How integrating a messaging service into our e-commerce platform can help us acquire new customers.
January 31, 2023
It takes a lot of people to build a bridge, but just two to tango. This applies to the analog world as well as the digital one. In the digital space, I'm using tango to refer to messaging between two people. I believe messaging is a service we can add to our offering to diversify how our company Shop Local grows.
Different Networks Require a Different Number of Users in a Group
Andrew Chen in The Cold Start Problem states that a key difference among network models is the required minimum ...
Read More
How to view key wholesale information for your brands to save time and avoid errors when processing orders.
January 4, 2023
Your Bridge has a new feature: We've made it easier to access wholesale information for the products on your Bridge Store. Viewing an order's Details page displays wholesale information for products purchased by your customers.
Previously, when your store viewed a retail order's Details page the information displayed was limited to just details about the product’s brand.
With this update, the Order Details page includes:
This graphic shows the situation in which many retailers find themselves. Many retailers are stuck trying to connect their digital wholesale buying and their stores’ websites.
On the left, we see wholesale software operators, including MarketTime, Juniper, Faire, Bridge, etc.
In the middle is the retailer.
On the right we see retail (D2C) software providers, including Bridge, Shopify, Big Commerce, etc.
The software entities on the left should connect ...
Read More
This past week, Amazon announced it was adding Grubhub delivery to its Prime subscription (Read the news about Amazon and Grubhub here). The goal of Amazon Prime (and other subscription services) is to make the subscription so pervasive that it's sticky. Don’t like Prime movies? Ok, but you love free Grubhub delivery. If you don’t need feature X and want to cancel, you realize you still need feature Y and keep paying for the subscription.
Stores and brands sometimes ask us: How does Bridge compare to Faire?
I thought we'd compare the two service providers.
Similarities: Bridge & Faire
Audience. Both service the retail industry. In particular, both service brands and retailers. Bridge also services sales reps, and Faire tries to steer clear of them--which is one reason reps don't like Faire much.
Delivery method. Both are online platforms.
Service offered. Faire is a wholesale marketplace. It
Businesses like Walmart, Disney, and Discovery are bundling services and adding the “+” suffix to denote them (e.g. Disney+, Discovery+, W+, etc.). In a recent article in RetailDive, we learn that Walmart is giving its customers free, six-month trial Spotify accounts. I think W+ bundling services is smart. Last week, I compared running a gym to offering software. I spoke about bundling services with things that people like to increase their usage, such as work ...
Read More
The Menagerie, a fine jewelry & gift store in Texas, recently reached out to Bridge to find a gift registry solution for their business. Within minutes, the store had over 24,000+ items available online using our Product Syncing service. Customers and registrants can shop for these products. Additionally, Google will rank the store higher. The store saved months of web development time and thousands of dollars in labor.
The store is currently syncing products with 27 Product ...
Read More
Jim Collins, in his book BE 2.0, explains how purpose and mission are important to companies. To help explain this, he uses the metaphor of crossing a mountain range and seeing a star on the horizon. Your purpose is to reach the spot on the horizon below the star. The current mission is climbing up the mountain you’re on. The next mission is climbing up the next mountain and so forth in order to get closer to the spot on the horizon. You will have many missions, and may never ...
Read More
Relying on file-sharing services like Dropbox to sell products often costs stores an extra $750 per brand and hurts sales
I work with 900 retailers who tell me they are drowning in a sea of Dropbox folders containing Excel files and product images. What can we do about this? First, let’s review what’s happening: When a brand wants to share products with a store, it emails the store a link from Dropbox or a similar file-sharing service. A store may receive five to ten Dropbox links...
Read More
When I was 24-years old, a market research company sent me to Philadelphia to survey potential users about a new offering from General Electric Finance. Your first question may be: "Wait, Jason was once 24?" Your second may be: "GE had a consumer finance arm?" Yes, and yes. GE was once a conglomerate with its hands in many industries, from television to nuclear reactors to jet engines. GE, like Toshiba and Johnson & Johnson, has since shrunk. But the era of the ...
Read More
Bitsy Sherlock, a sales rep for Werner Frank, helped her store and her brands on Friday.
Bitsy signed up SheaLeigh's, a gift and home goods shop in Alabama. Within a few minutes, the retailer had a live Bridge Store with 15,800+ products. Customers and registrants can shop for these products. Additionally, Google will rank the store higher due to these products. The store saved months of web development time and thousands of dollars in labor.
We have exciting news: Retailers can now place wholesale orders via Bridge for 85 brands. If you are an authorized dealer, you can purchase from premium brands, including:
I’m excited to share a new, free service for our stores. Bridge is offering a wholesale ordering service where you can place wholesale orders via your Bridge account. More than 100 brands are participating.
Martin Garding, owner of Lawren's in Huntsville, shared this about Bridge's new wholesale service:
Bridge Wholesale is by far the easiest way to order from our suppliers. It cuts down on mistakes that could occur ordering through other channels. I like that the images and item ...
Read More
We have made it easier to place wholesale orders. A retailer can now start the process on their e-receipt page.
In the example shown, Babcock Gifts, a retailer in Memphis, Tennessee, is viewing an order for Costa Nova product. Next to the product that was sold, Babcock Gifts is shown a link "Place Wholesale Order." When it clicks this, it is taken to the brand's website and to the specific product. Our software automatically logs the retailer in. The retailer...
Read More
Reports suggest that 50% of purchases start on Amazon.com, and Amazon wants to keep it this way. Yet, businesses and merchants increasingly want to sell their products via their own DTC (direct to consumer) site, retailers' websites, Facebook, Instagram, and more. Due to this, Shopify, which powers many DTC and retailer websites, is a growing thorn in Amazon's dominance of retail. Shopify reportedly helps power more than 30% of online U.S. retail sales.
You can now more quickly view your wholesale orders. When you are on a brand's page on your Bridge account, you can get to your past wholesale orders with one click.
Steps:
1. Visit a brand's page on your account.
2. Roll over the brand's "Corporate" link.
3. From the drop down, please click on "Your Wholesale Orders." This will take you to your Orders page on the brand's Bridge account. You will see all of the wholesale orders that you ...
Read More
We have exciting news: Retailers can now place wholesale orders via Bridge. If you are an authorized dealer, you can purchase from these participating brands:
Anna Weatherley
Beatriz Ball
Calaisio
Casafina
Costa Nova
Couzon
Herdmar
Kim Seybert
Mario Luca Giusti
Medard de Noblat
Meissen
Pickard China
Pickard Crystal
Pinto Paris
Portus Cale
Royal Crown Derby
Varga
Why is Bridge Wholesale Better?
Speed: Bridge Wholesale reduces the number of steps&
You can now easily place a wholesale order on your Bridge from participating Smart Brands.
Bridge's wholesale service reduces the number of typical steps a retailer must take from seven to just three steps. As such, Bridge's system is 2x as fast as traditional wholesale ordering systems.
In the screenshot, we see a retailer logged in on its Bridge Store. The retailer can click the link "Place Wholesale Order for this Product" to place a wholesale order. ...
Read More
In this month’s HFN magazine, Editor Allison Zisko gives Bridge a shout out in her ‘Letter from the Editor’ column. She encourages the home goods industry to adopt digital marketplaces (trade shows) now, and notes that Bridge started offering an online platform for the tabletop industry years ago.
She notes that many big, well-funded trade shows (read IMC, which may spend $100m, and Messe) have suddenly seen the writing on the wall and are building competitors to Faire...
Read More