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.
About Nicolette Mayer Collection
Produced by dedicated artisans in America, the Nicolette Mayer Collection offers over 1500 Art de la Table items. Nicolette Mayer is a lifestyle brand whose product categories include:
How we can honor those that came before us in the retail industry.
March 2, 2023
The founder of Juan Pollo Chicken, Albert Okura, passed away last week at the age of 71. Mr. Okura envisioned Juan Pollo, a fast food chain with 25 locations in Southern California, as a household name that would someday sell the most chicken in the world. He believed in this so much that he bought the site of the original McDonald’s restaurant, located in San Bernardino, CA, in 1998—not to turn it into a Juan Pollo restaurant but rather into a museum to honor his fast food industry....
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We are pleased to announce that home decor brand Wolf & Irving is joining the Product Syncing Service.
Wolf & Irving is known for their eco friendly textiles and unique designs for table and kitchen linens. Products range from napkins, tablecloths and runners to mini mitts and tea towels .
Wolf & Irving's products will be ready for syncing by March 1st.
Stores that are already Bridge members will be alerted when Wolf & Irving's data is ready for syncing...
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"A 2021 Harris Poll Consumer Shopping Study showed that 71% of Americans would prefer to buy from an independent retailer over a national chain, as long as they were equally convenient and reliable."
~ SpotOn
I believe these survey results. Shoppers want to shop local, but they don't want to sacrifice selection, price, or speed. Consumers will shop with your indie store if you can offer the same selection, price, and delivery speed as, say, Amazon. Is ...
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We're happy to see five brands promote Bridge Shop Local in Tableware Today's February/March 2023 issue.
The brands promoting Bridge Shop Local include:
Bordhallo Pinheiro
Carmel Ceramica
Mary Jurek
Pampa Bay
Vista Alegre
In the advertisement, the brand displays either Bridge’s ‘B’ or our ShopLocal.org logo.
A brand shows the logos so that retailers know they can easily sell the products shown. When a brand offers our Product Syncing service, a ...
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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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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 ...
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In this month’s Garden & Gun magazine, a profile on a Houston merchant shows Herend and Le Creuset products. Herend and Le Creuset are Shop Local clients and use our Product Syncing service to market their products to authorized retailers and their customers.
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Noma, the world-famous Copenhagen restaurant, is closing to concentrate on e-commerce. Excerpt from the Times:
“Noma will become a full-time food laboratory, developing new dishes and products for its e-commerce operation, Noma Projects, and the dining rooms will be open only for periodic pop-ups.”
This change supports the breath and power of e-commerce, and portends coming changes for our retail industry. It’s not that one can’t eke out a ...
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The ARTS award ceremony last night had four finalists for best Tabletop brand: Beatriz Ball, Casafina, Caskata, and LSA. I was pleased that three of the nominated brands use Bridge’s Product Syncing service (Beatriz Ball, Casafina, and LSA).
Congrats to the winner Beatriz Ball π₯³
I’m also pleased to share that our client Barbara Stewart Interiors in Bowling Green Kentucky was nominated for best Design Studio. Congrats to the owner Susan Hoechner.
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At the Dallas trade show this week, I’ll be sporting our new Shop Local t-shirt. In flight to the show, I’ll be reading how network effects help businesses, including retail shops. Indie shops and network effects go hand in hand. Retailers can effectively grow via network programs, including Bridge’s Product Syncing service and referral and affiliate programs. To learn how networks can help your business, I recommend picking up a copy of The Cold ...
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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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We are pleased to announce the Nicolette Mayer Collection is ready to sync products via Bridge's Product Syncing service.
Produced by dedicated artisans in America, the Nicolette Mayer Collection offers over 1500 Art de la Table items. Nicolette Mayer is a lifestyle brand whose product categories include:
Placemats,
Coasters,
Acrylic trays,
Dinner and Cocktail Napkins,
Murals,
Candles,
Candy Dishes,
Pillows.
Placemats are available in both round and rectangular ...
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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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I was happy to learn that our friends at Savannah Bee and Ivystone have expanded their relationship. Savannah Bee, a partner in our Bridge Product Syncing service, has expanded its representation with Ivystone, also a Bridge partner, to cover more sales regions. Ivystone will now cover the honey brand across the country, supplementing the brand with 85 sales reps. (Previously, Ivystone only represented the brand in the Northeast.)
We're happy to see three brands promote Bridge in Tableware Today's December/January 2023 issue.
The brands promoting Bridge include:
Bordhallo Pinheiro
Carmel Ceramica
Pampa Bay
In the advertisement, the brand displays either Bridge’s ‘B’ or Bridge's ShopLocal.org logo.
A brand shows the logo so that retailers know they can easily sell the products shown. When a brand subscribes to Bridge’s Product Syncing service, a retailer can instantly ...
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Your Bridge now makes it easier for you to connect with and sell your brands’ products. We have added a new page to invite brands to sync products. This page significantly reduces the number of steps that your store takes to invite a brand.
There is no charge for a member to send sync invites or sync products with a brand. Product Syncing is free for retailers, sales reps, trade marts, and interior designers. Participating brands pay for the service.
 ...
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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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