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  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

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July 30, 2021 Press Release: Bridge Membership Surges 50%
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Press Release: Bridge Membership Surges 50%
July 30, 2021
For Immediate Release

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MEMBERSHIP SURGES 50% IN E-COMMERCE COMMUNITY
Online Shopping Boom Drives Retail Industry to Team Up On Bridge

NEW YORK, NY, July 30, 2021 – Bridge, an e-commerce community, reported a record increase in membership as the pandemic continued to rattle the retail landscape. In the last 12 months, 275 retail stores joined Bridge, bringing the total membership to more than 826 stores—a 50% increase. ...
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July 30, 2021 Beatriz Ball’s ORGANIC PEARL Nova Bowls Shine Brightly
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Beatriz Ball’s ORGANIC PEARL Nova Bowls Shine Brightly
July 30, 2021
In the field of astronomy, “nova” refers to a star that suddenly becomes thousands of times brighter and then gradually fades to its original intensity. In the realm of tableware, our ORGANIC PEARL Nova bowl shines brightly always.

Rimmed in sparkling metallic beads, enhanced by richly organic surfaces--and some featuring flirty curves-- Nova bowls embody good design ... with unmistakable Beatriz Ball flair. Equally at home with your casual dinnerware or dressed up for a party.&...
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July 28, 2021 Bring Home the Beach with the OCEAN Aruba Collection from Beatriz Ball
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Bring Home the Beach with the OCEAN Aruba Collection from Beatriz Ball
July 28, 2021
Aruba, the name conjures up images of swaying palms, blue Caribbean waves and snow-white sands. The Aruba items in Beatriz Ball’s OCEAN Collection capture the splendor of the island in gleaming hand-polished metal. With organic shapes, surfaces resembling rippling sands, and some with naturalistic shell and starfish details, Aruba brings the seaside home.

The marvelously versatile two-part Aruba Chip and Dip features a surface resembling windswept sands and is ideal for serving iced ...
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July 9, 2021 New York Times: 8-page spread showing a struggling Main Street in America
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New York Times: 8-page spread showing a struggling Main Street in America
July 9, 2021
The Times ran a massive 8-page section  of Wilkes-Barre, PA’s downtown.  The insert, one continuous piece (4-full pages each side), showed a Main Street in flux. Even with rent averaging $9/square foot, many stores are teetering on survival.  

The only entities that seem to be growing in the area are universities and government agencies.  

Trivia: Planters Peanuts was started here and used to have its office on this strip.   View Post
July 8, 2021 New Baobob Ravinstara Embroidered Candles At Glassworks!
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New Baobob Ravinstara Embroidered Candles At Glassworks!
July 8, 2021
Click here to shop for Baobob Ravinstara Candles on this website.

Crocheted by hand by craftswomen in a Malagasy women’s cooperative in Madagascar, this Baobob collection will enchant your interiors with an air of vacation. Natural leaf motifs are embroidered with colored raffia threads, derived from the native Raffia tree. This 6th edition marks a creative turning point with a new technique using a figurative drawing embroidered on raffia. Ravinstara, introduced in Madagascar in the ...
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July 6, 2021 Servers with Seaside Style
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Servers with Seaside Style
July 6, 2021
One look at these exquisite OCEAN Starfish Salad Servers, and you'll be transported to a windswept beach. 

Tipped with artfully sculpted shellfish, the pair can be mixed and matched with bowls from Beatriz Ball’s Ocean, Vento or Organic Pearl Collections.

Beatriz Ball’s intensely handmade products employ eco-friendly and sustainable materials and are crafted by artisans who trace a heritage of metalworking for generations. An original Beatriz Ball design, sustainably ...
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July 3, 2021 What can we learn from Avon? Espirit de corps
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What can we learn from Avon? Espirit de corps
July 3, 2021
I found this article about the new book 'Ding Dong! Avon Calling!' inspiring. Avon empowered many people to be in business for themselves. Bridge believes in a similar mantra of empowering people to start and run a retail business. 

I appreciate Avon promoting an espirit de corps to motivate its thousands of sales people. I share news like this very post for the same reason. Our platform is designed to help members share and support each other--much like Avon's literature for sales ...
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June 20, 2021 Casafina Promotes Accessing Stock on Bridge
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Casafina Promotes Accessing Stock on Bridge
June 20, 2021
Bridge allows a brand to load stock to its Bridge account. There is no charge to load stock. After a brand starts sharing stock via Bridge, the brand often wishes to promote the benefits of this service. In this example, Casafina's national sales manager is sharing with reps via an email the importance of real-time stock sharing. He says it is more accurate and saves time.

Steering customers towards in-stock product makes customers happier (no one likes back orders) and boosts sales for in-...
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June 19, 2021 Three Reasons 800 Retailers Choose Bridge Store
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Three Reasons 800 Retailers Choose Bridge Store
June 19, 2021
Let’s imagine a retailer wants to operate an online store. What would the retailer and its customers experience when using Bridge vs other software?  We found that a retailer using Bridge can go from having no web store to one with thousands of products in under an hour. And, there’s no charge. Other software doesn’t offer this ability.  

To highlight our findings, we put together this comparison graphic showing Bridge Store and Shopify. (We chose Shopify to ...
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June 17, 2021 2x Faster
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2x Faster
June 17, 2021
I’m excited to share a new, free service for our stores. Bridge is offering a wholesale ordering service where you can place wholesale orders via your Bridge account. More than 100 brands are participating.

Martin Garding, owner of Lawren's in Huntsville, shared this about Bridge's new wholesale service:

Bridge Wholesale is by far the easiest way to order from our suppliers. It cuts down on mistakes that could occur ordering through other channels. I like that the images and item ...
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June 17, 2021 WSJ: Shops Join Forces vs. Amazon
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WSJ: Shops Join Forces vs. Amazon
June 17, 2021
I enjoyed today’s WSJ article about stores teaming up to take on Amazon. Since Bridge has collectivized 800 indie shops to push back against Amazon, we can relate to efforts to help stores team up and boost their communities.  

The article mentions Shopify and its popularity among indie shops. Shopify, along with BigComerce, Big Cartel, Wix, and Magento, are platforms that have helped indies to grow online independent of Amazon.

While we appreciate any platform that helps indies...
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June 2, 2021 OFC's KIT TO THRIVING and (surviving) Rush
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OFC's KIT TO THRIVING and (surviving) Rush
June 2, 2021
OFC's KIT TO THRIVING and (surviving) Rush. Everything your girl needs to pledge like a rockstar. Order online or call 662.234.2515 to pre-order for August 16, 2021 delivery.  View Post
April 27, 2021 In 29 States, Our Stores have a Page 1 Google Ranking
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In 29 States, Our Stores have a Page 1 Google Ranking
April 27, 2021
Bridge is helping indie stores take back market share: 
  • When searching for gift registries, Google displays on page 1 more retailers using Bridge software than any other retailer or software provider. 
  • Stores using Bridge are beating big-box stores such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Walmart, and Target in Google.
  • We are helping stores out rank online players like Amazon and Zola.
  • Bridge retailers are also ranking higher than stores using other e-commerce software such as Shopify,
...
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April 20, 2021 Video: 5 Materials Sales Reps Use to Help Their Stores (3 minutes)
Video: 5 Materials Sales Reps Use to Help Their Stores (3 minutes)
April 20, 2021
FOR SALES REPS

In this video, I share how reps help their stores sell more online. I start with the Website Grader, and then share four other supporting materials. Please find PDFs of those print materials here: https://marketplace.guclub.org/library.cfm?id=2303

Watch on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/537859397 View Post
April 18, 2021 Storytelling 📖
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Storytelling 📖
April 18, 2021
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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April 13, 2021 Bridge in 2012
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Bridge in 2012
April 13, 2021
I came across this 2012 HFN article about Bridge. In 2012, we had 40 stores using our e-commerce software. Today, we have more than 740.  Thank you for helping us grow 18x in the last nine years :)

We’re pleased to see William-Wayne & Co. featured in the article. This NYC retail heirloom has been a client since 2001–before we even started Bridge or the Smart Products marketing service. They’re still a client today. Thank you William-Wayne & Co. for trusting with...
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April 8, 2021 New Juliska Clever Creatures At Glassworks!
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New Juliska Clever Creatures At Glassworks!
April 8, 2021
Introducing Clever Creatures! These ceramic pieces are hand-modeled by master artisans in Portugal and are sure to be smile starters & conversation pieces anywhere you put them. Use them on the table or as decor - and for so much more! 
Click here to shop for Juliska Clever Creatures on this website.
Pictured are the Butterfly Pitcher, Bunny Butter Dish, Lamb Lidded Jar, Ram Serving Bowl/Planter, Horse Serving Bowl/Planter, and assorted Juliska Planter/Saucer sets (also in stock).&...
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April 7, 2021 Indie Stores Team Up to Stop Amazon
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Indie Stores Team Up to Stop Amazon
April 7, 2021
Today’s WSJ shares that independent stores, including hardware stores, book shops, and pharmacies, have teamed up to stop Amazon’s bad practices. The group, called Small Business Rising, seeks to use anti-trust laws to prevent Amazon marketplace from selling its own goods—which compete with retailers using the platform. Amazon has been shown to use a retailer’s customer and sales data and bypass the retailer (it’s own customer) in order to make a bigger profit. ...
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April 6, 2021 RetailDive: The omnichannel age is here — and it's expensive
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RetailDive: The omnichannel age is here — and it's expensive
April 6, 2021
Operating a website is expensive--not only because programmers are expensive, but because margins are smaller. 

For 10 years, Bridge has encouraged stores to beef up spending in preparation for the e-commerce boom.  It's easier to spend a little each year over many years than spend money in a panic. Money spent in haste often results in waste. As a reference, when traditional retailers tried to catch Amazon, they often failed in their scramble. Please  recall Macy's buying the ...
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March 31, 2021 Cleaner is Better
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Cleaner is Better
March 31, 2021
Wouldn't you agree that people around the world are cleaner as they undertake to get beyond the global pandemic of Corona virus.  It seems that it is time to stop advising people to do what we all have memorized about washing hands, social distancing and wearing masks. “Following simple handwashing practices is one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of many types of infection and illness." Dr.Michele, MD, of the FDA says. “We can’t advise this ...
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April 2024

Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Tennessee Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
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Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Louisiana Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
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Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Delaware Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
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Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Pennsylvania Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
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Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants Get Sales Leads in Mississippi
Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants Get Sales Leads in Mississippi
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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
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Shop Local Merchants Are 50% of Google Page 1 Results in Georgia
Shop Local Merchants Are 50% of Google Page 1 Results in Georgia
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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
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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
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