Street Fight Daily: Target Focuses On In-Store, Nokia’s Hyperlocal Future
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology
Target Tightens Focus On Mobile As In-Store Shopping Tool (Mobile Commerce Daily)
Target is giving its mobile applications a significant boost with location-based features, pointing to the critical role that in-store experiences are playing for retailers in taking their mobile efforts to the next level. Target has updated its iPhone app to include new in-store features as in-store modes and apps play a big role in the way retailers sync up their online and bricks-and-mortar experiences.
Legacy Media’s ‘Agency’ Business: Just More Brand Extension? (Street Fight)
Terry Heaton: When we clear aside all the hype, legacy companies with “agency” offerings are just creating clutter in the marketplace without offering anything of substantial new value for merchants. Media companies are far too busy playing defense to consider offense, and defense always includes copying what the other guy across town is doing.
Sizing Up The Nokia That Remains, HERE Business A Bright Spot That Gains More Platform Freedom (TechCrunch)
Nokia is divesting itself of its hardware division, selling that business mostly off to Microsoft in a deal worth around $7.2 billion announced today. But it will continue to operate its own software and services, including the revamped maps division that it branded Here nearly a year ago, and expanded from geospacial services to additional lines of business including the in-car infotainment system market just last week.
5 Tools for Measuring In-Store Visits Driven By Mobile Ads (Street Fight)
Matching online ad exposure to offline visits has always been challenging for retailers, many of whom are unwilling to invest heavily in platforms that can’t show a direct ROI. Here are five platforms that merchants and CPG brands can use to get a better idea of how much in-store traffic is being generated by their mobile campaigns.
Who Needs Foursquare More: Google, Yahoo Or Microsoft? (MarketingLand)
Greg Sterling: Google doesn’t “need” Foursquare really, although Foursquare’s new push-recommendations announced yesterday are very consistent with Google Now and Field Trip. And it’s doubtful that any investment in Foursquare will make Microsoft’s products more competitive than they already are. The company that really needs Foursquare is Yahoo.
What A Four Seasons Promotion Tells Us About Businesses And Pinterest (ReadWrite)
In an unusual gratis service for social media, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts wants to be your concierge via Pinterest. In a promotion called Pin.Pack.Go., a human concierge will give you personalized travel tips. It’s just one more interesting way businesses are exploring Pinterest as they figure out how best to capitalize on its big and still fast growing user base.
Underdog Businesses Are More Likely to Post Fake Yelp Reviews (Harvard Business Review)
The rise of online review platforms like Yelp has empowered consumers by reducing the informational asymmetry surrounding unfamiliar products and services, but some businesses face strong incentives to post fake reviews, which compromises the trustworthiness of such review sites. New research reveals that independent businesses, those without many existing reviews on Yelp, and those that face intense competition are more likely engage in review fraud on Yelp.
What Happens When You Mash Up 3D Printing and Amazon’s Same-Day Delivery? (Washington Post)
A handful of smaller companies are convinced there’s a way to get products to consumers just as quickly, with greater satisfaction and at a fraction of the overall cost. The future, these companies argue, is in a combination of on-demand 3D printing same-day, local delivery.