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.
We follow the travails of indie stores and the Internet in real life—and on the silver screen. The Times shares how the blockbuster film “You’ve Got Mail,” a story about an indie bookshop owner who finds love online, has fared over 25 years.
It’s a 40th anniversary for the company founded by Colin Riggs (left) and Ned Voelker’s parents, Abigail and Ed Voelker. Over the last four decades, the entire family has created a curated collection of handmade tableware and giftware for the nation’s independent store retailers.
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Congratulations on a milestone 40th year in business. Are you surprised Abigails has endured? Ned Voelker: We are surprised. It’s a tribute to Ed and Abbie ...
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We now have 3 Labor Day promotions for the Labor Day weekend! Matouk bedding is 20% off from September 2 - 4 at Feathers. Also at Feathers, currently on sale through Labor Day: Sferrra bedding (except for matresses) and table linens are 20% off.
Finally, at Glassworks next door, Juliska alfresco items and more are 30% off through Labor Day. Stop in at the stores to see the selection of items in stock or to place an order. Stores will be closed on Labor Day but internet orders may be made. ...
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We have 2 Labor Day promotions starting next week. Juliska alfresco items and more are 30% off from Wednesday through Labor Day (8/30 to 9/4) at Glassworks. Sferrra bedding (except for matresses) and table linens are 20% off from Thursday through Labor Day (8/29 - 9/4) at Feathers. Stop in at the stores to see the selection of items in stock or to place an order. Stores will be closed on Labor Day but internet orders may be made. Discount will be applied after initial internet order is placed (...
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Art and design play a crucial role in creating a unique and memorable brand identity. However, designing compelling art and graphics can be a challenging task, especially for brands and retailers looking to create something that stands out in a crowded market. Midjourney, a new AI-based service, may provide valuable inspiration when designing products. Brands may be able to differentiate themselves from the competition.
Midjourney is an image creation software that reads whatever ...
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Internet pioneer, Vint Cerf, made a big break through by drawing it on the back of an envelope in 1983. This story, shared in today’s The Wall Street Journal, hit home because I first drew the concept for Bridge’s Product Syncing solution on a napkin at a Chelsea bar in 2007. That concept now helps 1,100 indie shops sell 60k+ products from 100+ premium brands, including Le Creuset, Baccarat, and Versace. Since that drawing, I’ve become a big fan of drawing processes to ...
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Over the last 15 years, brands have been increasingly doing a run-around to bypass their retailers and sell direct. Some brands suggested they’d never have a physical store. Some brands said they’d never have their products sold in another retailer’s physical store. What allowed the brands this hubris? The internet and Facebook. With the internet, brands would have a ‘store’ anywhere the customer is, and with Facebook, they could target them.
Amazon issued a press release stating that it is fighting with 10,000 Facebook groups that sell fake Amazon reviews. It’s ironic, since Amazon has been a chief promoter of the avenue allowing this behavior: Section 230. Section 230 allows tech platforms to host and indirectly promote just about any type of bad behavior, including illegal behavior (fake review services and yes, human trafficking, murder-for-hire, etc.) and then say it’s just a community space and belatedly remove the ...
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The EU has passed a law that will affect Amazon and other big tech companies. The law will likely make it harder for Amazon to promote its own private label products on its website at the expense of others.
While this is welcome news to many, this is a small victory as Amazon’s ambitions are grand as well as its ability to outpace laws. For the first 25 years of the Internet, Amazon, founded in 1994, rode on the rails of the government being too slow to enforce online tax ...
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DeVine Corp is currently experiencing a phone and internet outage since 12:35pm. We hope to be operational soon. We will keep you up to date and please accept our apologies for any inconvenience.
Last February e-commerce company Shopify Inc. replaced the “Ottawa, Canada” dateline that began its press releases and earnings reports with a strange new one: “Internet, Everywhere.” The geographical shift came at the insistence of Shopify’s founder and chief executive officer, Tobi Lütke, who tends to view such matters through the prism of cold, hard logic. In May 2020, only a few months into the pandemic, he’d made the early, seemingly rash decision to...
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Companies with deep pockets and big connections to Wall St. have teamed up to make the Internet a dirtier place. Legislation is pending to make large sellers of new goods have to reveal the true seller of the good. The goal of the federal bill is to curtail the sale of fake and stolen goods through online marketplaces. This sounds logical. But not to: eBay, Poshmark, Mercari, and Etsy.
These businesses have hundreds of millions of dollars at stake from banks, investors, and rich people. They ...
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Arnold Schwarzenegger, Future Bridge Spokesperson?
Today's Wall St. Journal shares that Target stores saw a 20% increase in revenue--more than the chain had seen in the last 11 years combined. How did it do it? Target converted many of its physical stores into 'mini-warehouses,' where they can ship goods or have customers do curbside pick up.
What does this mean for indie stores? Stores will have to become more efficient in receiving online orders, which make up 40% of retail these ...
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Online advertising is great for brands. It's bad for: indie stores.
Why? Before the Internet, there were few ways for brands to cut out stores. They may have an annual warehouse sale, but that was about it. Today, a customer visits a retailer website and looks at brand X. Or it visits brand X's site to do some research. The issue for indie stores: thanks to online advertising, now I'm being marketed to across the web. I'm reading news on the New York Post website and being encouraged to...
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Two congresspeople are sponsoring a bill to help indie business fight abusive ADA lawsuits, shares Anne Flynn Wear, a writer for Furniture Today.
I know businesses that have been targeted by lawyers seeking to cash in on the ADA law. The defendants, even after they 'fix' their website, often have to settle for thousands of dollars.
The ADA was not written with websites in mind (the law was created in 1990--well before the Internet), and the law doesn't allow businesses a grace period to ...
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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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What is killing retail? Austan Goolsbee, a University of Chicago economics professor, shares three factors other than the Internet affecting retail including: big-box discount stores, a shrinking middle class, and shoppers preferring ‘services’ over tangible things.
I found this except interesting:
“In 1920, Americans spent more than half their income on food (38 percent) and clothing (17 percent) and almost all of that was through traditional retail stores. ...
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Target now sources 80% of its online orders from stores, not warehouses, shares the Wall St. Journal.
Stores have less foot traffic (foot traffic to U.S. stores fell about 6.2% on Black Friday ) and more online shopping (online sales reached $7.4 billion on Black Friday, up from $6.2 billion last year), forcing stores to convert 'floor' employees into roles dealing with e-commerce and shipping. "At the Brooklyn store around 80 workers handle internet orders, collecting products from shelves or...
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