Today's NY Times shares that many businesses are decreasing their office space footprint as they let employees work from home.
We are entering a new and unusual time post-COVID. More and more people will be working from home, further encouraging companies to decrease their amount of office space. I think this is a good thing for the most part, as it will open up jobs for people who don't necessarily live near a company's office. It also allows people to work from the comfort of their own home...
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Today’s Wall Street Journal surveys niche social networks like Strava for fitness, BakeSpace for cooking, and Rate Your Music for music.
To this list I’d add: Bridge. Bridge is a niche social-media network serving the retail community. We connect thousands of businesses including brands, retailers, sales reps, publications, and trade groups.
The article shares people last year spent 57 billion hours on social networking and messaging apps via Android devices.
Bridge can help sales reps grow their business 13%. Join our free webinar and we’ll show you how.
Sales reps will learn:
How to view shared products, wholesale pricing, files, and news on a Bridge account.
How to connect with retailers on Bridge.
How to help a retailer increase its sales using Bridge.
Why attend?
E-commerce is the fastest growing part of retail--but most sales reps and their stores are being left behind.
Don't ...
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January 8, 2020
January 8, 2020
Are brands bypassing stores? A new survey says 'yes' they are: 40% of Americans shopped directly from a brand in the past year, according a Diffussion survey.
Shoppers are choosing to bypass stores because the brands are undercutting them on prices, and offering faster and cheaper shipping.
How are brands getting in front of customers? Answer: Facebook and Instagram. A shopper visits a retailer's website for brand X, then Facebook puts a tracking pixel on the shopper, and then ...
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November 16, 2019
November 16, 2019
For Brands
Does your website have an inspiration section? You should according to a Gartner survey of shoppers. Thirty-seven percent of shoppers visit a brand's site to get inspiration (aka they don't know exactly what product they want), and sadly less than half of brand sites (38%) offer inspirational content.
What can you do? Add a web page dedicated to lifestyle pictures and what's new. Show the bigger picture in which your products are being used and loved.
More customers plan to shop online than in-store this holiday season:
Fifty-four percent of survey respondents said they plan to shop online and 46% plan to shop in-store during the 2019 holiday season, shares Retail Dive from a PwC survey.
Just as recently as 2015, the equation was flipped: 58% of shoppers purchased goods in-store and 42% did so online.
What is your abandoned cart rate? This and other factors arose in a shipping survey conducted by BigCommerce.
Some survey findings:
+ Fifty-eight percent stopped shopping certain retailers because of a negative shipping experience.
+ Amazon Prime has set a high bar with free two-day shipping. In the past 12 months, 84 percent of global survey respondents made an online purchase specifically because it offered free shipping, and half said they avoid shopping with retailers that don’t offer free ...
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May 31, 2019
May 31, 2019
What's the most popular registry item? The Knot reports it’s the KitchenAid mixer.
More from the article:
"...the other items that made the top five most-requested on The Knot Registry were all kitchen-related: stainless steel measuring cups, a set of Pyrex containers, a toaster and Ninja blender.
According to the survey, wedding registries averaged about 111 different items worth around $4,700. Among the most popular items were bakeware, for which 87 percent of couples registered. Within the ...
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April 22, 2019
April 22, 2019
Amazon is full of fake reviews, shares the BBC.
A consumer research group surveyed Amazon and found significant evidence suggesting fake reviews for many items. Since reviews often influence your search results and help you decide, the fake reviews are potentially leading customers to bogus products.
Excerpt: "One example, a set of headphones by an unknown brand called Celebrat, had 439 reviews, all of which were five-star, unverified and were posted on the same day, suggesting they had been ...
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August 22, 2018
August 22, 2018
What Does the Gump's Bankruptcy Mean for Your Business?
As you likely know, Gump’s filed for bankruptcy. The famous San Francisco indie store's crash is having wide-ranging consequences for our industry. 41 Madison tenants likely lost more than $1,000,000 on Gump's.
Yet, the economy and stock market are doing very well. How to explain these contrarian events? Furthermore, you surely are asking: How did Gump's reach this low--and more ...
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How important is adding a picture to a couple's wedding registry?
Bridge’s research found that registries with a couple's picture generated $260 more in sales than those without a picture--a 21% sales boost.
Bridge reviewed 1,883 registries that occurred in 2017 and 2018 from 15 U.S.-based indie retailers with brick and mortar locations. We found these trends:
1. If a registry has a picture of the couple/registrant, the average purchase was $13 more--a 9% sales boost.
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Indie Retailers Get Sales Boost from Product Syncing Service
Sales increases ranged from roughly 4.5 percent for brands such as Arte Italica and Spode to more than 13.5 percent for Beatriz Ball and Vietri
January 2, 2018, Allison Zisko
NEW YORK—Main Street retailers are benefitting from a tabletop product-syncing service offered by Bridge, an e-commerce platform that includes file sharing and a social network.
Indie Stores Report Double-Digit Growth in 2017 by Sharing Products
Forty-two brick and mortar Main Street retailers that participated in Bridge’s annual survey said their sales grew up to 50% for a brand by using Bridge’s product-syncing service.
"I do about 20% more business a year by being a part of the Bridge network,” said Mary Beth Wood, owner of the Crystal Plate in Gainesville, Georgia, and a user of the Bridge software. "It gives me more time to sell ...
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December 1, 2017
December 1, 2017
Do you use Bridge's product syncing service? If so, please share your thoughts about it in our survey.
HFN shares that most millenials use Pinterest as their primary home furnishings influencer.
Sadly, the survey is just on a base of 500 people. This is a small sample base for a national survey.
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July 20, 2017
July 20, 2017
82% of survey respondents said they consult their phones about a purchase they're about to make in-store. ~ Bazaarvoice
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June 19, 2017
June 19, 2017
How important are reviews to your business? It turns out, very, Today's NY Times references the recent Pew survey, that found 82% of adults read online reviews before purchasing a product for the first time.
What's also interesting is Despite Surge, Most Prefer Real Stores To E-Commerce. Read the full story below or click the link.
Even though nearly four out of five Americans are online shoppers—and the numbers of both mobile and social shoppers are growing fast—new research from the Pew ...
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Not convinced that design matters? Check out this survey about the influence of type on perception. The study says that serif fonts can imbue richness and value, but also complexity and even confusion.
In what font are ur price tags? Door decals? Materials for clients?
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February 11, 2016
February 11, 2016
"What are consumers willing to spend?" is a common retail question. This week's HFN answers that on a few products. Check out the issue for details.
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