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  1. News from Bridge
  2. News from Members
  3. Events
  4. Training
  5. Updates
+ Bridge in the News - Bridge in the News

72 Results:

May 26, 2023 Data, Filters, and Search Walk Into a Soundbar
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Data, Filters, and Search Walk Into a Soundbar
May 26, 2023
Apple announced last month that it's launching a new classical music app. What’s novel about the Apple Music Classical app is how it lets music fans more easily search thousands of variations of the same song. For example, let’s say you want to find a Johann Sebastian Bach song. Over the past 300 years, many musicians have done ‘covers’ of his works, and there are variations by conductor, music, year, etc., thereby producing thousands of variations. Existing software ...
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May 15, 2023 We Got Sole 🩴
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We Got Sole 🩴
May 15, 2023
About 15 years ago, I bought a pair of Crocs sandals in Myrtle Beach, SC. Not only were they hot pink, but the insole was traffic cone orange. My buddies hated them, but oddly others loved them. The sandals were affordable (maybe $20), comfortable, and a conversation starter.

According to last week’s The New York Times' profile on Crocs, I’m one of tens of millions of happy Crocs owners. This happiness is profitable:
  • Crocs’ sales have almost doubled since 2019.
...
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May 9, 2023 Salsa-fy 🌮: The Time is Ripe for Efficiency
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Salsa-fy 🌮: The Time is Ripe for Efficiency
May 9, 2023
You've heard of Salsa-fy? It’s national, was started in Dallas, is used by 60,000 employees, and is used at more than 1,600 corporate locations. Salsa-fy helps businesses steer clear of trouble, offer the best value, and ensures profitability. You may interrupt me here and ask, “Jason, don’t you mean the software company Salesify?” No, I’m talking about the restaurant chain Chili’s and its approach to managing salsa, french fries, and its business.  ...
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March 2, 2023 Honoring Our Peers
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Honoring Our Peers
March 2, 2023
The founder of Juan Pollo Chicken, Albert Okura, passed away last week at the age of 71. Mr. Okura envisioned Juan Pollo, a fast food chain with 25 locations in Southern California, as a household name that would someday sell the most chicken in the world. He believed in this so much that he bought the site of the original McDonald’s restaurant, located in San Bernardino, CA, in 1998—not to turn it into a Juan Pollo restaurant but rather into a museum to honor his fast food industry....
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February 23, 2023 Save the Date 🗓️
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Save the Date 🗓️
February 23, 2023
When one thinks of shopping locally, some consider it an act of charity. One may pay more and get less selection. That’s not a recipe for success. In contrast, the world’s most successful retailers, Walmart and Amazon, operate on just the opposite principles: low prices and massive selection. When I’m in Walmart's Panama City Beach location, it’s so massive I feel like I’m in the Giants' stadium. Amazon sells 12m items on its website (350m if you count the third-...
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February 4, 2023 Legos & Business Strategy
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Legos & Business Strategy
February 4, 2023
Economist Bent Flyvbjerg encourages us to find our “Lego” in his new book “How Big Things Get Done.”  Mr. Flyvbjerg, whose new book is reviewed by Ben Cohen in this week’s The Wall Street Journal, says that most large projects that are completed successfully use a modular approach. Excerpt from The Wall Street Journal:

“That’s the question every project leader should ask: What is the small thing we can assemble in large numbers into a big ...
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January 31, 2023 New Member Targets 🎯
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New Member Targets 🎯
January 31, 2023
When growing our network, we consider what it takes to keep existing members and grow into other industries. Andrew Chen in The Cold Start Problem reports that Facebook famously wanted a user to get 10 friends in a week because then the person would likely use the service. Similarly, Slack said users with about 10 connections tend to become active users. My company currently doesn’t have such new user benchmarks and we need to develop them. 

Adding New Retail Members to the Product...
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January 31, 2023 Networks: Let's Tango 💃🏽🕺🏼
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Networks: Let's Tango 💃🏽🕺🏼
January 31, 2023
It takes a lot of people to build a bridge, but just two to tango. This applies to the analog world as well as the digital one. In the digital space, I'm using tango to refer to messaging between two people. I believe messaging is a service we can add to our offering to diversify how our company Shop Local grows.

Different Networks Require a Different Number of Users in a Group
Andrew Chen in The Cold Start Problem states that a key difference among network models is the required minimum ...
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January 27, 2023 Do You Agree Defaults Are Important? ✅ Yes ___ No
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Do You Agree Defaults Are Important? ✅ Yes ___ No
January 27, 2023
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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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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