Home > News & Events

News from Shop Local & Bridge

  1. News from Us
  2. News from Members
  3. Events
  4. Press
  5. Strategy: Dollars & Sense
  6. Profile Stories
  7. New Software Features & Updates
  8. Training Calendar
  9. Training Videos
  10. Jobs
  1. News from Us
  2. News from Members
  3. Events
  4. Press
  5. Dollars & Sense
  6. Profile Stories
  7. Updates
  8. Training Calendar
  9. Training Videos
  10. Jobs
+ Bridge in the News - Bridge in the News

212 Results:

October 27, 2024 Real Estate & Indie Shops
Chalk 24677 picture
Real Estate & Indie Shops
October 27, 2024
The Wall St. Journal shares why indies are struggling with the commercial real estate market.  

  View Post
September 16, 2024 The Psychology of Shopping: Your Purchase Confirmation Page is Just as Important as Your Home Page
Chalk 24555 picture
The Psychology of Shopping: Your Purchase Confirmation Page is Just as Important as Your Home Page
September 16, 2024
There is a lot of psychology that goes into a positive shopping experience—including online shopping. I was reading in The Wall St. Journal about how to improve a vacation experience. The author encourages us to save the most enjoyable vacation part till the end of the trip because our mind is biased towards the most recent event. (In psychology, this is called the "recency effect.") 

When I read this, it made me wonder: what is the last experience a gift giver has on our...
Read More
September 12, 2024 Juliska in The Wall St. Journal
Chalk 24546 picture
Juliska in The Wall St. Journal
September 12, 2024
Nice to see our partner Juliska’s items in The Wall St. Journal. 

Read the full article:
https://www.wsj.com/style/design/the-right-way-to-lay-out-your-dining-room-5-formulas-interior-designers-rely-on-0212c54e?mod=mhp View Post
July 31, 2024 CHECK YOUR PLATES by JASON SOLAREK
Chalk 24353 picture
CHECK YOUR PLATES by JASON SOLAREK
July 31, 2024
The Wall Street Journal recently shared how the used car market has improved in the last 20 years because much of it is now conducted online. When car buyers use the web, they’re more likely to save money (about 2%) and dealers can, in theory, make more with dynamic pricing (about 2%) thereby giving each party a win. Unlike 20 years ago, when we didn’t have smartphones, today 95% of used car purchases start online. While 31% of used car purchases were completely in-person, ...
Read More
July 23, 2024 Our Retail Predictions Featured in Tableware Today Magazine
Why only 30% of wedding gift givers will come into a store in 2030--and how we can help prepare for that
Chalk 24321 picture
Our Retail Predictions Featured in Tableware Today Magazine
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 ...
Read More
June 29, 2024 MacKenzie-Childs in The Wall St. Journal
Chalk 24243 picture
MacKenzie-Childs in The Wall St. Journal
June 29, 2024
The Wall St. Journal profiles light, outdoor planters and gives a green thumbs up to a MacKenzie-Childs’ planter. 

MacKenzie-Childs, a Shop Local brand partner since 2016, uses our Syncing service to display this planter and more than one thousand other products in its authorized dealers’ online stores.

Visit their Shop Local account:
 https://mackenziechilds.myshoplocal.com/ View Post
June 8, 2024 Subscription Bundles
Chalk 24160 picture
Subscription Bundles
June 8, 2024
Recently, when booking a trip to Florida to see family, I was shown an array of bundles by American Airlines. There was the basic flight, and then:
  • Main Cabin Plus. Included a free checked bag, a more spacious seat, and boarding earlier. 
  • Main Cabin Select. Included an even earlier boarding time and made it easier to change my flight. 
  • First Class. Included the largest, most comfortable seat, priority boarding, two checked bags, and better drinks and food. 

The Wall ...
Read More
May 18, 2024 Health is Wealth: Healthy Websites 🍎
Do website service providers need a digital health label?
Chalk 24073 picture
Health is Wealth: Healthy Websites 🍎
Do website service providers need a digital health label?
May 18, 2024
When you pick up a package of Oreos or yogurt at the grocery store, you can see the nutrition (or lack of it!) on the nutrition label on the back. Health advocates are encouraging the FDA to make warnings more obvious on packages—such as by placing information on the front of the package, shares The Wall St. Journal. Advocates have looked abroad for inspiration. In Mexico, you’ll find labels with a black octagon, resembling a stop sign, on the front of Doritos and Nature Valley ...
Read More
May 9, 2024 Big-Box Stores Embrace Online Shopping, Begrudgingly
Chalk 24045 picture
Big-Box Stores Embrace Online Shopping, Begrudgingly
May 9, 2024
Big-box stores are adapting to e-commerce, shares The Wall St. Journal.  

Article figures:
  • In 2014, e-commerce was 6% of retail sales.  In 2023, it was 15%. 
  • Target fulfills almost 100% of online orders in-store and Walmart half of online orders in-store. 

Customers prefer physical stores alongside e-commence because:
  • They save money on fees, such as shipping. 
  • They can get the item faster. (Delivery may take a few days.) 
  • When doing returns,
...
Read More
May 7, 2024 Check Your Plates 🚗
How online trends in the used car market parallel those in the wedding registry market. Online gift giving predicted to increase at the expense of in-store giving by 40% by 2030.
Chalk 24033 picture
Check Your Plates 🚗
How online trends in the used car market parallel those in the wedding registry market. Online gift giving predicted to increase at the expense of in-store giving by 40% by 2030.
May 7, 2024
Jinjoo Lee in The Wall St. Journal shares how the used car market has improved in the last 20 years because much of it is now conducted online.  When car buyers use the web, they are more likely to save money (saving about 2%), and dealers can, in theory, make more with dynamic pricing (about 2%)—thereby giving each party a win. Unlike 20 years ago, when we didn't have smartphones, today 95% of used car purchases start online. While 31% of used car purchases were completely in-person,...
Read More
April 24, 2024 Nike tried to cut out retailers and it backfired
Chalk 23994 picture
Nike tried to cut out retailers and it backfired
April 24, 2024
Since we support brick-and-mortar retailers, we found Nike’s u-turn regarding retailers to be welcome. They initially planned to cut off 30% of stores but have since returned to them.  

Read The Wall St. Journal article:
https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/nike-reverse-innovation-stalls-rivals-gain-c3ed8e63?st=69ycm3x5p027g6w&reflink=share_mobilewebshare
Read More
April 15, 2024 Exponentially Better: The Math Behind Our Shopping Platform 🔢
How a drawing on a bar napkin led to a software platform that processes trillions of calculations
Chalk 23959 picture
Exponentially Better: The Math Behind Our Shopping Platform 🔢
How a drawing on a bar napkin led to a software platform that processes trillions of calculations
April 15, 2024
In 2007, while sitting at the pub Moran’s with a beer, I drew a sketch on a napkin that would change our business. I drew a software model that would allow an indie store to instantly show (and sell) thousands of products online—without any labor. (The secret sauce: The respective brand would do the product update work for the merchants.) The immediate goal was to help my two retailers more efficiently load products onto their websites (and save me the boredom of doing it). 

...
Read More
April 13, 2024 Amazon may be stealing your ideas
Chalk 23962 picture
Amazon may be stealing your ideas
April 13, 2024
The Wall St. Journal shares how Amazon takes other companies’ ideas on a mass scale, such as from Trader Joe’s. The article is an excerpt from “The Everything War: Amazon’s Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power,” a new book by Dana Mattioli. 

Read the full article:  
https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/amazon-the-everything-war-dana-mattioli-4966915d?st=wfvfetf3zjiygz4&reflink=mobilewebshare_permalink
Read More
April 13, 2024 Taco Bell-wether 🌮
How Taco Ball is going digital first--and others would be wise to follow
Chalk 23960 picture
Taco Bell-wether 🌮
How Taco Ball is going digital first--and others would be wise to follow
April 13, 2024
Fast food is stuffing itself with software. Yum Brands, which owns Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, is embracing a few strategies we’ve chatted about, including software bundles and membership programs. It’s even investing in AI. Its budget: $21m last year. That’s a lot of lettuce. 

Does the market merit it? Well, 45% of Yum’s sales are digital. Likewise, we’re hearing website sales make up about half of our merchants' sales. Note: We’re not half of every ...
Read More
April 3, 2024 Loss > Gain
What your business can learn from the celebrated economist Daniel Kahneman
Chalk 23922 picture
Loss > Gain
What your business can learn from the celebrated economist Daniel Kahneman
April 3, 2024
Daniel Kahneman, the celebrated economist, passed away last month. The Nobel Prize and Presidential Medal of Freedom winner gave us insights into the economics of the mind, such as people fearing loss more than gain, making short sighted decisions, and overly relying on feelings. 

We can often use Mr. Kahneman's insights in our business's daily operations.

Risk Assessment
Jason Zweig’s The Wall St. Journal profile on him shares an insight about calculating risk.  ...
Read More
April 2, 2024 WSJ: Johnson Hartig Praises Spode and Ginori 1735
Chalk 23916 picture
WSJ: Johnson Hartig Praises Spode and Ginori 1735
April 2, 2024
Johnson Hartig, the Libertine fashion label designer, shares his love Spode and Ginori 1735, two of our clients, in the The Wall St. Journal. 

Read the full article: 
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/food-cooking/how-a-fashion-designer-throws-a-dinner-party-johnson-hartig-interview-1669b7e6?st=lx2jsfqb6fla554&reflink=share_mobilewebshare
Read More
March 18, 2024 Shop Local / Earn Local / Hire Local / Manufacture Local
Chalk 23863 picture
Shop Local / Earn Local / Hire Local / Manufacture Local
March 18, 2024
We support the shop local ecosystem, and an ingredient in that is local jobs.  Marc Levinson in The Wall St. Journal reviews two books that address made-in-the-U.S.A. ventures. 

Spoiler alert: Doing the right thing often costs more. These all likely cost more: Shopping local, using local labor, and running local manufacturing. If you’re involved in one of these area, we hope you’ll appreciate those in the others. I’ve met local shop owners that outsource their ...
Read More
March 10, 2024 Drive Local: Join Shop Local and Get a Free Tesla 🚗
How Store Owners Can Trade Wasted Labor Costs For a New Tesla Car
Chalk 23833 picture
Drive Local: Join Shop Local and Get a Free Tesla 🚗
How Store Owners Can Trade Wasted Labor Costs For a New Tesla Car
March 10, 2024
No one likes to pay for gas—just ask Tesla drivers. Chris Kornelis, a reporter for The Wall St. Journal, shares this week how he switched to a Tesla to save $100 a month ($1,200 a year!) on gas. 

This story is important to us because if someone will pick a car to save $1,200 a year, we should be able to find what they need to save in order to pick Shop Local’s Online Store. Let’s learn from Chris and his Tesla choice.

Making Replacement Savings Easy to See
The new ...
Read More
February 5, 2024 Facebook Turns 20
Chalk 23703 picture
Facebook Turns 20
February 5, 2024
Facebook was founded 20 years ago in a college dorm and has since become a $1 trillion company, shares today’s The Wall St. Journal.

Read the full article: 
https://www.wsj.com/tech/facebook-turns-20-from-mark-zuckerbergs-harvard-dorm-room-to-the-metaverse-817a73da
  View Post
December 20, 2023 Check, Please 📝
How a checklist can be used as a valuable tool for existing clients or prospects.
Chalk 23510 picture
Check, Please 📝
How a checklist can be used as a valuable tool for existing clients or prospects.
December 20, 2023
This past Thanksgiving, Austin Kleon, the author of "Steal Like an Artist" and other inspirational books, shared a free gratitude journal via his weekly email newsletter. (Please view that clever, hand-drawn journal here: 
https://austinkleon.substack.com/p/a-gratitude-zine) A part of this journal is making a list of what one is grateful for. (He also has an ad lib for gratitude!) I can imagine him having a gratitude checklist. A checklist is a very efficient tool to deliver...
Read More

Next page

Press: Shop Local & Bridge in the News
Tableware Today Column: Saying I Do To Registries
Tableware Today Column: Saying I Do To Registries
October 2024

Tableware Today: New Leaderboard Column from Shop Local
Tableware Today: New Leaderboard Column from Shop Local
August 2024

Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Florida Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Florida Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
April 2024

Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Tennessee Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Tennessee Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
April 2024

Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Louisiana Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Louisiana Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
April 2024

Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Delaware Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Delaware Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
April 2024

Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Pennsylvania Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Pennsylvania Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
March 2024

Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants Get Sales Leads in Mississippi
Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants Get Sales Leads in Mississippi
March 2024

Shop Local Merchants Are 60% of Google Page 1 Results in South Carolina
Shop Local Merchants Are 60% of Google Page 1 Results in South Carolina
March 2024

Shop Local Merchants Are 50% of Google Page 1 Results in Georgia
Shop Local Merchants Are 50% of Google Page 1 Results in Georgia
March 2024

Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants Get More Sales Leads than Big-Box Stores Using Google
Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants Get More Sales Leads than Big-Box Stores Using Google
February 2024

Shop Local Retailers Rank on Page 1 of Google in 60% of States
Shop Local Retailers Rank on Page 1 of Google in 60% of States
February 2024

...