News and Analysis
The New $20/Hour Minimum Wage in CA (and How MULO Brands are Coping)
As if fast-casual restaurants didn’t have enough labor challenges lately, the latest sting for them is the boost to $20/hour as the minimum wage in California. These MULO (multi-location) brands have had to deal with the pandemic, supply chain and labor shortages, lack of brand loyalty, food safety and health, the impact of technology on […]
Did the Music Die or Just Take a Beat as Sam Ash Closes Stores?
Music stores used to be wildly popular. Although many still exist and vinyl records have made a comeback, the MULO (multi-location) music store category is struggling. Sam Ash recently announced that it’s closing 18 of its 45 stores throughout the U.S. The first music store opened in the U.S. in 1759. Sam Ash sells instruments […]
BOOM: Shopping Malls are Back!
A new study by Placer.ai confirms that shoppers are returning to malls. That’s great news for legacy MULO (multi-location) brands and new concepts like pickleball, pop-ups, and eatertainment venues, which are filling spaces left vacant by department stores and other big-box retailers. The study reveals five key findings and trends: Visits to malls are getting […]
Commentary
Could Delivery Service Partners Offer Restaurants More Than a Lifeline?
Data and AI enabled the digitization of advertising a decade ago. Now, those same forces that drove innovation and transformation in advertising are changing the dynamics between restaurants and delivery service partners. DSPs are becoming more than a lifeline. They’re helping fundamentally change how restaurants and the industry operate while also helping to create the omnichannel restaurant business of the future.
The Post-App Era: Optimizing Customer Interactions with Personalization
Now is the time to pivot. Shifting the focus to mobile and social messaging channels might seem like a tall order, but optimizing customer interactions through these channels can be easily accomplished if brands increase their social touch points with consumers. After all, a customer journey is only successful if you understand the customer’s needs upfront.
Latest Posts
Retailers Turn to AI to Combat Burnout, Decrease Merchandiser Workloads
As retailers look at getting more done and freeing up their staff to focus on high-value tasks, interest is growing in the use of AI to handle the mundane tasks that take up too much of a merchandiser’s time — like fixing typos on e-commerce websites and researching underperforming product categories. Retailers are also using AI to flag when new products show signs of being more popular than expected, so merchandisers can act quickly and notch strategic wins.
Location-Based Marketing Association: Kalibrate Partners with Near on Location Intelligence
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Best Buy teaming up with Pokemon Go, Taiwan’s FamilyMart launching a convenience store on wheels, Baidu getting China’s first autonomous robotaxi license, and Kalibrate partnering with Near on location intelligence.
TikTok Jumps into Local Events
For multi-location marketers, TikTok’s foray into events, and its increasing role as a destination for local discovery, portend that the platform is joining Facebook and other forums as a key place to connect online with local shoppers. TikTok can’t be ignored as an online-to-offline marketing channel.
5 Retailers Using Live Shopping to Boost Back-to-School Sales
Meta will reportedly shut down its live shopping feature on Facebook in October, but that doesn’t mean the concept of live shopping is dead. Across the retail marketing space, multi-location retailers are investing in live-stream content as a way to leverage the popularity of social media and engage with Gen Z consumers this back-to-school shopping season.
What Does Google’s Decision to Postpone Cookie-Cutting Mean for Multi-Location Brands?
Multi-location brand marketers got a big break last month, when Google announced its decision to postpone deprecating third-party cookies until at least 2024. The temporary respite gives marketers additional time to consider the changing landscape, especially when it comes to targeting customers online.
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