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.
My friend works at the Swiss running shoemaker ON. She recently texted me and suggested I try their running shoes. Three weeks later, I was handling two boxes of their Swiss engineered shoes. On one ON shoe, there is a little Swiss flag and the words “Swiss Engineering” printed. When I get a pair of Nike’s, they don’t say "Beaverton-engineering" or "US-engineering." Nor do Adidas shoes proclaim “German engineering.” ...
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In Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0, which the Bridge team is currently reading, the author Jim Collins confesses that he missed a key ingredient 25 years ago when he wrote the first edition. He states that he now realizes the most important part of achieving a great company is: getting the right people 'on the bus.’ I agree. Fourteen and a half years ago (long before I opened this book), I was lucky enough to pick up the right ‘passenger:' Moshe replied to my job posting (...
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Businesses like Walmart, Disney, and Discovery are bundling services and adding the “+” suffix to denote them (e.g. Disney+, Discovery+, W+, etc.). In a recent article in RetailDive, we learn that Walmart is giving its customers free, six-month trial Spotify accounts. I think W+ bundling services is smart. Last week, I compared running a gym to offering software. I spoke about bundling services with things that people like to increase their usage, such as work ...
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I recently saw an advertisement for Windows 11 in Wired magazine. I thought: “Wow, finally something from Microsoft that someone can understand: a logical name for their software offering.” I recall a time when Microsoft had a confusing litany of software names including: NT, 98, 2000, Millennium (ME), Windows XP, and Vista--before finally relegating those clumsy names to the desktop recycle bin and adopting a simple, progressive number system. Apple has been naming its ...
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In this 5 minute video, I explain how the registry business has changed over the last 20 years.
I share how Bridge has helped hundreds of indie stores in the U.S. soak up registry sales by adopting digital solutions that service their brides, registrants, and customers.
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This past week I finally started doing a better job of sharing our vision. A company’s vision and how it shares this story is a key pillar in its growth. A company can grow without being a good vision sharer (storyteller), but it makes the growth slower and harder. When one gets up on stage (metaphorically) and shares their vision, with passion, it’s magnetic and can help split the sea. What medium did we add to our story-sharing tools this week? Video. I made and shared ...
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Online sales grew 47.2% between Nov. 1 and Christmas Eve compared with the same period last year... Meanwhile, overall U.S. retail sales grew just 2.4%.
During the seven days leading up to Christmas Eve, store traffic fell 31.3% compared with last year.
This growth comes at some expense: selling online is generally less profitable than selling from stores.
Clothing was not a safe harbor: between Oct. 11 and Christmas Eve, sales of apparel fell 19.1%
In this month’s HFN magazine, Editor Allison Zisko gives Bridge a shout out in her ‘Letter from the Editor’ column. She encourages the home goods industry to adopt digital marketplaces (trade shows) now, and notes that Bridge started offering an online platform for the tabletop industry years ago.
She notes that many big, well-funded trade shows (read IMC, which may spend $100m, and Messe) have suddenly seen the writing on the wall and are building competitors to Faire...
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December 10, 2019
December 10, 2019
Indie retailers are being hunted online by Amazon, Zola, and brands using their direct to consumer sites. They are triangulating around their prey. These entries are picking off their online customers and thereby their ‘supply chains‘ that keep them afloat online. Without online sales, the indie stores are starved of the one area in which the retail industry is growing.
Amazon and brands target general public orders. Due to the lower prices, brand name, and marketing, they'll get those ...
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October 27, 2019
October 27, 2019
The Head of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy says it’s now easier and cheaper to order things online than go in the store.
The Rudin Center for Transportation is part of New York University, and is named after Lewis Rudin—the developer of the wholesale building 41 Madison.
If online is better according to the head of the Rudin Center, what is the Rudin family—which owns 41 Madison—doing to help tenants and visitors adapt to this fact?
This holiday season more shoppers will shop online ...
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September 26, 2019
September 26, 2019
CNBC shares that "by the end of this year, 12,000 stores are projected to close, and Amazon stands to benefit."
Bridge's Product Share page echoes this prediction and attributes it to how hard data is to deal with:
"In the last 20 years, there has been little change in how stores add items to their website....This has produced a clear winner: Amazon. Amazon has cornered 47% of the e-commerce market by adopting different techniques and business models to add hundreds of millions of items to its ...
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September 17, 2019
September 17, 2019
Stack those pancakes high and top it with Kettle Ridge syrup! Why is this sweet stuff so delicious? Because it’s local and made with love! This little farm is finding ways to educate and entertain their guests to the farm and we are ALL about that. If you haven’t head of Kettle Ridge, it might be time to pull up a chair to the breakfast table for a big treat. We were curious about how the modern day farmer gets their start and what goes into creating the sweet life on a sustainable farm.
We have a new milestone: mobile orders exceeded desktop orders for the first time this past Saturday on Bridge. This is notable because desktop orders have historically beat mobile orders.
Shoppers choose the mobile route on Saturday because they are most likely out of the office and on the go. But why had mobile not trumped desktop before? We believe that mobile-based purchases are increasing as shoppers get more comfortable with mobile (aka they are making more mobile purchases for other ...
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June 14, 2018
June 14, 2018
Did you know? National Flag Day commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777. It wasn't until 1916 that President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that established June 14 as Flag Day.
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December 3, 2017
December 3, 2017
This Tuesday, December 5th, is once again "Giving Tuesday". Brown's Jewelry will be donating a percentage of all sales to help more needy, precious fur babies in the community. We are happy to support the Soperton/Treutlen County "Diamonds In The Ruff"!! SHOP LOCAL. SHOP BROWN'S IN VIDALIA.
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November 26, 2017
November 26, 2017
In keeping with our 2nd Annual Twelve Days of Christmas in Downtown Vidalia, Tuesday, Nov. 28 is "Giving Tuesday". A percentage from every sale made at Brown's Jewelry will be donated to SOAPS (Sweet Onion Animal Protection Society). What a great way to shop local and support those precious fur babies!!
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April 8, 2017
April 8, 2017
Come see our new fluffy friends in the store today!
Mumble Monkey and Fuddlewuddle Elephant are eager to get adopted by a sweet companion. Take your new friend home or give them to someone who will give them a good home!
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January 5, 2017
January 5, 2017
From the NY Times, Thursday Jan.5, 2017
Start-Ups Hope Couples Say ‘I Do’ to Online Wedding Planning
Planning a wedding remains a largely traditional pursuit. For many couples, it is a frustrating months long project that requires sifting through masses of details and costs on venues, services and products. Now, a variety of start-ups are trying to cut down on that information overload by harnessing new technologies to capture a slice ...
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