Will 2020 Be the Year to End Black Friday?

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Black Friday this year will probably look a lot like it would’ve been in about a decade; we’ve just accelerated the online shift. 2020 will be the year that Black Friday and Cyber Monday stop being shopping ‘days.’ They’ll be turned completely upside down for years to come as retailers embrace a holiday shopping season of deals, strategized and targeted based on insights from online data. 

Free and Premium Loyalty Programs Can and Should Coexist

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Brands like Lululemon and Restoration Hardware have strong, headline-making loyalty programs with annual fees upwards of $100. But thousands of brands also have free, points-based loyalty programs — can the two coexist in a single brand? 

The short answer: Yes. With shoppers’ desire for richer experiences and more valuable rewards and retailers’ need to gather data to support these desires, a blend of both premium and free loyalty is an advantageous route. 

Should Small Businesses Participate in Black Friday?

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The total amount spent by shoppers on Black Friday in 2018 was $715.5 billion, according to The Balance. What’s even more noteworthy is the average amount spent per shopper, at $1,007.24. This represents an increase of approximately 4.3% over Black Friday 2017 sales. The numbers show that shoppers are ready and willing to spend on Black Friday. So, rather than leaving it to large-scale retailers, if you’re a small business owner, why not consider joining in?

The truth is, you still might be wondering whether the additional time and investment are worth it. Below, we present some pros and cons of participating in Black Friday you may not have considered.

Holiday Discounts Don’t Necessarily Lead to Loyal Customers — Here’s Why

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When brands go in on discount-focused events like RetailMeNot’s Cash Back Day, which was held earlier this month, there’s concern that the long-term impact might be negative and that brands might be training customers to expect discounts. That expectation can reduce the perceived value of the brand’s products, and it can diminish brand equity over time.

The Art of Making a Retail Holiday

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From Black Friday and Cyber Monday to back-to-school sales, retail holidays may be arbitrary, but they have become a core component of successful sales and marketing strategies. As a result of their success, these holidays are becoming expected, fixtures of the retail industry embedded in its collective psyche. Companies must innovate to keep them fresh. Brands need to monitor competitors to see what works and what doesn’t work and tweak their strategies appropriately. 

Data on successful “holiday” campaigns reveal how to make the most of holidays, whether long-established or freshly innovated.

Last-Minute Shoppers Help Small Retailers Compete with Amazon for Holiday Sales

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During the holiday shopping season, it’s Amazon’s world — or is it?

Outside the digital sphere, brick-and-mortar holiday sales at big-box shops like Walmart and Best Buy continue to be buoyed by bullish shoppers willing to hit the streets in search of timely deals during consumer-focused quasi-holidays like Black Friday. As a result, shoppers are spending more during the holidays than ever before. 

And then there’s the independent, local retailer. How is a small shop supposed to compete with the ease of mobile e-commerce or the allure of big-box doorbuster deals? Turns out, they have an ace in the hole: last-minute shoppers. 

RetailMeNot’s Hoyt: This Will Be the Most Personalized Holiday Season We’ve Ever Had

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Today marks the beginning of a crucial week and month for retailers, as shoppers clamor for deals and steals on presents for family, friends, and coworkers. Whether in-store, online, or a mobile device, an astounding amount of retail business will be transacted in the next five weeks. RetailMeNot vice president of communications Brian Hoyt said to expect a more personalized, more omnichannel holiday shopping season this year, courtesy of the ever-present smartphone.

6 Demand-Based Pricing Platforms for Restaurants

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With the goal of maximizing revenue and keeping their tables filled throughout the day, restaurants are using hyperlocal marketing platforms to incentivize guest reservations during off-peak times. Here are six hyperlocal platforms that restaurants can use to implement demand-based pricing…

After Bust, LivingSocial Looks to Boom Again

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LivingSocial isn’t quite the rocketship it was a few years ago. But, after a year of pulling back, and with a change in leadership in the works, the company is looking for a second wind. Street Fight recently caught up with Doug Miller, chief revenue officer at LivingSocial, to talk about where the company went wrong, how it plans to get back on track, and what wave it looks to ride next…

5 Self-Serve Deals Platforms for SMBs

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Groupon has generated significant press thanks to the recent rollout of its self-serve Deal Builder, which local merchants can use to create limited-time promotions for themselves. However, the daily deals giant is hardly the only vendor offering this type of service to SMBs. For years, a number of hyperlocal vendors have been providing self-service solutions to SMBs…

Street Fight Daily: Tribune Resumes Journatic, Facebook Talks SMBs

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Tribune Resumes Limited Usage of Journatic (Chicago Tribune)… Facebook’s Dan Levy Touts Small Business Growth: Advertisers Have Nearly Doubled Since January, Promoted 2.5M Posts (TechCrunch)… BIA/Kelsey: Deals Still Aim for $5.5B by 2016 (NetNewsCheck)…

Mobile Payments For Deals? Slim Majority Says No in Street Fight Poll

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A new Street Fight poll has found that about 43% of consumers are willing to use a mobile wallet service in exchange for receiving deals from retailers. The survey of 500 U.S. consumers finds that a shade more than 17% are very willing to pay via mobile for deals, and another 26% are somewhat willing. But 11% are unlikely to pay with a smartphone, 24% say they’re uninterested, and another 22% don’t know what a mobile wallet is…

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Offers, Groupon Editor Exits

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Facebook Adds Barcodes, New Ad-Buy Rider To Its Offers Coupon Product (TechCrunch)… Groupon Loses Managing Editor to Sun-Times Parent Wrapports (Romenesko)… Trulia Stock Pops on Opening Day (Wired)…

Forecast: Consumer Daily Deals Spending to Reach $5.5 Billion by 2016

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“We’re leaving phase one, in which deals companies basically sent out sharply discounted deals to large mailing lists,” said BIA/Kelsey’s Peter Krasilovsky. “Deals companies are now beginning to also focus on the merchant relationship, offering them a variety of business services, from reporting and payment processing to loyalty programs and continuous, instant deals.”

Street Fight Poll: For Deals, It’s Still ‘One and Done’

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According to our poll, almost 42% of 750 consumers surveyed on September 6 said they’ve never returned to a business they first visited to redeem a deals voucher, and fewer than 17% have been back more than five times. Almost 17% returned once, and a shade less than 25% between two and five times.

Study: Positive Daily Deal Experiences Don’t Ensure Repeat Business

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A new study of why consumers use daily deals paints a pleasant picture for local merchants looking to get new customers in the door — but it remains to be seen if they can get those customers to keep coming back. The study also concludes that more than one-third of consumers are more eager to buy deals from local, small-to-medium sized business as opposed to big, national brands.

6 White-Label Deal Platforms for Publishers

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Launching a branded deals program gives publishers an additional stream of revenue in a notoriously difficult advertising market, potentially increasing a media company’s annual advertising revenue anywhere from 15% to 30%. These programs also give community newspapers, hyperlocal blogs, television stations, and radio stations a way to capitalize on the trust and authority they’ve developed with their audiences over the years.

Street Fight Daily: 04.26.11

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.

Facebook is planning to introduce a new service called Deals, an effort to tap into the consumer frenzy over online discounts. With Deals, the social networking giant is entering a crowded market led by overnight sensations like Groupon and LivingSocial. (NYT/Bits)…

Mobile advertising inventory still goes largely unfilled because the relevance and targeting isn’t that good. PlaceIQ sifts through tons of data about locations to give marketers a mini-zipcode-like profile of each block. (TechCrunch)…

Even experts acknowledge a serious lack of hard data about the commercial power of location-based services. “There are none of the data and feedback mechanisms that businesses need in order to know that location-based services are a good idea.” (BBC News)…