How a drawing on a bar napkin led to a software platform that processes trillions of calculations
April 15, 2024
In 2007, while sitting at the pub Moran’s with a beer, I drew a sketch on a napkin that would change our business. I drew a software model that would allow an indie store to instantly show (and sell) thousands of products online—without any labor. (The secret sauce: The respective brand would do the product update work for the merchants.) The immediate goal was to help my two retailers more efficiently load products onto their websites (and save me the boredom of doing it).
How Store Owners Can Trade Wasted Labor Costs For a New Tesla Car
March 10, 2024
No one likes to pay for gas—just ask Tesla drivers. Chris Kornelis, a reporter for The Wall St. Journal, shares this week how he switched to a Tesla to save $100 a month ($1,200 a year!) on gas.
This story is important to us because if someone will pick a car to save $1,200 a year, we should be able to find what they need to save in order to pick Shop Local’s Online Store. Let’s learn from Chris and his Tesla choice.
Making Replacement Savings Easy to See
The new ...
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This cozy baked oatmeal with peaches and nuts will elevate your morning porridge to a whole new level. For breakfast, baked oatmeal has the ideal texture and sweetness and may be made with any fruit of your choice. After putting this together in a matter of minutes, you can serve breakfast to a gathering in CALAISIO's Portuguese-inspired stoneware, which is embellished with a heat-resistant basket made of durable exotic vines. Making it a fashionable and practical complement to your ...
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How registrants can share their top registry items with family and friends.
February 21, 2024
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: Your registrants can now designate an item on their registry as a most wanted item.
When a registrant marks an item as a most wanted item, the item is noted with a star and the text "This is a Most Wanted Item." This is displayed on the registry list and shares the registrant's top choices with family and friends.
If you have the gift registry service active, please follow these steps to view this new feature:
How a local shop quickly opened an online store with a gift registry and saved $955 in costs, all from a flyer in their Casafina shipment.
February 6, 2024
We are pleased to announce The Square Gift Co. has joined the Shop Local community of retailers. The Square Gift Co. is a retail store in Fulton, Mississippi. The store owners, Jessica Howell and Keely McMillen recently placed an order with Casafina. When their shipment arrived, it contained a flyer promoting Shop Local. The flyer helped them more easily market and sell what was in the box online. The Square Gift Co. currently has a Shopify online store but was looking for a Gift Registry ...
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I often describe flatware as jewelry for the table, the accent that gives table settings a special flair.
Of course, unlike jewelry, flatware is essential. Used everyday, whether to savor a quick snack or enjoy a thoughtfully prepared meal, you put a spoon or fork in your mouth more often throughout the day than your toothbrush. For nearly two decades, I have worked in the metals division at Lifetime Brands, so I fully understand that choosing flatware relies on many factors. Our team has done ...
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Designer Don Estabrooks just may have the most compelling flatware portfolio ever. The longtime Towle Silversmiths designer joined the company in the mid-’60s and has created hundreds of flatware patterns in an almost six-decade (and counting) tenure.
Perhaps his greatest achievement is Wave, which debuted in 2004 to rousing fanfare and has been at the top of the charts ever since. Chris Wile, another longstanding staffer (33 years), is president of Lifetime Brands/Metals (which owns ...
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This cozy baked oatmeal with peaches and nuts will elevate your morning porridge to a whole new level. For breakfast, baked oatmeal has the ideal texture and sweetness and may be made with any fruit of your choice. After putting this together in a matter of minutes, you can serve breakfast to a gathering in CALAISIO's Portuguese-inspired stoneware, which is embellished with a heat-resistant basket made of durable exotic vines. Making it a fashionable and practical complement to your ...
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Put all of your buns, rolls, breadsticks, or slices of French baguette into this beautifully woven basket for an elegant display at your dinner table! Handwoven from organic forest vines, it has a rustic, golden tint that goes well with the woodsy tones of pine wood, making it ideal for the Christmas season. You can either leave the bread in alone and clean it with a damp cloth, or you can add a colored napkin of your choice. This Christmas season, indulge in breakfast all day long with this ...
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Looking for the perfect gift for the coffee connoisseur in your life? Elevate their coffee experience with beautifully crafted coffee cups, sustainably made in Portugal!
Make your coffee moments more meaningful and sustainable. Gift a piece of Portugal and let every sip be a reminder of thoughtful craftsmanship and eco-friendly choices!
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Part of my job is to review registry software. I ensure it works well for retailers, registrants, and gift-givers (family and friends). I also assess whether it offers good value (price vs. results).
When looking for registry software, some retailers consider MyRegistry.com for their registry service. I reviewed a retailer's site using MyRegistry.com and assessed how a customer would make a registry purchase. For privacy purposes, I blurred the store's name in the screenshots shown.
Plymouth is the ideal choice for creating a warm and vibrant Thanksgiving table. Its rich, earthy tones and captivating organic shapes set the stage for a feast that's not only delicious but also visually stunning.
But the true magic happens when you mix it with various colors from the Fontana collection.
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An accessory caddy would be useful for any entertainment table. Your silverware, napkins, and more will be conveniently kept in this dining utensil and napkin holder. This handwoven kitchen caddy has four upright sections that offer the best storage and decorative accent, making it the perfect choice for a beautiful centerpiece for an amazing dinner. It has a distinctive rustic finish and is constructed from exotic vines, adding a touch of rustic charm to the fall and holiday table preparations....
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Animal motifs have always been a popular choice for home decor. The vibrant hues of the seed beads embroidered in this woven placemat have a natural tortoise pattern in its skin, and the warm tones complement both minimalist and maximalist interiors. Its inherent colors of honey gold to amber brown complement the woven placemat formed of organic vines in rustic hues. It is simple to clean with water and mild soap, and it does not warp. A fantastic color combination for a fall table ...
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From traditional orange check to modern plum stripe, our MacKenzie-Childs pumpkin patch is filled with extraordinary picks, including the perfect mix of old and new for a timeless look. Choose from subtle stripes, hand-painted checks, and vintage toile, the design darling for those seeking Grandmillennial style. Stop in at the Shadyside store for your broadest choices of sizes and colors.
How online calendars can help retailers manage and save time.
October 4, 2023
One of the main problems that businesses have is efficient use of time. A retailer (or brand or sales rep) seeks on a daily basis to manage their time and optimize results. (I was reminded of this while reading a The Wall St. Journal article about time management for the family.) Businesses use a variety of tools to manage and save time, including email, texting, and Zoom.
Shop Local helps businesses in their quest to save time. We offer businesses a variety of services to help ...
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What universal standards can teach us about simplicity regarding e-commerce platforms.
September 25, 2023
When Apple launched its new iPhones this month, one of its most noteworthy updates was replacing its Lightning charging cable with a USB-C. This was not a voluntary move or extension of Steve Jobs’s love of simplicity. Apple changed it because the European Union required them to, according to Ben Cohen in The Wall St. Journal. Now, just about every mobile phone in the world (forget just little ol’ Europe) will have one charging solution (USB-C).
What the retail industry can learn from Google and Amazon teaming up on technology standards.
September 19, 2023
Google, Amazon, and an array of home appliance companies are teaming up to make it easier for you to dim your home’s lights and lock your front doors. They are adopting a standard called Matter that allows devices to communicate and work together, shares The Wall St. Journal. This allows a giant like Amazon, creator of Alexa devices and Ring doorbells, and Tuo, a small home device tech creator, to use the same platform yet keep their internal, proprietary code base. This standard is like a...
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An accessory caddy would be useful for any entertainment table. Your silverware, napkins, and more will be conveniently kept in this dining utensil and napkin holder. This handwoven kitchen caddy has four upright sections that offer the best storage and decorative accent, making it the perfect choice for a beautiful centerpiece for an amazing dinner. It has a distinctive rustic finish and is constructed from exotic vines, adding a touch of rustic charm to the fall and holiday table preparations....
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A retail client recently decided they'd like to delete some past wedding registries to "save money." This raises the question, "Does deleting old registries save money?" We assessed the question and found that deleting old registries likely doesn’t save a retailer money. The reason is that it costs more to replicate our automated marketing efforts with more costly manual efforts.