Many years ago, as a new assistant at Lord & Taylor, the buyer cautioned me to not get too attached to people or merchandise. His wisdom was not cold-hearted, but a cautionary tale to keep emotional attachments in check. I was there to deliver strong financial results and if something wasn’t selling, I shouldn’t harp on it, but mark it down and move on. And, as far as work relationships were concerned, I should be a good coworker but not get attached to colleagues.
I recently saw a car with the license plate: WHYWRK. I had a sad feeling for the driver, who perhaps wasn’t as lucky as I to have the best job in the world – getting paid to shop for the most beautiful goods in the world – which I am now retiring from. After 40+ years as a buyer of tabletop and gifts in Buffalo, I have the opportunity to put the dishes away, polish the flatware, and store the stemware. As a small specialty store, we’ve been through our share of ups and ...
Read More
How competitive techniques can help lure clients and grow a network.
September 10, 2023
Andrew Chen shares in 'The Cold Start Problem' that many times, networks are competing in a zero-sum game. One network gets a customer to join their network and thereby not participate in another. For example, when a driver used Lyft instead of Uber, Uber, which Chen helped, lost. And it lost in two regards: Uber lost the revenue from the lost ride, and Lyft gained the revenue. Chen’s team was tasked with getting drivers to use all their time driving for Uber and thereby unraveling Lyft&...
Read More
This weekend’s WSJ shares that retail labor costs continue to rise and will likely contribute to more inflation. Stores either have to cut staff or raise prices—and higher prices result in lower revenue creating a downward cycle. Large players, like Amazon, have more robots and access to capital and may be better insulated from these rising costs. Yet, even Amazon had had to make some cuts, including its recent pause on completing its HQ2 campus in Virginia and its ...
Read More
Art and design play a crucial role in creating a unique and memorable brand identity. However, designing compelling art and graphics can be a challenging task, especially for brands and retailers looking to create something that stands out in a crowded market. Midjourney, a new AI-based service, may provide valuable inspiration when designing products. Brands may be able to differentiate themselves from the competition.
Midjourney is an image creation software that reads whatever ...
Read More
For the last 10 years, Bridge has been building software to support indie, brick-and-mortar stores. We watched in 2018 as 230 city leaders competed to give the world’s richest man money to bring his tech company to their city. After awarding an HQ to NYC, Amazon tried to bully NYC. When Amazon wouldn’t get its way, it broke off the deal. We see in today’s news more evidence of the same bullying behavior. We’re happy to see that the tide has turned and ...
Read More
If passed, the law would bar huge online platforms such as Amazon’s e-marketplace, Apple’s app store, and Google’s search engine from giving preferential treatment to the company’s own products and services, such as steering consumers to in-house products instead of competitors’ offerings in a way that harms competition.
An East Village Artist’s Death Prompts a Reflection on the State of Indie Retailers Today
…….
While thumbing through the Times, I noticed a smiling young woman’s picture in the obituaries. In the black and white photograph, she's standing on a fire escape with a historic building and a bridge in the distance. I was initially attracted to Ronni Solbert’s 1959 picture, yet I was even more drawn in by what I noticed next to her photo: a children&...
Read More
About two weeks ago in Charleston, SC, in spin class where I sounded like I was getting a hair transplant, I enjoyed being at once together with my friends in the class and yet competing with them. When they peddled harder and stood up, I wanted to also. Our competing didn't mean that there was one winner and everyone else lost. It wasn’t a zero-sum game. In that spin class, we all won. After that class, we all felt great. Competition is an ...
Read More
While I was down in Dallas evangelizing about Bridge, the Dallas Market Center’s software provider and sister company (called MarketTime) invited me to their offices for a meeting. The goal of the meeting was to explore teaming up to help brands and retailers speed products to market, as well as get a leg up on the competition.
The Dallas Mart consists of two primary buildings, each with atriums and many floors each. I like the Dallas show because of the abundance of ...
Read More
Last February e-commerce company Shopify Inc. replaced the “Ottawa, Canada” dateline that began its press releases and earnings reports with a strange new one: “Internet, Everywhere.” The geographical shift came at the insistence of Shopify’s founder and chief executive officer, Tobi Lütke, who tends to view such matters through the prism of cold, hard logic. In May 2020, only a few months into the pandemic, he’d made the early, seemingly rash decision to...
Read More
Amazon Prime, Grindr, and Instagram do not seem to have much in common with each other. But, a recent study by PCloud found that these apps are some of the biggest 'data burglars': they are downloading our data at an alarming rate.
Many brands and retailers in our industry promote Facebook, yet Facebook and its sister company Instagram are the leading thieves of personal data. It’s akin to them suggesting their friend sit next to a digital pick pocket.
Game on for family entertaining! Enjoy a little friendly competition with Backgammon, a game of strategy, skill, and luck, that is a classic pastime. The Michael Aram Special Edition Backgammon Set will be a treasured piece of your game collection. Made of wood, black nickelplate, nickelplate, and suede, this board game will last generations. (Also available in a Luxury Marble version).
Stop in at Glassworks in Shadyside to check out this quality-made set.
The WSJ covers how Amazon is growing its business at the cost of others.
Article highlights:
Amazon's leading selling points are endless selection and the lowest prices.
Amazon is so competitive that it often undertakes potentially unethical routes to grab more market share.
Amazon often takes a 30% commission on orders for third-party sellers. Due to this fee, many businesses prefer to receive orders on their own website which may be powered by Shopify (...or
It's just 3 days till Black Friday. And on Monday, we have Cyber Monday. Online sales will reach $189 billion this holiday season--a 33% increase over last year. Is your website ready?
I've created these 7 steps to help you get ready:
1. Place products on sale
Be prepared to cut prices more than normal.
Clearly list end dates for sales to create urgency.
There is a general feeling among the public that Amazon is a ruthless behemoth. A survey conducted by CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey showed that 59% of the public think Amazon is bad for business. "This represents a significant shift from just two years ago, when opinion was nearly split between those saying Amazon is bad for small businesses (37%) and those saying it’s good (33%)."
One of the many reasons Amazon is viewed this way is because of ...
Read More
Do businesses like Amazon that short-change our community affect our ability to respond to a crisis?
In this pandemic, Bridge thanks first responders and the many people that help our communities work together. When I think of communities during Covid-19, Amazon comes to mind. I do think there is value in looking back at the last 24 months leading up to today and asking: did Amazon slow down our community's ability to respond?
Amazon historically pays less in corporate taxes than other ...
Read More
I’m writing to sadly share that my dad Don Solarek passed away last week. He was quiet, thoughtful, and would gladly walk in New York City from the Battery to Harlem.
Don always had time to chat with me, share a story, give a lesson, and encourage me. He helped me with my paper route at 6 am when it was 3º in Rochester. He came to every high school cross country race and wrestling match—which were often held around 3:30 pm. Likely not ...
Read More