How to track packages in real-time in order to save time and make customers happier.
January 11, 2024
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: You (and your customers) can now easily see real-time shipping status for an order. Your Store displays the current shipping status (in transit, delivered, etc.) and the complete tracking history for the order.
Before this update, one had to view the shipping service’s website (e.g FedEx.com) to view its status. Now, you or shoppers can view all orders' real-time status on your Shop Local Store and in emails.
Your Shop Local account offers a built-in solution to shop thousands of products. The Wholesale service combines the best features from wholesale marketplaces and buying on a brand’s site into a new service. Shop Local retailers can save time and money by using the Wholesale service.
The Ivy House, an indie retailer in Texas that has used our e-commerce software since 2015, uses the Wholesale service to save time and money. Laura May, the owner of The Ivy House, easily places...
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How to set interior designer pricing for your brands.
September 28, 2023
FOR BRANDS AND DISTRIBUTORS
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: Interior designers can now view interior designer pricing for your brands and make purchases. If an interior designer is approved by your business, they can log in to your account and buy items at the wholesale designer price set by your business.
In the example shown, we see an interior designer logged in to BIA Cordon Bleu's account. The interior designer can place wholesale orders at the designer pricing set by ...
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Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: You can now make a product tax-exempt.
With this update, your store can decide whether or not to charge tax on a product. This is handy, for example, when selling most food online in New York State, where such purchases are tax-empt.
Please follow these steps to access this feature:
Log in to your Shop Local account.
Browse to the product you wish to make tax-exempt.
On the product's Details page, click "Edit product&
Shop Local analyzed the websites for the top-40 selling brands in the tabletop and giftware industry. We assessed what promotions and discounts, such free shipping, brands offer. Shop Local did this because a product's price, which is impacted by discounts, is often the leading factor when shopping online. 70% of the brands surveyed by Shop Local offer free shipping.
How to view wholesale orders placed by your store.
April 11, 2023
Your Shop Local Store has a new feature: We've made it easier to to see your recent wholesale orders. At the top of your account, when you hover over “Orders” you'll see the drop-down shows wholesale orders your store placed.
Previously, the Orders drop-down only displayed retail orders. To see your wholesale orders, you had to click the Orders link, then navigate to the Wholesale Orders page.
In the example shown, we see a retailer's drop-down displaying ...
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Bridge analyzed the websites for the top-40 selling brands in the tabletop and giftware industry. We assessed what promotions and discounts, such free shipping, brands offer. Bridge did this because a product's price, which is impacted by discounts, is often the leading factor when shopping online. More than 67% of the brands surveyed by Bridge offer free shipping.
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:
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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Your Bridge has a new feature: We've made it easier to navigate to important pages on your Bridge account. Hovering over the user profile icon at the top of the page reveals a drop-down list with links leading to your business profile settings, retail orders you’ve received, wholesale orders you’ve placed, and products you’ve liked.
With this update, one can use the links in the user profile drop-down to get to the desired content more quickly.
More than 65% of brands surveyed by Bridge offer free shipping, while just 14% of indie stores do. Brands often charge just $118 to quality for free shipping, while stores charge $190 (a $72 difference). Where would you shop?
Bridge analyzed the websites for the top-40 selling brands in the tabletop and giftware industry. We assessed what promotions and discounts, such free shipping, brands offer. Bridge did this because a product's price, which is impacted by discounts, is often the leading ...
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During this holiday season, does one want to tell their family and friends that they sell knock offs--or that they help Main Street? I'd vote for the latter. Yet, a new service is trying to sell knock offs and eat in to retailers' lunches.
For the last few years, retailers have been having a hard time of it: they are increasingly circumvented by the brands. With the advent of the e-commerce websites and social media, brands are pitching their wares directly to consumers and ...
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Retailers have had a difficult time in recent years, as brands have increasingly circumvented them. With the advent of e-commerce websites and social media, brands are pitching their wares directly to consumers and cutting out retailers.
I’ve sometimes wondered: What if the factory decides to do the same and cut out the brands? If the retailers don’t like it, how will the brands? Some businesses are now trying this. Services like Italic allow a consumer to bypass...
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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:
Bridge allows a brand to load stock to its Bridge account. There is no charge to load stock. After a brand starts sharing stock via Bridge, the brand often wishes to promote the benefits of this service. In this example, Casafina's national sales manager is sharing with reps via an email the importance of real-time stock sharing. He says it is more accurate and saves time.
Steering customers towards in-stock product makes customers happier (no one likes back orders) and boosts sales for in-...
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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 ...
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Business leader Scott Galloway said this past week on his podcast Pivot that "complexity is a tax on the poor." I'd expand on that and posit that: complexity is a tax on indie businesses.
What if indie businesses could reduce the complexity and costs of running an online business? I believe we can. Bridge is reducing the costs of running an online business for more than a thousand businesses.
How do we reduce the 'tax'? Bridge often helps a retailer set up an online store ...
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