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...
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March 3, 2016
March 3, 2016
Domain XCIV, a premium home goods store in Fort Worth, Texas, sent us this fan mail:
"Bridge has grown our registry/ online sales business in a number of ways. Foremost by giving shoppers the option of purchasing online and not having to physically come into the store. We have secured sales from folks that would never have known of the store but simply purchased for the convenience and because of the registry.
We also have had several sales because of the brands that we carry and have shipped ...
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September 18, 2015
September 18, 2015
Do you wonder if all the talk about online selling is hype? We do too sometimes. Then we read things like this:
HomeWorld reports that Williams-Sonoma made 50% of its merchandise sales online.
Retailers are having trouble balancing their physical store and their online stores, according to a survey summed up by HFN's Allison Zisko.
One sore spot is returns. Excerpt:
Eighty five percent of retailers noted the high cost of online returns to a store, particularly when the item is not carried in that store. And when returning to a fulfillment center or supplier, retailers incur incremental freight costs, the possibility of shipping-related product damage, as well as a lost opportunity for a...
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October 15, 2010
October 15, 2010
Net-a-Porter founder's insights about selling online
The Wall St. Journal magazine interviewed the founder of the online store Net-a-Porter. I think her views may be able to help Bridge partners sell more. Some excerpts are below:
Excerpts:
People have attributed the siteβs success to the black box. I think itβs because everyone had such low expectations of what online shopping would beβthat it had to be no-frills, discounted goods picked from a shelf and shoved into an ordinary cardboard box. Weβ...
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January 8, 2010
January 8, 2010
Luxury e-commerce websites make their sites lively and fun
The article below from the New York Times is about selling and promoting luxury goods online (such as Prada and Burberry). I suggest browsing the article because it shows how some companies are properly using the the web to make money.
Excerpt: Selling luxury goods online isnβt the problem β thatβs a done deal. Rather, it is that designers and fashion chiefs... canβt seem to grasp the most obvious aspect of the ... Web.