Great news: Tableware Today, the bi-monthly print magazine dedicated to our industry, will be publishing our Leaderboard results on the last page of each coming issue.
This article below will appear in the October/November 2024 issue of Tableware Today and explains our inspiration for the Leaderboard.
Why only 30% of wedding gift givers will come into a store in 2030--and how we can help prepare for that
July 23, 2024
Tableware Today’s Editor Amy Stavis invited me to pen the Last Word column for the August / September issue. I start by comparing e-commerce trends for selling automobiles to selling dinner plates. Online sales in both industries have swelled in the last 25 years. (I entered the e-commerce business at the right time—in 2001.)
I predict that 70% of wedding registry gift givers will never set foot in a physical store by 2030. Currently, that number is at about 50%. If we do in fact ...
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At Shop Local, it's our job to help find ways to grow your online business. Part of that job is researching different registry software to see if it could be a good fit for your store.
If you offer a gift registry service, you may have heard of MyRegistry. MyRegistry is a third-party universal registry service that seemingly integrates with your primary website, stating that they "offer a suite of technology solutions [for retailers] that boost revenue, engage customers, and reduce ...
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We watch trends to share them with our members and help them capture orders. Forbes shares 35 helpful e-commerce statistics and we picked out a few highlights for you below:
Key Statistics:
20.1% of retail purchases are expected to take place online in 2024.
By 2027, 23% of retail purchases are expected to take place online.
E-commerce sales are expected to grow 8.8% in 2024.
52% of online shoppers report shopping internationally.
At Shop Local, it's our job to help find ways to grow your online business. Part of that job is researching different registry software to see if it could be a good fit for your store.
If you have a Shopify website and offer a gift registry service, you may have heard of Gift Reggie. Gift Reggie is a third-party Shopify app that seemingly integrates with your current website, making it easier to manage your registry offering and boost your online sales.
The Atlantic shares how Chinese factories have found a new way around U.S. retailers and into our homes: Chinese apps. SHEIN and other Chinese apps are bypassing Amazon to be a new leader in Chinese goods. In addition to Amazon, Target, Walmart, and indie shops now have a new group of digital competitors embedded in customers’ pockets.
Except from The Atlantic article:
MATERIAL WORLD
IS THIS HOW AMAZON ENDS?
An open embrace of cheap foreign products has helped ...
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According to a recent RetailDive report, online and mobile purchases for Black Friday sales were the strongest, with smartphone sales leading at 54% of online sales. The article states consumers spent a record $9.8 billion online on Black Friday, according to data from Adobe Analytics. That’s up 7.5% from last year.
Industry experts forecast that consumer spending will be up 2-3% year over year. The National Retail Federation projects 3-4% year over year. Consumers are cautious about ...
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What universal standards can teach us about simplicity regarding e-commerce platforms.
September 25, 2023
When Apple launched its new iPhones this month, one of its most noteworthy updates was replacing its Lightning charging cable with a USB-C. This was not a voluntary move or extension of Steve Jobs’s love of simplicity. Apple changed it because the European Union required them to, according to Ben Cohen in The Wall St. Journal. Now, just about every mobile phone in the world (forget just little ol’ Europe) will have one charging solution (USB-C).
How partnerships can be used as a marketing tool to elevate a company's brand and reputation by associating with quality partners.
August 7, 2023
I’m at Sweetgreen, a salad-focused restaurant, and I spotted this sticker on the preparation window. Sweetgreen is promoting Sullivan Street Bakery. Why would it dare do that? I believe it’s because it benefits Sweetgreen: people use a brand’s name to quickly deduce information, such as quality and value. People know that Sullivan Street Bakery is good. And, even if they don’t know it, they know that a bakery provided it and that it’s not from some stale loaf....
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We're happy to share that Syncing is free for retailers. Initially, retailers paid $149 per brand per month. Over the years, we reduced the monthly flat fee until we were able to make it free.
We can afford to offer the service with no flat fee because we charge a small commission when an online sale is made. We only get paid when the service performs for the retailer. This ensures that retailers only pay for results. This commission model makes us work harder to bring the ...
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I was happy to see Tableware Today magazine share our experiences and lessons regarding the power of free shipping.
You're invited to read the article below:
.........................
THE LAST WORD
FREE SHIPPING PAYS OFF
by JASON SOLAREK
Most indie stores don’t have the technical ability or people power to track pricing and offer discounts like free shipping. Indie stores need this information or they’ll be left behind. This information can make a difference: in ...
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How setting goals for our new members can help them be more successful.
January 31, 2023
When growing our network, we consider what it takes to keep existing members and grow into other industries. Andrew Chen in The Cold Start Problem reports that Facebook famously wanted a user to get 10 friends in a week because then the person would likely use the service. Similarly, Slack said users with about 10 connections tend to become active users. My company currently doesn’t have such new user benchmarks and we need to develop them.
Adding New Retail Members to the Product...
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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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Thieves have increased their activities since the pandemic started. In 2021, retail theft was up 40% shared The Wall St. Journal. Many stolen goods wind up on for sale on Amazon and Ebay. To combat this, two Congress people have proposed requiring sellers of more than $5,000 in goods or 200 transactions to reveal more information about themselves.
Scott Galloway, the NYU business professor and firebrand, pens a weekly, attention-grabbing article about business trends. In last week’s post, he noted the rise of the attention economy. (...Yes, my post is an attention-seeker writing about an attention-seeker writing about attention.) Comparing our current economy to those of the past, Mr. Galloway notes that today’s oil is time. He tracks the growth of digital companies like Netflix, Microsoft, Facebook, and TikTok that...
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