018

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

Bridge Brand Conference
Bridge Brand Conference
June 2017

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

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