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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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February 28, 2022 Ready for the Ride: Peloton & Total Addressable Market
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Ready for the Ride: Peloton & Total Addressable Market
February 28, 2022
Peloton’s new CEO, Barry McCarthy, was recently interviewed in the New York Times (Read the article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/19/business/dealbook/barry-mccarthy-interview-peloton.html). The authors asked Mr. McCarthy if he thought that everyone who needs a workout bike already had one. They questioned where else a company making stationary exercise bikes can go (…an ironic question for a bike product that literally can’t move). The Times wanted to know what ...
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February 28, 2022 Is Zola a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing?
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Is Zola a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing?
February 28, 2022
I think that Zola, an online provider of gift registries, may be harming local stores. Zola allows brides to pick things from any site, such as an indie store’s gift registry. Zola may then encourage the registrant to bypass that local store and use those gift funds with Zola. This is an issue because Zola has handled more than 650,000 registries, and its revenue is estimated to be $130m. Millions of dollars may have been diverted away from indie, brick-and-mortar stores to Zola&rsquo...
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February 26, 2022 Amazon charged some customers more than others for the same item
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Amazon charged some customers more than others for the same item
February 26, 2022
In today’s Times, we learn that Amazon is raising and lowering the prices of items millions of times a day. We also learn that it has displayed different prices for the same item based on who you are. Imagine going in to a store and the paper towels are $3 for the person next to you but $4 for you. 

I can attest to Amazon changing prices multiple times a day because Amazon crawls my retailers’ websites multiple times a day.  It’s as if they have spies coming in our...
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February 24, 2022 Hackers targeting indie shops
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Hackers targeting indie shops
February 24, 2022
Yesterday I spoke with an independent jewelry store that was targeted by cybercriminals. The criminals created a ransomware attack and held the store’s computer data hostage. The store had to scramble to find backup data and reopen.  The store called the FBI and didn’t pay.  The hackers then sent phishing emails to all the store’s customers—attacking the store’s customers and trying to infect them.  

Today’s WSJ shares that retail and ...
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February 15, 2022 Last Place...and Winning 🏁
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Last Place...and Winning 🏁
February 15, 2022
This past weekend on the way to Florida to visit my brothers, I read about Squarespace’s advertising history. (Read the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/13/business/how-did-squarespace-know-podcasts-would-get-this-big.html).  In 2009, Anthony Casalena, the founder of Squarespace, paid $20,000 to advertise on a tech podcast. While that was a lot for a small, young company (Casalena had started his business just six years earlier in a dorm room in 2003), Casalena said the ...
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February 9, 2022 What's In a Brand Name™️?
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What's In a Brand Name™️?
February 9, 2022
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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January 26, 2022 Is Amazon's 'Viral' Growth Due to Mobile Phones?
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Is Amazon's 'Viral' Growth Due to Mobile Phones?
January 26, 2022
Scott Galloway, a business leader and NYU professor, shares that we're now spending over 4 hours a day on our mobile phones--up from just 20 minutes in 2010. (…I wrote part of this post on my iPhone.) What does this mean? Lots of opportunities for Amazon--as well as Facebook, Instagram, and other tech titans--to sell to us. Our cell phones are, in essence, 1,000 'buy buttons' in our pockets (or on our nightstands) that encourage us to buy stuff online, any time of the day. 

I ...
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January 16, 2022 HFN: Atlanta Market Presents the Newest in Tabletop...and 45% Use Bridge
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HFN: Atlanta Market Presents the Newest in Tabletop...and 45% Use Bridge
January 16, 2022
When HFN magazine shared new introductions from the Atlanta show, Bridge was happy to see that five out of the 11 brands featured (45%) are Bridge partner brands. Why is this important? Retailers using Bridge will immediately display these new introductions in their Bridge Stores without any work or money spent. This technology allows the retailers to more quickly market and sell these products. 

Brands featured in the article that are Bridge partner brands include:
  • Abbiamo Tutto
...
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January 16, 2022 A New Vow for Brides: I Swear To Love Platforms That Support Communities
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A New Vow for Brides: I Swear To Love Platforms That Support Communities
January 16, 2022
Today’s Times shares that Amazon Prime members often spend twice as much compared to those that aren’t members. This led to me ponder: What if a first step to reducing Amazon’s monopolies is just canceling a $119/year ‘membership’? Prime may be Amazon’s strength—as well as its achilles. If we can find a way to undermine it, I believe one can save money and our communities. 

A recent study shared that Amazon is now the leading provider of ...
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January 12, 2022 Frametech named one of 25 Gifted Retailers by Gifts and Decorative Accessories
Frametech named one of 25 Gifted Retailers by Gifts and Decorative Accessories
January 12, 2022
We are pleased that we have once again been named one of 25 Gifted Retailers from across the country by Gifts and Decorative Accessories magazine.  We were also named a Gifted Retailer in 2012 and nominated for an REA award for best specialty shop in 2018.  Check out the January issue of the magazine and you will see that we are Retailer of the Month.   View Post
December 30, 2021 Bloomberg: Shopify vs. Amazon
Bloomberg: Shopify vs. Amazon
December 30, 2021
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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December 15, 2021 Do We Need to Drop Dropbox?
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Do We Need to Drop Dropbox?
December 15, 2021
Relying on file-sharing services like Dropbox to sell products often costs stores an extra $750 per brand and hurts sales

I work with 900 retailers who tell me they are drowning in a sea of Dropbox folders containing Excel files and product images. What can we do about this? First, let’s review what’s happening: When a brand wants to share products with a store, it emails the store a link from Dropbox or a similar file-sharing service. A store may receive five to ten Dropbox links...
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December 7, 2021 Style your bar with the spirits of the season ✨🍷
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Style your bar with the spirits of the season ✨🍷
December 7, 2021
Have the holiest, jolliest Holiday bar of your dreams with sparkling glassware and shimmering gold-tone serving pieces from Beatriz Ball.

The Venice all purpose glass is a celebration of traditional glassblowing techniques in a brilliantly clear and artfully detailed goblet—perfect for Christmas cocktails. (Venice champagne flutes also available.)

The new SIERRA MODERN Seattle medium round platter and Maia small oval bowl in champagne gold add a touch of class to the bar and are ...
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December 5, 2021 NYT: Amazon is a “maze of debris”
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NYT: Amazon is a “maze of debris”
December 5, 2021
Today's Times shares that Amazon is hiding behind  “sellers privacy” and section 230 to help fuel its books sales—even if it creates chaos in its marketplace, higher prices, and even fake books. 

Read the full article at NYT:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/03/technology/amazon-bookstore.html View Post
November 29, 2021 Platforms 👠
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Platforms 👠
November 29, 2021
When I was 24-years old, a market research company sent me to Philadelphia to survey potential users about a new offering from General Electric Finance. Your first question may be: "Wait, Jason was once 24?" Your second may be: "GE had a consumer finance arm?" Yes, and yes. GE was once a conglomerate with its hands in many industries, from television to nuclear reactors to jet engines. GE, like Toshiba and Johnson & Johnson, has since shrunk. But the era of the ...
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November 22, 2021 Retail Watch: Buy Early
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Retail Watch: Buy Early
November 22, 2021
Today’s Times suggests that tech shoppers buy early—which likely can be said for most gifts, tech or otherwise.  

Read the full Times article: 
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/technology/personaltech/chip-gaming-device-shortage.html View Post
November 17, 2021 ShopLocal.org
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ShopLocal.org
November 17, 2021
Last week, a gift shop in Alabama signed up for Bridge and had a coaching call with Jordyn, our retailer coach. Within one day, the retailer had a Bridge Store offering 15k products and a full suite of online services to serve its customers. (See the store's Bridge account here: https://shealeighs.bridgecatalog.com) 

I’m even amazed at what our software can do!  Our software requires a lot of parts to come together: our tech team codes the software, our coaches call the stores...
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November 16, 2021 Compra Local 🏝
Compra Local 🏝
November 16, 2021
Upon boarding my flight to Mexico last week, did I eagerly wait the arrival of the bar cart? Maybe, but not before cracking open the book Great by Choice by Jim Collins.  I recommend the book because it provides new approaches to success. One takeaway in the book is not new: we’ve got to work each day.  Just like the anecdote in the book’s introduction about Norwegian explorer Amundsen, we have to put in miles each day. In a race to the South Pole, Amundsen's unprepared ...
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September 26, 2021 Bridge Beats The Knot and Walmart
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Bridge Beats The Knot and Walmart
September 26, 2021
When it comes to gift registries, Bridge helps indie stores rank higher in Google than other players in the retail industry. In the example shown, we see four retailers using Bridge to rank on page 1 of Google. Two retailers beat The Knot, and four beat Walmart.

While our indie stores are just a fraction of the size of The Knot or Walmart, they outrank them because they use Bridge's technology. Bridge's software and network of websites offers advantages that bigger entities can't overcome ...
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September 2, 2021 Vietri Fauna Flora At Glassworks!
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Vietri Fauna Flora At Glassworks!
September 2, 2021
Click here to shop for Vietri Fauna on our Glassworks website.

Dinnertime freshness, handsponged (a painting technique) in Umbria, Italy. The pictured Fauna Flora Assorted Salad Plates outline the delicate simplicity of nature’s greenery to depict what is commonly found during the hunt (la caccia) in Umbria. Made of Dishwasher and Microwave safe Terra Bianca. Terra Bianca is a type of Italian clay known as the perfect canvas when it comes to pottery, as it makes colors more vibrant. ...
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Press: Shop Local & Bridge in the News
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Shop Local Helps Indie Merchants in Florida Get Google Sales Leads 🔍
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April 2024

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

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