How Shop Local's software quickly populated the online Store for a legendary New Orleans retailer
March 11, 2024
We are pleased to announce that Adler’s, a jewelry and gift store in New Orleans, Louisiana, has joined the Shop Local software platform to grow its online business. Adler’s saved $44,907 and 64 weeks in labor on website product maintenance through the Shop Local platform. They have chosen Shop Local to revamp the Gift Registry service they have maintained since their early days.
For over 100 years, Adler's has held its position as the leading jeweler in New Orleans and the Gulf ...
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It’s hard to believe that MEPRA’s sophisticated technicolor collection FANTASIA is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year because its incandescent chromatic complexion is as fresh today as its 1989 debut.
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The brilliantly-hued fantasia comes from the Italian silversmiths Mepra, post-war business founded in 1947 by the Prandelli family, four generations fashioning flatware in the industrial Lumezzane Valley, about 90 minutes east of Milan. ...
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Love how this handwoven accent looks with a Corelle white oval dish in a rich, shimmering, rustic tone that is fashioned from 100% pure and natural exotic vines. Any festive occasion is easily complemented by its earthy shine, which also beautifully displays any food presentation. White laminated glass by Corelle is used to coordinate with the oval tray's surface. A happy Fourth of July weekend to all!
Father's Day is this weekend! Give Dad a top flight set of Double Old Fashioned glasses handcrafted of lead crystal. This Baccarat set was created to serve the cocktails offered exclusively at the Baccarat Hotel New York. The individual glasses are inspired by the four elements that make the legendary Baccarat crystal; Montaigne Optic (water), Perfection (air), Harmonie (earth), and Nancy (fire). Stop in at the Shadyside store to see the set or find other Father's Day gift ideas.
How we can honor those that came before us in the retail industry.
March 2, 2023
The founder of Juan Pollo Chicken, Albert Okura, passed away last week at the age of 71. Mr. Okura envisioned Juan Pollo, a fast food chain with 25 locations in Southern California, as a household name that would someday sell the most chicken in the world. He believed in this so much that he bought the site of the original McDonald’s restaurant, located in San Bernardino, CA, in 1998—not to turn it into a Juan Pollo restaurant but rather into a museum to honor his fast food industry....
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You’ve likely had a vodka-Red Bull cocktail in your lifetime, which was followed by a hangover for you—but helped drink co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz amass a $20b fortune. Mateschitz, who passed away last week at the age of 78, discovered the drink in the 1980s in Thailand and built it into a global brand. He promoted Red Bull, whose name is a translation of the drink’s Thai name "Krating Daeng,” via a variety of clever marketing initiatives. In the early 2000s, I ...
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In the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, a motivational speaker played by Alec Baldwin addresses a group of salesmen. He writes three letters vertically on the chalkboard, “A B C.” He explains that the acronym means "Always Be Closing."
The way that Baldwin's character thinks about sales, I may think about reading. I think of: "ABR,” Always Be Reading. Whether it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner, I try to get in a page or two of the Times, Wall St. ...
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The EU has passed a law that will affect Amazon and other big tech companies. The law will likely make it harder for Amazon to promote its own private label products on its website at the expense of others.
While this is welcome news to many, this is a small victory as Amazon’s ambitions are grand as well as its ability to outpace laws. For the first 25 years of the Internet, Amazon, founded in 1994, rode on the rails of the government being too slow to enforce online tax ...
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When you think of the Fourth of July, a few things probably come to mind: fireworks, hot dogs, and American flag fashion statements being among them. Who could blame you? July 4th is one of the most festive holidays of the year. The weather is warm, calendars are full of fun events, and everyone seems to be in a sunny state of mind—and for good reason. We have a lot to celebrate.
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In Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0, which the Bridge team is currently reading, the author Jim Collins confesses that he missed a key ingredient 25 years ago when he wrote the first edition. He states that he now realizes the most important part of achieving a great company is: getting the right people 'on the bus.’ I agree. Fourteen and a half years ago (long before I opened this book), I was lucky enough to pick up the right ‘passenger:' Moshe replied to my job posting (...
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Beatriz Ball introduces its first festive season collection, “Happy Christmas,” a collaboration with noted American illustrator, August Wren. The artist contributed bright and happy watercolor depictions of wintery greens, birds and other animals reproduced on cork-backed coasters. Sold in sets of four, the packaging includes festive and colorful ribbons and “to/from” tags all designed by August Wren.
The four round discs contained in Beatriz Ball's VIDA Happy ...
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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%
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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Our indie retailers are being hunted by four major forces:
Amazon
Big-box stores
Brands (selling direct)
Zola
While we've known about Amazon and big-box stores for some time, they are becoming more sophisticated. Amazon is so powerful now that it's the focus of anti-trust inquiries by the government. Big-box stores are spending millions on their digital operations.
Bridge's goal is to give indie stores great software that reverses the gains being made by these forces.
...
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February 29, 2020
February 29, 2020
Think that your business should be making big bucks selling online? Wrong. Most businesses lose money online and have unprofitable online operations. Walmart’s online operations and Wayfair both lose money, and thousands of other businesses do, too.
There is a popular myth that online sellers are casino-like winners with the winning slot machine bells sounding with each order—generating buckets of quarters (profit) for the business. Casinos often produce losers, and most ...
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Scott Galloway and Kara Swisher shared their ideas about tech, politics, and life last night at Convene’s Liberty Place location. I’ve read Scott’s book The Four and like it so much that I shared 40 copies with retailers. I also recommend Scott’s recent book The Algebra of Happiness which is about life in general (and not as business focused as The Four).
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August 8, 2019
August 8, 2019
I read the New York Times and want to ask: Are we sharpening our executioner's sword? That is what FedEx wondered as it helped Amazon grow by delivering its packages. Finally, FedEx woke up and decided it's better to make less money tomorrow than help usher in its death in the near future. As the Times reports, FedEx is terminating its ground delivery agreement with Amazon at the end of August, thereby passing on the delivery of millions of packages.
Amazon has historically partnered with ...
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