Arnold Schwarzenegger, Future Bridge Spokesperson?
Today's Wall St. Journal shares that Target stores saw a 20% increase in revenue--more than the chain had seen in the last 11 years combined. How did it do it? Target converted many of its physical stores into 'mini-warehouses,' where they can ship goods or have customers do curbside pick up.
What does this mean for indie stores? Stores will have to become more efficient in receiving online orders, which make up 40% of retail these ...
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In a world with so many options, how do we as consumers make intelligent choices? We are overstimulated with resources daily, and sometimes this can be overwhelming. Common sense seems to be the driving factor when assessing the alternatives before us, as may be the process of elimination when there is too much to consider. But what is the most influential deciding factor we face? It could be facts that serve as the strongest fuel to drive us to make an informed decision.
When I was speaking with the team this week, I mentioned author Dan Roam’s strategy for convincing people to change their ways. He suggested leading with data (i.e. facts), which leads to a change in one’s thinking and beliefs, which will then change one’s actions—aka they will change their website to use Bridge.
Yet, we can’t "lead" with too many facts, because as the authors of the book Rethink point out, that is like ...
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Online sales grew 47.2% between Nov. 1 and Christmas Eve compared with the same period last year... Meanwhile, overall U.S. retail sales grew just 2.4%.
During the seven days leading up to Christmas Eve, store traffic fell 31.3% compared with last year.
This growth comes at some expense: selling online is generally less profitable than selling from stores.
Clothing was not a safe harbor: between Oct. 11 and Christmas Eve, sales of apparel fell 19.1%
RetailDive shares that shoppers want a store with both a great website and a convenient location--something that retail leader Amazon may not offer.
Article highlights:
40% of stores now offer BOPIS.
Even with stores now being open (after the mandatory Covid-19 closures), e-commerce growth is still up 40% over 2019.
80% of consumers told FTI Consulting that they're going to shop more online this year compared to last, ...But many of those customers will be going to their
In last week's RetailDive, Kaarin Vembar penned an article about small businesses and their pains during the pandemic. Ms. Vembar and RetailDive promote the groundswell to e-commerce but sadly shortcut its existence in their very article.
She interviews the owner of Adorned Abode in Tacoma but doesn't add a link to the store's website--which would've boosted the store's Google ranking and increased clicks from readers, and she doesn't give much attention to the store's website offerings. ...
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Tableware Today magazine asked 71 industry professionals for their thoughts on 2021. I was one of those asked, and shared these answers to Editor Amy Stavis' questions:
What will be the most significant change for our industry in 2021?
J: As the famous business leader Marc Andreessen said, software is eating the world--and it's eating our industry like never before with Covid-19. The question is whether you're eating or being eaten. We’re all in the software business now. ...
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Good news: Bridge is helping your business make more sales and stop Amazon's growth. The reason: your Bridge team has gone to great lengths to ensure your Bridge software loads very quickly for your shoppers. A report shares that 41% of shoppers jump to Amazon when a site is slow. The report shares that the fastest site tested loaded in 2.2 seconds and the slowest was 43.9 seconds. Bridge's sites often load within 2 to 3 seconds, which places your Bridge Store at the front of the pack in ...
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RETAILERS AND BRANDS GRAVITATE TO BRIDGE AMIDST PANDEMIC
For Immediate Release
Businesses Rush to Bridge During Pandemic
July 27, 2020
New York, NY – Bridge, an online e-commerce community, saw significant increases in membership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Retail membership increased by 17% and nine brands joined the platform, including Lenox, Kate Spade, Dansk, and Richard Ginori.
Since the spring, eighty stores have joined Bridge’s e-commerce service, bringing the ...
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Material Possessions, a gift shop in Illinois, needed a quick solution to boost its online presence. With Amazon and Covid-19 nipping at indie stores' heels, stores need to quickly boost their online offering.
In just 24 hours, Material Possessions opened a Bridge account and is currently offering 15,000+ products for sale. The retailer can sell these products directly from its Bridge Store--or it can export the products and import them into its parent website (https://...
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If we want our communities to re-open after Covid, we'll need to do more than just beat Covid. We have to shop at local places online in order to ensure they are there when our communities re-open. Need shoes, a TV, or a book? Your local store can help you. And, money you spend there stays in your community.
As you may recall, Amazon’s growth was partially due to it encouraging shoppers to use local stores as ‘showrooms’ and then complete the purchase on Amazon. Let&...
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Ten years ago, we created a key part of the software that helps our retailers, brands, and reps.
Prior to Bridge Store, we had to make unique sites for these businesses and this was slow and expensive. Then we created Bridge Store, a template-based website with a shared code base. This enabled us to much more quickly and cost efficiently setup online accounts and stores.
The success of Bridge Store is evident in user growth: a decade ago we had just a handful of retailers and ...
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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 ...
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Target now sources 80% of its online orders from stores, not warehouses, shares the Wall St. Journal.
Stores have less foot traffic (foot traffic to U.S. stores fell about 6.2% on Black Friday ) and more online shopping (online sales reached $7.4 billion on Black Friday, up from $6.2 billion last year), forcing stores to convert 'floor' employees into roles dealing with e-commerce and shipping. "At the Brooklyn store around 80 workers handle internet orders, collecting products from shelves or...
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Casafina Bridge Seminar
Friday, January 17th at 5 pm EST
Location: Casafina showroom
Building 2, Suite 1208B (Next to the Werner Frank showroom)
Why attend?
39% of all e-commerce sales were made on a smartphone on Black Friday, according to research from Adobe.
This growth came at the expense of in-store traffic: In-store traffic on Black Friday fell 2.1% (source: RetailNext).
In sum: everything is going digital. Are you ready?