EMON MAASHO, CEO AND PRESIDENT OF ORREFORS, NORTH AMERICA, is representative of the exciting trajectory in this 125-year operation. The über-exec joined the New Wave Group in 2013, a time when Orrefors and Kosta Boda (OKB) were underperforming assets in the portfolio. "Our crystal brands are national treasures and a part of Swedish history," Maasho affirms. And he wanted a front row seat in their revitalization. Maasho was placed in charge of the new hotel and restaurant division ...
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Noma, the world-famous Copenhagen restaurant, is closing to concentrate on e-commerce. Excerpt from the Times:
“Noma will become a full-time food laboratory, developing new dishes and products for its e-commerce operation, Noma Projects, and the dining rooms will be open only for periodic pop-ups.”
This change supports the breath and power of e-commerce, and portends coming changes for our retail industry. It’s not that one can’t eke out a ...
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In the book The Cold Start Problem, Andrew Chen says that the 'network effect’ is really three effects:
The acquisition effect
The engagement effect
The monetization effect
In the beginning, a business seeking to build a network has to concentrate on acquiring users, even if they are non-paying. Companies often give away the service, especially software companies, and we can see that with Facebook, Slack, TikTok, and many others. Bridge didn’t do ...
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I was happy to learn that our friends at Savannah Bee and Ivystone have expanded their relationship. Savannah Bee, a partner in our Bridge Product Syncing service, has expanded its representation with Ivystone, also a Bridge partner, to cover more sales regions. Ivystone will now cover the honey brand across the country, supplementing the brand with 85 sales reps. (Previously, Ivystone only represented the brand in the Northeast.)
I spotted this tequila advertisement today in New York City. The first thing that came to mind was not spring break, but rather a riff on the ad’s tagline. I thought, “ ‘Independent store’ does not mean selling alone.” Bridge helps more than 800 independent stores team up to share products and resources. We make running an online business easier. We give them a ‘shot’ at winning online. That’s something we can drink to.
MEMBERSHIP SURGES 50% IN E-COMMERCE COMMUNITY Online Shopping Boom Drives Retail Industry to Team Up On Bridge
NEW YORK, NY, July 30, 2021 – Bridge, an e-commerce community, reported a record increase in membership as the pandemic continued to rattle the retail landscape. In the last 12 months, 275 retail stores joined Bridge, bringing the total membership to more than 826 stores—a 50% increase. ...
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I enjoyed today’s WSJ article about stores teaming up to take on Amazon. Since Bridge has collectivized 800 indie shops to push back against Amazon, we can relate to efforts to help stores team up and boost their communities.
The article mentions Shopify and its popularity among indie shops. Shopify, along with BigComerce, Big Cartel, Wix, and Magento, are platforms that have helped indies to grow online independent of Amazon.
While we appreciate any platform that helps indies...
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Today’s WSJ shares that independent stores, including hardware stores, book shops, and pharmacies, have teamed up to stop Amazon’s bad practices. The group, called Small Business Rising, seeks to use anti-trust laws to prevent Amazon marketplace from selling its own goods—which compete with retailers using the platform. Amazon has been shown to use a retailer’s customer and sales data and bypass the retailer (it’s own customer) in order to make a bigger profit. ...
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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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Allison Zisko in this month’s HFN shares that The Knot has launched its own direct-to-consumer sales channel—seeking to cut out its long-standing brick-and-mortar partners like Macy’s, Target, and indie stores.
This new sales channel raises the stakes on the growing battle between The Knot and Zola.
Macy’s, Walmart, and Target would be wise to team up and launch their own gift registry platform—akin to how the TV networks collaborated to ...
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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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I visited the New York’s Post website--to get my fill of New York gossip--and I was shown a massive advertisement from a leading tabletop brand. (I have covered the brand's logo with yellow rectangles for the privacy of the brand.) Before visiting the Post's site, I had visited this brand's website. The ads appear because the brand has hired some advertising platform to track me around the web, show me ads, and direct me back to its DTC (direct to consumer) site.
I find the poem 'The Low Road' by Marge Piercy to be inspiring. It's originally meant to be a political call to arms, but I find it just as motivational for indie retailers to team up.
I went into a small shop in New York City yesterday and admired all their nice tableware. It offered mugs, cups, plates, drinking glasses, and vases—all items that are great for gift registries.
The store was empty. I thought it may be a good time ask the store manager if the store offered an online registry. He replied "yes." I was surprised because there was no signage in the store that said it offered a gift registry. I shared with him what Bridge is and explained that we...
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This month’s HFN magazine shares a letter that I wrote to the editor. In the letter, I encourage the industry to team up and push back against Amazon and big online entities in order to ensure our long-term survival. I welcome your feedback on it.
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Fifty-four percent of people looking for a product go directly to Amazon.com, shared a front page story in this week’s Wall St. Journal. This 54 percent is not good for nearly anyone in our ...
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April 15, 2019
April 15, 2019
Are Indie Stores 'Digitally Poor'?
There are millions of indie stores in the world who don’t get to succeed online. They get ripped off by web designers and coders, have to pay local taxes unlike many Amazon sellers, don’t have access to cheap money from Wall St. like Amazon.com, and get attacked by hackers looking to steal credit cards, all factors which prevent them from running their business, helping their customers, and servicing their communities. Because of these expenses and obstacles, ...
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April 5, 2019
April 5, 2019
54% of people looking for a product go directly to Amazon. That’s not good for nearly anyone in our industry. Amazon takes a 30% cut and keeps all the customer’s contact information (email, tel, address). If you’re a retailer, you can’t operate a successful business giving away 30% of your 50% cut of a retail sale.
If you’re a brand, over the last few year you were probably relishing in selling direct, cutting out the rep commission, and getting 100% of the sale. Well now Amazon is your new ...
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December 10, 2018
December 10, 2018
Shopify, a fellow e-commerce platform, has a blog that shares business tips. Braveen Kumar recently shared some tips about getting traffic in the first 30 days of setting up a website, including:
1. Email your friends and family a discount/coupon. But note: don't spam people. Only send high-quality, unique content, and send it sparingly.
2. List your URL everywhere.
3. Join online communities/groups to share your business story.