News and Analysis

The MULO Dozen: November Brands in Review

The MULO Dozen: November Brands in Review

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As we wind down 2023 and head into the holidays, here are some of the latest happenings among MULO (multi-location) brands. Because consumer sentiment and social media buzz can have a huge impact on brand reputation and sales, we’ve added a new section this month — consumer voices. If you have any news to add […]

AxleHire CEO Goes Deep into Delivery Experience

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If you think the retail industry is overwhelmed at this time of the year, when the holidays take center stage, try working in the shipping industry. Raj Ramanan is CEO of AxleHire, a last-mile shipping service for e-commerce retailers, touts its “Amazon-like” service experience of next-day and same-day delivery as desired. And satisfaction goes right […]

What Content Marketers Can Expect in 2024

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Productsup is a P2C (product-to-consumer) platform that processes the flow of content about more than two trillion items a month across upwards of 2,500 marketing and retail channels for enterprise customers around the world, including IKEA, ALDI, and Sephora. Its goal is to help companies overcome commerce complexity to deliver consistent product information and a […]

Commentary

Tips for Black Friday and Cyber Monday Discounting

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To meet the moment, retailers should be paying attention to the macro-factors impacting the current retail environment, ever-changing customer preferences (even so much as the final days before BFCM), and the nuances of the company’s own assortment and capabilities.

LBMA: Google Enters OEM Vehicle Navigation Space

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In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Google getting into the OEM vehicle navigation space, Giant Food piloting mobile deals on perishable foods, Lowe’s launching a “room scanning tool” using LIDAR in their app, and Amazon’s Alexa coming to hospitals and assisted living homes.

Snap Doubles Down on Immersive Ads

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Snap has been doubling down on AR — mostly seen through updates to its Lens Studio AR development platform and the evolving formats it offers to brand marketers. This recently culminated in two new programs to further stimulate AR marketing: Snap’s AR Lab and its Arcadia creative studio.

Latest Posts

What’s Next for Personalization and Digitization in E-Commerce

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We’ll see the evolution of two major e-commerce trends in 2022. First, e-commerce retailers will work to make their digital homes less of a copy of every other e-commerce site and more of a destination that users want to spend time at. Second, the line between brick-and-mortar and digital is going to become fuzzier and less defined.

How Do the “Other” Search Engines Handle Local Search?

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I wanted to look in particular at search engines other than Google and their treatment of local search. I was intrigued by the recent announcements that Bing was making forays into product inventory as a component of local search as well as the launch of Bing Travel, a Google Travel competitor but with a very different approach to destination-based search and discovery. Similarly, recent news about the exponential growth of Brave and DuckDuckGo in our era of privacy impelled me to find out more about their handling of local results.

Location-Based Marketing Association: Indoor Maps as a Service

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In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association discusses Catalina partnering with Place IQ, Japanese dating agency Matching Advisor Press using vending machines to find matches, Seattle launching an NFT Museum, and Here Technologies launching Indoor Map as a service.

TV Advertising Versus Social and Search

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TV ads are delivered to consumers in a clutter-free environment, where the consumer is usually in a “leaned back,” focused state of being. TV ads are often delivered via 60″+ TV screens with full surround-sound audio, creating an immersive “sight, sound, motion” impact like no other medium. Of course TV drives better recall! And if TV ads drive better recall, basic logic would conclude that TV ads also drive better consumer response.

6 Contactless Shopping Solutions for In-Store Retail

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The retail industry took notice when Merkle debuted its newest contactless shopping solution at CES 2022 this month, but the company’s Scan & Know product isn’t the only touchless retail solution on the market. Thanks to the continued adoption of augmented reality and virtual reality among consumers, more technology providers are developing in-store retail experiences that keep physical contact to a minimum.

Catalina Partners with PlaceIQ to Connect Omnichannel with OOH

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A new partnership between the shopper intelligence provider Catalina and the data provider PlaceIQ could have a major impact on the way multi-location brands run optimized OOH campaigns in the coming years.

6 Contextual Video Advertising Platforms

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Advertisers are leaning into contextual targeting as a way to connect with consumers in brand-suitable environments. They’re also investing more heavily in video advertising, upping ad spend on video by 12% in 2021 to a record $81.9 billion for the year. As we move further into 2022, the real magic looks to be in the combination of contextual advertising with video advertising, as more brands discover the power that comes with being able to reach audiences interested in their messages with video content that’s designed to engage.

2021 Lessons That Should Inform Your 2022 E-Commerce Marketplace Strategy

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This digital-first mindset applies more pressure than ever on brands to create a holistic online experience in 2022, one that combines tried and true business strategies with creative new methods for enhanced visibility and customer experience. Success will come down to three critical elements in the year ahead: brand discoverability, compelling offers, and seamless customer experiences.

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Real-Time Data Will Enhance the Customer Experience in 2022

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Digital intelligence platforms like Scuba Analytics and FullStory are expanding rapidly — with funding rounds led by some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. Big data analytics is expected to grow to $100 billion in the next five years, driven in large part by demand from retail brands for real-time insights and accurate customer engagement data.

5 Ways Data Privacy Will Evolve in 2022

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But the glut of new solutions does not mean that martech, much less the private sector as a whole, has figured out how to prepare for the future of data privacy. Here are five privacy predictions to keep an eye on in 2022. It would be in your best interest to determine how you and your company are affected.