We're happy to share that Halcyon Days has joined Bridge as a Smart Brand. Please find the press release below.
For Immediate Release
Halcyon Days Partners with Bridge
English luxury lifestyle brand joins the e-commerce community to support U.S. retailer base
March 30, 2020
New York, NY — Halcyon Days, a designer of English handcrafted and manufactured luxury goods, has joined an online sales platform to help its authorized retailers increase sales.
&...
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As a small business, we look forward to serving you. We are grateful for your patronage.
Due to the current health crisis and out of an abundance of caution, Stafford Jewelers will be closed to foot traffic. We will continue to serve you by filling telephone and online orders weekdays from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm. We will bring a beautifully wrapped gift to you at curbside.
We will work with brides to create online registries via telephone or email.
Call us at 864-585-0235, email us at ...
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Why keep past registries? Because friends and family forget to buy gifts from your store :)
In the example shown, we see an anniversary reminder prompted a registrant’s friend to purchase another gift from the store. By keeping past registries, your Bridge software can send emails to friends and family members encouraging them to purchase gifts.
We recommend you maintain past registries for 3 years or more after the wedding date.
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Curious why you don’t sell more online? Answer: selling online is brutally competitive. Just ask Brandless, a company with more than $100m in funding that just closed and laid off all 70 employees. Selling online often produces the opposite of what you’d expect: thin margins.
One bright spot in e-commerce: gift registries. Gift registry orders have higher margins, lower customer acquisition costs, and a built-in promoter for your site: the bride. Don’t think this...
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February 6, 2020
February 6, 2020
Join us on Saturday, March 7 for our Bridal Brunch! We are celebrating bridal registries past, present, and future with specials from 10:00am to 4:00pm.
Discounts will be offered on wedding registries and registry completion. Enjoy brunch and champagne while you shop.
Know anyone recently engaged? We would love to meet them. All are welcome!
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Your Bridge gift registry software looks better in Google than your competitors' software. In this example, we can see how Breed, a retailer in Texas, appears in Google. Breed's listing shows the number of registries and reviews. Competitors listings do not show quantitative information--and look drab by comparison.
Google 'likes' this these statistics because it shows that your registry software is unique and you're servicing customers. Customers like these statistics because ...
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Barneys will likely keep thousands of dollars belonging to brides, shares today’s Times. The defunct retailer will keeps the brides’ registry credits if they don’t redeem them by this Thursday.
This is also bad for the brands that were sold via Barneys' registries. For example, let's imagine Barneys sells Waterford. If a bride registered for a Waterford product, and that item was gifted by a family member, Waterford would expect that item to be bought by ...
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October 2, 2019
October 2, 2019
Weddings That Aren’t Just About the Couple
From today's NY Times Rather than signing up for expensive gift registries or handing out unwanted party favors, these couples are donating to charities.
I went into a small shop in New York City yesterday and admired all their nice tableware. It offered mugs, cups, plates, drinking glasses, and vases—all items that are great for gift registries.
The store was empty. I thought it may be a good time ask the store manager if the store offered an online registry. He replied "yes." I was surprised because there was no signage in the store that said it offered a gift registry. I shared with him what Bridge is and explained that we...
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I developed Bridge Network, an e-commerce platform, that is not included in this article. Here are some things I have learned over the last 20 years of e-commerce development:
1. The article’s ranking criteria includes themes and templates. I believe you don't need an assortment of templates to have a functioning (or successful) e-commerce site. Just look at ...
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Your software now better promotes free shipping and free gift wrapping. Next to each item, if applicable, it says "Free Delivery" and "Free Gift Wrapping."
This change keeps your store competitive with Zola and other retailers which are promoting free delivery.
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June 7, 2019
June 7, 2019
Smaller margins are here for many businesses in many industries—not just tableware. Recently, a sales rep balked when I suggested its stores take a haircut on margins. Yet, I believe big money tech players are forcing these cuts and upending traditional profits—leaving stores with little other option. From media (see today’s AT&T article) to advertising (Facebook, goggle) to transportation (Uber, Lyft, Tesla) to gift registries (Amazon, MyRegistry, Zola), big money-backed tech companies are the...
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May 31, 2019
May 31, 2019
What's the most popular registry item? The Knot reports it’s the KitchenAid mixer.
More from the article:
"...the other items that made the top five most-requested on The Knot Registry were all kitchen-related: stainless steel measuring cups, a set of Pyrex containers, a toaster and Ninja blender.
According to the survey, wedding registries averaged about 111 different items worth around $4,700. Among the most popular items were bakeware, for which 87 percent of couples registered. Within the ...
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May 15, 2019
May 15, 2019
We have so many lovely items for wedding registries, entertaining and gift giving!
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May 5, 2019
May 5, 2019
Our bridal registries have character, just like this bride’s selection of Juliska dinnerware.
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Your Bridge 2.0 update is complete. Your site now offers a smoother, cleaner experience for customers--and you.
Your upgrade to 2.0 software is free and automatic--you do not need to take any steps. This free upgrade is especially valuable because a new retail website costs $11,000 - $29,000 on average to setup. (Source: Atlantic Business Technologies.)
1. You will wish to learn what is new in 2.0.
I will be sharing a video about what is new in Bridge 2.0.
Private label keeps growing for the big box stores: Walmart is launching a new one that includes dinnerware. This will put pressure on indie brands because it shrinks their market and margins. Walmart will likely promote its own brand in gift registries over the indie brand.
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February 5, 2019
February 5, 2019
For Retailers: Good news: the wedding registry season is here! Consider these facts:
1. This year 2.5 million weddings will occur in the U.S. That's 2.5 million potential gift registries for your store. :)
2. Amazon, Zola, and Crate & Barrel make millions from gift registry purchases. You will, too.
3. The average gift registry purchase is $142, and the average registry receives over $1,000 in gifts.
4. The online gift registry business is the one spot where indie stores are winning online.
Amy Stavis in Tableware Today shares that 47% of New Jersey Millennials live with their parents, and nationally 74% aren’t married. This translates into a smaller gift registry market than 40 or 20 years ago.
With that said, Crate &Barrel, Target, and Zola are selling millions of registry gifts. Why shouldn’t your store? The gift registry market is easy pickings for stores that sell cups and plates. You already have the stock and offering the service costs almost nothing. And it’s a service ...
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