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  1. News from Us
  2. News from Members
  3. Events
  4. Press
  5. Dollars & Sense
  6. Profile Stories
  7. Updates
  8. Training Calendar
  9. Training Videos
  10. Jobs
+ Bridge in the News - Bridge in the News

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January 26, 2023 Matouk And Yves Delorme Bedding On Sale At Feathers!
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Matouk And Yves Delorme Bedding On Sale At Feathers!
January 26, 2023
Matouk And Yves Delorme Bedding On Sale At Feathers!
Special offer to Glassworks and Cheeks customers, as well as Feathers clientele! We have 2 sales going on at Feathers this weekend. Now through January 29th all Matouk Bedding is 20% off. Also, selected Yves Delorme Bedding and linens are up to 40% off until February 5th. Stop in to see all your options!
Click here to see store info and lookbook for Feathers.

Click here to see store info and lookbook for Feathers.


 
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January 12, 2023 Sferra On Sale January 12 - 16 at Feathers, Our Bedding Store!
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Sferra On Sale January 12 - 16 at Feathers, Our Bedding Store!
January 12, 2023
Special message to Glassworks and Cheeks customers! Feathers, the store located beside Glassworks and Cheeks in Shadyside, joined the Glassworks and Cheeks family earlier this year. Feathers specializes in top quality bedding & accessories, while also offering table and bathroom linens & bath decor. Now through January 16th all Sferra Bedding is 20% off. Stop in to see the selection.

Click here to see store info and lookbook for Feathers.


 
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December 28, 2022 Referrals: Johnny Softwareseed 👨‍🌾 🍎
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Referrals: Johnny Softwareseed 👨‍🌾 🍎
December 28, 2022
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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December 20, 2022 65% of Brands Offer Free Shipping vs.14% of Indie Stores ...Where Would You Shop?
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65% of Brands Offer Free Shipping vs.14% of Indie Stores ...Where Would You Shop?
December 20, 2022
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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December 1, 2022 The Price is Right 🛒
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The Price is Right 🛒
December 1, 2022
When we talk about prices, there are two prices that are important: 
  • The price that we charge clients.
  • The price our clients charge their customers. 

We normally talk about the former, aka how our prices compare with other competitors, like Shopify or wholesale services like Faire. 

Of increasing importance to us is what our retailers charge their customers.  Walmart recently announced that it was taking brands to account and pressuring them to keep ...
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November 21, 2022 Reaganomics: Show Me the Money 📝
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Reaganomics: Show Me the Money 📝
November 21, 2022
Ronald Reagan said, “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.”  Reaganomics usually refers to tax cuts and trickle down economics, yet I propose that we take the Gipper’s quote and ask: How can simplicity contribute to a business's success?

When we share what leading companies do, we can often skip an explanation and sum it up in a brief sentence. Examples:
  • Walmart offers low prices.
  • Facebook connects us.
  • Hyatt offers a place to sleep.
  • Amazon offers
...
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November 9, 2022 Don't Laugh: Fun Is a Good Marketing Vehicle 🤹‍♂️
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Don't Laugh: Fun Is a Good Marketing Vehicle 🤹‍♂️
November 9, 2022
Bridge has something that every store needs, but doesn’t really want: product data. We get stores to trust us that they need our product data for 64,000 products from 109 brands. They really don’t want the data—they want the sales from it. The data itself is worthless, but the sales from it are invaluable. Do you know who also has this issue? Funeral directors.  Last week's Wall Street Journal shares that mortuaries are leveraging bonsai trees, setting up bouncy castles, ...
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November 2, 2022 Red Bull in a China Shop 🐃 🍽
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Red Bull in a China Shop 🐃 🍽
November 2, 2022
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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October 25, 2022 Gogh Big or Gogh Home 🖼
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Gogh Big or Gogh Home 🖼
October 25, 2022
We work hard each day, and likely don’t mind if others notice.  We want others to see the ingenuity of our software. But what if that wasn’t the case? If you want an example of someone that got passed by, just ask Van Gogh.  Yeah, thaaaaat world-famous, earless, impressionist artist whose work today graces the walls of countless museums.  The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is currently running an exhibition showcasing how the world missed appreciating Van Gogh’s...
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October 20, 2022 Offer Free Shipping or Lose the Customer's Order
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Offer Free Shipping or Lose the Customer's Order
October 20, 2022
A customer emailed me today and told me that she only ordered from a store because it offered free shipping. She reviewed many stores, and skipped over those that did not offer free shipping. Her message to me:

..............

I live in Atlanta, GA.  I noticed when I was trying to find this plate that several of the sites were using the same e-commerce platform.  I noticed that some had free shipping and some did not.  So of course, I went with the company that provided free ...
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October 8, 2022 Winners Quit 🚪🏆
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Winners Quit 🚪🏆
October 8, 2022
In her new book ‘Quit,' Annie Duke shares that the best poker players only play 25% of the hands they are dealt, whereas others play 50%. Ms. Duke talks with Stewart Butterfield, the founder of a few startups, most recently Slack (which is an acronym, which I didn’t know). Slack wouldn’t have been born if Mr. Butterfield didn’t drop a video game company to start Slack. Likewise for Twitter which was born out of the failed blogging company Odeo. Ms. Duke's lesson: winners ...
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October 7, 2022 Receive $65,000 in value and pay $0
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Receive $65,000 in value and pay $0
October 7, 2022
The Times' magazine recently reviewed the book summarizing service Blinkist. Blinkest claims to give members $89,000 in value (the combined value of books offered) for $8/month.  That's a great deal for readers.

A great deal for retailers: Bridge gives retailers $65k in value for $0 month. Bridge offers approved retailers up to 65,000 products from 109 premium brands for $0 per month. We estimate that each synced product to their online store saves them $1 and three minutes in labor...
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September 23, 2022 Vanity 🪞
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Vanity 🪞
September 23, 2022
Today’s Gen Z gift registrants want to do everything online, often on their iPhone 14. They want to start a registry, add products, remove products, edit quantities, and view purchases. They don't want to call the store to do this.   

In the adoption of digital tools, another trend is also at play: female shoppers are busier than before. Today, more women graduate from college than men. Women are increasingly doctors, CEOs, and world leaders. (Italy just welcomed its ...
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September 19, 2022 Do We Have the Wright Stuff? 🛩
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Do We Have the Wright Stuff? 🛩
September 19, 2022
In the early 2000s, the board game Cranium became a hit.  The game combined elements of Scrabble and Pictionary with the goal of helping more people enjoy playing a game. Richard Tait, who created Cranium and sold it to Hasbro in 2008 for $77.5m, passed away in July.  Like Mr. Tait, I had been a paperboy, but he went beyond what I ever offered:  he came up with a new service that sold breakfast sandwiches along his newspaper route. He increased profits and made customers happier. ...
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September 14, 2022 California is suing Amazon
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California is suing Amazon
September 14, 2022
For the last 10 years, Bridge has been building software to support indie, brick-and-mortar stores.  We watched in 2018 as 230 city leaders competed to give the world’s richest man money to bring his tech company to their city. After awarding an HQ to NYC, Amazon tried to bully NYC. When Amazon wouldn’t get its way, it broke off the deal.  We see in today’s news more evidence of the same bullying behavior. We’re happy to see that the tide has turned and ...
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September 8, 2022 Dollars and Sense Advice from Mom 👩‍🦰
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Dollars and Sense Advice from Mom 👩‍🦰
September 8, 2022
When I was a kid, my mom instilled in me a lesson to always get paid for my work. When I went to mow a lawn or do my newspaper route, she’d remind me,  “Be sure you get paid.”  As an adult, these flashbacks are vivid like a scene from Citizen Kane—just swap out the Rosebud sled with my newspaper delivery bike.  Today, this lesson still resonates when running Bridge. When calling a store that hasn’t paid its Bridge bill, I’m confident in asking ...
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September 1, 2022 Gift Cards Are a Gift to ...Stores 💸
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Gift Cards Are a Gift to ...Stores 💸
September 1, 2022
When is the last time you received a Starbucks gift card?  I’ve received them as holiday gifts, and I’ve given them to sales reps as thank you gifts. Starbucks gift cards, like their shops, are ubiquitous.  They are almost as popular as gift cards from our nemesis: Amazon.com. Just about every month, a company offers me an Amazon gift card if I sign up for a service. WBGO, the local, Newark-based, non-profit radio station known for jazz, recently offered me an Amazon gift ...
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August 3, 2022 The Everything War
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The Everything War
August 3, 2022
An East Village Artist’s Death Prompts a Reflection on the State of Indie Retailers Today

…….

While thumbing through the Times, I noticed a smiling young woman’s picture in the obituaries. In the black and white photograph, she's standing on a fire escape with a historic building and a bridge in the distance.  I was initially attracted to Ronni Solbert’s 1959 picture, yet I was even more drawn in by what I noticed next to her photo: a children&...
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July 27, 2022 $200 Off Your Dallas or Atlanta Order
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$200 Off Your Dallas or Atlanta Order
July 27, 2022
Good news: Your store can still get $200 off your Dallas or Atlanta order!

Example Orders:
  • Your store placed a $200 wholesale order. You receive $200 from Bridge. Your order is free.
  • Your store placed a $1,000 order.  You receive $200 from Bridge. That is a 20% discount off your order.

23 Participating Brands:
  • Beatriz Ball
  • Casafina
  • DeVine Corporation's lines:
    • Anna Weatherley
    • Couzon
    • J.L. Coquet
    • Mario Luca Giusti
    • Medard de Noblat
...
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July 12, 2022 Super Subscriptions 🦸‍♂️🦸‍♀️🦹🏽‍♂️
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Super Subscriptions 🦸‍♂️🦸‍♀️🦹🏽‍♂️
July 12, 2022
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. 

This past week, The Wall St. Journal...
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Next page

Press: Shop Local & Bridge in the News
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Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Florida Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
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April 2024

Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Tennessee Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
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April 2024

Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Louisiana Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Louisiana Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
April 2024

Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Delaware Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Delaware Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
April 2024

Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Pennsylvania Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Pennsylvania Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
March 2024

Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants Get Sales Leads in Mississippi
Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants Get Sales Leads in Mississippi
March 2024

Shop Local Merchants Are 60% of Google Page 1 Results in South Carolina
Shop Local Merchants Are 60% of Google Page 1 Results in South Carolina
March 2024

Shop Local Merchants Are 50% of Google Page 1 Results in Georgia
Shop Local Merchants Are 50% of Google Page 1 Results in Georgia
March 2024

Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants Get More Sales Leads than Big-Box Stores Using Google
Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants Get More Sales Leads than Big-Box Stores Using Google
February 2024

Shop Local Retailers Rank on Page 1 of Google in 60% of States
Shop Local Retailers Rank on Page 1 of Google in 60% of States
February 2024

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