Pay customers to shop with you: that's what it will take to stay afloat.
We can learn a lot from this Best Buy email:
1. Promote free shipping with a very low threshold. Best Buy requires just a $35 order. What do your competitors offer?
2. Give away money to shop with you. Best Buy is offering me $5 knowing that I'll likely spend $50.
3. Show smiling faces in your advertising and emails. Show real workers--do not use stock photos.
4. Set a deadline by when customers can ...
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February 29, 2020
February 29, 2020
Think that your business should be making big bucks selling online? Wrong. Most businesses lose money online and have unprofitable online operations. Walmart’s online operations and Wayfair both lose money, and thousands of other businesses do, too.
There is a popular myth that online sellers are casino-like winners with the winning slot machine bells sounding with each order—generating buckets of quarters (profit) for the business. Casinos often produce losers, and most ...
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I visited the New York’s Post website--to get my fill of New York gossip--and I was shown a massive advertisement from a leading tabletop brand. (I have covered the brand's logo with yellow rectangles for the privacy of the brand.) Before visiting the Post's site, I had visited this brand's website. The ads appear because the brand has hired some advertising platform to track me around the web, show me ads, and direct me back to its DTC (direct to consumer) site.
In the ‘age of Amazon,’ is your store a liability or asset? Walmart is banking on stores being the physical nexus points of the web.
Did your e-commerce business lose money last year, and you fret over this? Most indie store owners do, but losing money on e-commence is the name of the game as catching up to Amazon’s 25-year head start will take years and lots of losses. Proof: Walmart’s e-commerce operations lost $2b last year, shares the WSJ. Most indie stores will not be able to pursue this ...
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November 16, 2019
November 16, 2019
Facebook removed 3.2 billion fake accounts between April and September, more than twice as many as last year, shares CNBC.
One may ask: how many fake Facebook accounts still exist?
Many social media platforms are full of fake users and scammers.
Bridge only allows real people to sign up for its platform. We assess each sign up and only allow authenticated businesses and their staff to join. Since we don't rely on advertising revenue, we don't need to allow fake accounts to inflate our user base. ...
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Good news: Bridge will pay10% of your advertising costs.
For example, if you pay $1,000 for a Tableware Today ad, we’ll give you $100. If you pay $2,000, we’ll give you $200.
Benefits:
+ Save money. Make your advertising budget go further.
+ Sell more. When retailers join you on Bridge, they report selling 13% more product.
+ Show more of your product on your retailers' websites.
Shown here are two examples:
+ Waterford print ad in Tableware Today.
+ ...
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October 25, 2019
October 25, 2019
Amazon sales are up 24% last quarter. How much are your sales up?
If they’re not up 24%, it likely means that Amazon is taking your customers and your neighboring business’ customers.
Do you buy from Amazon at home? Or for your store? If so, you may be helping sharpen your executioner’s sword by 24%.
While the Times paints the quarter as a mixed bag, I believe this is great news for Amazon. It also shares that Amazon’s advertising revenue is up 45% and that Amazon Web Services Is up 35%. Do you...
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June 7, 2019
June 7, 2019
Smaller margins are here for many businesses in many industries—not just tableware. Recently, a sales rep balked when I suggested its stores take a haircut on margins. Yet, I believe big money tech players are forcing these cuts and upending traditional profits—leaving stores with little other option. From media (see today’s AT&T article) to advertising (Facebook, goggle) to transportation (Uber, Lyft, Tesla) to gift registries (Amazon, MyRegistry, Zola), big money-backed tech companies are the...
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May 15, 2019
May 15, 2019
Amazon and Google are now competitors, shares today’s Times.
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March 29, 2019
March 29, 2019
Even Apple--a company with all the money in the world--stills has to hire guys to hang signs.
Zola is increasing its service offerings and is shown here advertising on the NYC subway its wedding invitation service.
Bridge is likewise considering ways for your store to offer brides more services under ‘one roof.’
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February 27, 2019
February 27, 2019
Walmart continues to immitate Amazon by seeking to grow its advertising platform, shares today’s WSJ.
I think I read that Amazon currently accounts for 10% or ad dollars spent and is expected to become a top 3 player soon, along with Google and Facebook.
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February 7, 2019
February 7, 2019
Wanna see the future of retail? First, look back. Look back at the newspaper industry and its hard, swift fall over the last 15 years. Facebook (and other tech platforms) replaced newspapers across the country as the world’s information and advertising platforms. General lesson: platforms replace individual players. Next up: Amazon’s platform is going to substitute national brand (and retail) names with its private label business. Don’t like it? Amazon doesn’t care. It owns the world’s largest ...
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February 5, 2019
February 5, 2019
For Retailers: Good news: the wedding registry season is here! Consider these facts:
1. This year 2.5 million weddings will occur in the U.S. That's 2.5 million potential gift registries for your store. :)
2. Amazon, Zola, and Crate & Barrel make millions from gift registry purchases. You will, too.
3. The average gift registry purchase is $142, and the average registry receives over $1,000 in gifts.
4. The online gift registry business is the one spot where indie stores are winning online.
What’s a very revealing thing about you? What you buy. Today’s Times shares that businesses are looking to Amazon over Facebook to target customers. Advertisers (aka sellers of goods) are targeting customers that bought X in order to get them to buy Y.
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December 10, 2018
December 10, 2018
Shopify, a fellow e-commerce platform, has a blog that shares business tips. Braveen Kumar recently shared some tips about getting traffic in the first 30 days of setting up a website, including:
1. Email your friends and family a discount/coupon. But note: don't spam people. Only send high-quality, unique content, and send it sparingly.
2. List your URL everywhere.
3. Join online communities/groups to share your business story.
Amazon hacked people’s registries and put stuff in them that the registrants didn’t want, reports today’s WSJ. And it made millions of dollars in doing so.
What it did may even be a crime. See today’s WSJ for the full story.
Royal Crown Derby launch photography for Christmas 2018.
It may only be September but we know that you may already be on the countdown to your Christmas promotions!
With that in mind, Royal Crown Derby are pleased to provide you with a range of promotional images themed around Christmas, covering a beautiful selection of Royal Crown Derby products to assist with your advertising, mailshots, online banners and promotional material. Perfect to get your customers in the festive spirit....
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August 22, 2018
August 22, 2018
What Does the Gump's Bankruptcy Mean for Your Business?
As you likely know, Gump’s filed for bankruptcy. The famous San Francisco indie store's crash is having wide-ranging consequences for our industry. 41 Madison tenants likely lost more than $1,000,000 on Gump's.
Yet, the economy and stock market are doing very well. How to explain these contrarian events? Furthermore, you surely are asking: How did Gump's reach this low--and more ...
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