Zola's slowdown is good news for indie stores--but Zola will likely be back. While it is over-leveraged with venture capital and over-valued, the wedding registry business will rebound next year.
Indie stores are not the only ones to get a reprieve: market buildings were playing defense against Faire, the wholesale ...
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Sadly, we learned of this hack LAST week when it actually happened in...wait for it...April 2019–almost a year ago.
I predict that hacking is going to happen to more and more brands and stores in our industry. I think these victims will either turn over most online operations to a third party—or close due to costs. I know of a jewelry ...
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Your business likely has to pay taxes on your 2019 Bridge sales. While paying taxes may not be fun, Bridge has made it easier.
Your Bridge allows you to easily see how much you collected in sales taxes. You can use this information to prepare your 2019 taxes.
How to visit your Tax page:
1. Visit your Bridge.
2. Login to your Bridge.
3. At the very top, click on “Management.”
4. On Management home page, on the left-hand side under “Order Reporting,” click ...
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December 27, 2019
December 27, 2019
The retail store floor is being transformed in to an ‘app store,’ shares todays Times. Employees armed with mobile phones are helping customers using specialized apps.
The Times article also shares that retail clothing jobs in NYC shrunk 9% between 2013 to 2018.
The Times covers how Amazon is roping Baltimore in on many front in the name of progress, efficiency, savings—while creating many undesirable side effects.
Many of us will be with our family and friends this Thursday. I'll take a moment then to give thanks to all the indie retailers that enrich our communities. I'll thank the indie designers that fill our stores and homes with beautiful products.
When I'm in my friend's kitchen, someone may say they need a new spatula from Amazon, or after dinner ask Alexa to turn on Amazon TV. When they do, I'll consider those actions in light of the holiday. I'll share why this is important to consider.
Sometimes we are critical of Macy's and the whole Federated chain. But perhaps we should take another look. They give us the legendary fireworks in July and the upcoming Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. But more recently they along with Tishman Speyer have taken on the incredibly complicated restoration of the old Abraham & Strauss cast-iron facade building in Brooklyn. Perhaps this Thanksgiving we should be more thankful.
From the NY Times:
New Yorkers are all too familiar with the wholesale ...
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November 24, 2019
November 24, 2019
The L.A. Times shares that Amazon and its customers are destroying billions of trees (and rainforests) due to all the boxes that they’re using and throwing away.
"...165 billion packages were shipped in the U.S. last year — using about 1 billion trees’ worth of cardboard."
Carol Schroeder, who owns a store in Wisconsin and uses Bridge for her gift registry service, shares her thoughts on "porch pirates"--thieves that steal packages delivered to your front porch.
Carol suggests that porch pirates can be used as leverage to encourage customers to 'buy online, pick up in-store.' When customers do this, they often buy more while in the store picking up the item.
✨Christopher Radko✨ “Dated 2019 New Baby on the Block” Ornament.???
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November 17, 2019
November 17, 2019
Amazon is increasingly using robots to deliver goods and services. One could say that Alexa is a robot minus the body. As Amazon grows, we're facing a glut of empty Main Street shops and layoffs. This reminds me of the Terminator movie series in which robots wreck destruction on human civilization.
We just need Arnold Schwarzenegger to star in an Amazon delivery commercial. "I'll be back," he says, "to pick up your return."
PS - Curious about claims on robot-killing jobs? Check out Presidential...
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November 16, 2019
November 16, 2019
Facebook removed 3.2 billion fake accounts between April and September, more than twice as many as last year, shares CNBC.
One may ask: how many fake Facebook accounts still exist?
Many social media platforms are full of fake users and scammers.
Bridge only allows real people to sign up for its platform. We assess each sign up and only allow authenticated businesses and their staff to join. Since we don't rely on advertising revenue, we don't need to allow fake accounts to inflate our user base. ...
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Barneys will likely keep thousands of dollars belonging to brides, shares today’s Times. The defunct retailer will keeps the brides’ registry credits if they don’t redeem them by this Thursday.
This is also bad for the brands that were sold via Barneys' registries. For example, let's imagine Barneys sells Waterford. If a bride registered for a Waterford product, and that item was gifted by a family member, Waterford would expect that item to be bought by ...
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November 7, 2019
November 7, 2019
Why is retail changing?
Retail Dive gives us six reasons via six statistics:
1. 100 stores The number of Macy's locations closed since August 2016, as well as the number of stores that off-price retailer Ross opened in 2019 alone
2. $19 billion Projected off-price sales by 2021
3. $20.4 billion The amount department store sales have dropped over the past five years
4. $14 billion The amount in sales that Costco's Kirkland Signature private label outpaced all of Macy's nationwide sales last year