How can you prepare for Black Friday / Cyber Monday? Here's a checklist:
1. 'Seed the sale' by telling customers to expect deals. "Promote sales, promote sales, promote sales," said Sucharita Kodali, principal analyst of e-business and channel strategy at Forrester. "It's the number one thing that shoppers look for during the holidays." (Source: Retail Dive)
You can do this via posts on Bridge and social media.
2. Craft an irresistible offer.
3. Organize your upcoming sales / discounts. You can do ...
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July 29, 2019
July 29, 2019
Meet Venita D'Angelo. Her company, Light Essentials, is our longest running YEA competition winner. Each year winners from the Young Entrepreneurs Academy are given a limited time to sell at Parkleigh. Her candles were such a hit we continue to sell them years after the original contract. We even had her create a signature scent Parkleigh candle. With profits going toward college, and a bright future ahead, we asked her to share how she’s achieving her success.
Is offering a big sale in July a good idea? With the competition offering this, I don’t know that a store can afford not to. Today’s Times ponders this (theoretical?) question, which can be read here:
Pictures and social media can be a dangerous combo: they breed competition, jealousy, and insecurity. ‘Likes,’ view counts, and comments by peers and strangers propel a bizarre world of masked perfection and underlying anxiety. This isn’t unique to honeymoon posts—it’s happening to teens, single adults, and even business owners that share via social media.
Zola is offering free shipping on all items. Are you offering free shipping on all items? If not, you're going to lose business to them. I advise you to offer free shipping and make less margin on the order vs lose the entire order to Zola.
In general, margins are smaller on online orders. This is well documented--and now accepted--as a business practice. Accept this fact and you'll survive and grow. Don't accept it and you'll lose orders and struggle online and likely fail.
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 20, 2019
May 20, 2019
Color your world! ? MacKenzie-Childs' unique garden accents blossom with florals and patterns that just might give the real plants a little friendly competition. Find these Flower Market Galvanized accessories at Glassworks.
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May 6, 2019
May 6, 2019
Does your state give your small business back almost 50% of the taxes you paid? I doubt it, but that’s what California gives Best Buy and some other businesses. Today’s Times shares that local municipalities are giving kick backs to businesses in order to compete for business. While competition is healthy, it’s unfair and potentially detrimental to give tax breaks to some companies and not others, and give breaks that may be excessive.
California’s odd tax rules make gaming the system easier ...
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March 2, 2019
March 2, 2019
This article about small banks could’ve very well been written about small retail stores. The future is tech. Bank of America has spent $20b on tech since 2012. Big retailers have likely spent that or more. And small businesses often don’t have the resources to make customers happy online. Much less survive a hacking attempt. I spent the last 2 weeks dealing with hackers from Asia. It took 3 tech people 2 weeks. Expensive. Time consuming. If small stores had to deal with this on their own, most ...
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February 13, 2019
February 13, 2019
Amazon changed retail a lot, but don't take your eye off Facebook. Facebook just planted a flag showing its retail aspirations by buying GrokStyle. Grok may be an ugly name but it's pretty cool tech: Grok's tech lets a person take a picture of a plate, for example, and find that plates that match that one online. That's pretty dangerous for brick-and-mortar retail stores. This promotes 'show rooming.'
Beatriz Ball is extremely honored to have been finalists in the Tableware International Awards of Excellence competition at Ambiente in Frankfurt, Germany. Beatriz Ball Collection was chosen from 274 product entries from 148 tabletop brands and selected by a panel of 28 international judges.
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February 13, 2019
February 13, 2019
Beatriz Ball is extremely honored to have been finalists in the Tableware International Awards of Excellence competition at Ambiente in Frankfurt, Germany. Beatriz Ball Collection was chosen from 274 product entries from 148 tabletop brands and selected by a panel of 28 international judges.
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January 24, 2019
January 24, 2019
Amazon is launching its own delivery network, putting it in competition with FedEx and UPS.
Fast and free shipping are increasingly expected from shoppers—they’re part of the reasons why Amazon beats up on indie stores. Can you think of an indie store that owns its own delivery network? Besides a florist who may have a van, most likely not. This delivery service will further put indie stores at a disadvantage.
Whether you’re a store, sales rep, or indie brand, Amazon’s aspirations are most ...
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December 26, 2018
December 26, 2018
March
March 4, Monday, 6:00 p.m. Sensational Soups Terri Geiser, $48.00 Warm up with comfort food. Turmeric & Ginger Chicken Noodle Soup, easy, healthy and delicious; Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup with Braised Ham Hock and Cornbread Croutons, ready when you are; Steak Fajita Chili, a Cooking Light Recipe; and a delicious Blackberry and Pear Soup for dessert, dolloped with whipped cream.
Diane Seidle, a Bridge coach, pens a column about Amazon in this month’s Tableware Today. The article shares that premium brands’ products are being severely discounted—meaning a slim margin is being made by the seller. I’ll be the first to admit that some margin is better than losing an order to a competitor and thereby getting no margin, but there is the line between competition and just making a subsistence living. A subsistence living is not humane, it’s stressful, bad for supporting your ...
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July 18, 2018
July 18, 2018
Have your registry sales slowed down? It might have nothing to do with your beautiful store, product selection or even competition from online retailers. This article from the NY Times might explain why.
Put a Ring on It? Millennial Couples Are in No Hurry Young adults not only marry and have children later than previous generations, they take more time to get to know each other before tying the knot.
Your Bridge has a new feature to help you compete. Your Bridge site now offers a $10 in-store gift card for registering at your store. Why are we offering this? Zola is offering brides up to $50 to start a registry. Williams-Sonoma and Crate & Barrel are offering 10% off everything for 6 months. In order to help you stay competitive, we're offering a sign up bonus, too.
Program details:
1. On your gift registry home page and start a new registry page, there is a now a banner appearing ...
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July 27, 2017
July 27, 2017
4 Indisputable Signs Little Local Retail Is Becoming A Goliath
Local retailers are not going the way of the dinosaur.
The biggest competitor on the retail horizon is more likely to be called David than Big Department Store, and he’s got a slingshot full of technology to help him stand his ground.
As major brands from Macy’s to Foot Locker wrestle with competition from Amazon, small independent merchants are gaining a foothold on the retail landscape. More than half (54%) of U.S. sales are generated...
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June 21, 2017
June 21, 2017
Carol Schroeder, a shop owner that writes about retail, suggests in her weekly column that stores give up and let Amazon and other online entities eat their lunch. Upon reading this, I had to ask: "pardon me?"
Carol appears to be wearing a troglodyte's writer cap. Steer clear of her advice. Bridge encourages you to use the most efficient tools to get online, get found in Google, and sell.
Excerpt from Carol's column:
"...Most of us didn't go into retailing in order to handle faceless orders ...
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February 22, 2017
February 22, 2017
Worried about online-only retailers? Wal-mart has some encouraging news: online shoppers love to pick things up in the physical store. As you adapt to online competition, keep in mind that your physical store--and friendly, smiling staff--are tools that online selllers are sorely missing.
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