News and Analysis
Santa Needs Fewer Elves This Year: Trends in Retail Employment
A recent retail employment study by Indeed indicates that although people are still hunting for seasonal jobs this holiday season, the number of job postings has dropped to pre-pandemic levels. Postings are down 3 percent from 2019 and 6 percent year-over-year. About 39 percent of Americans have side hustles, and many consumers depend on holiday […]
Finance Lobby and Placer.ai Partner to Elevate Data-Driven Insights
In a move aimed at reshaping the landscape of commercial real estate financing, Finance Lobby recently announced a strategic partnership with Placer.ai, the leading location data platform. This alliance signifies a monumental step for both organizations and underscores their shared commitment to revolutionizing the industry. Unlocking New Horizons For Finance Lobby users, this integration ushers […]
Deft CEO: the State of SEO and Search Advertising
The team at Deft has some controversial takes on the state of SEO and search advertising. From the beginning, the company was founded on the belief that e-commerce is the most over-SEO’d and over-advertised search category — and the problem is only getting worse, as both Amazon and Google continue to make money by keeping […]
Commentary
What Location Data Tells Us About Post-Pandemic Tourism
Data-driven insights have become crucial as the world prepares to reopen and drive growth to key travel destinations. Every single consumer segment has had to change their lifestyles and adapt to a changed landscape. This increases the urgency of collecting timely data to inform decisions as opposed to relying on past wisdom.
Shoppability is the New Black
But like many Covid-driven trends, shoppable content has been accelerated by shifting circumstances. And now it’s on a collision course with the holiday season. This means that the companies that are positioned to capture that spend will reap the rewards this year. We’ve seen much jockeying in the ad tech world for this very reason.
Latest Posts
Unpacking Holiday Trends: What Retailers Need to Know
Although the forecast is relatively rosy, retailers are competing for every dollar. Many are taking a more strategic approach to capitalize on pent-up shopping energy than they did last year. Let’s take a closer look at what we can expect from the 2021 holiday season, including best practices for maximizing sales.
Retailers Use AI to Combat Shrinking Seasonal Workforce, Surging Customer Demands
Increases in customer service tickets are expected to come just as seasonal workforces are hitting all-time lows. According to Puneet Mehta, founder and CEO of the AI platform Netomi, about 25% fewer agents are working in seasonal customer service roles now than before the pandemic. Customer service accounts for a lot of the seasonal roles retailers have traditionally hired for, and now retailers are looking at leveraging technology to fill that labor gap.
What You Need to Know about the Google My Business Name Change
The GMB name change brings with it a fair degree of uncertainty. Google may be retaining, for instance, the model of an API that helps partners manage listings for both SMBs and larger brands, but if the company is simultaneously building out a snazzy new interface for those same multi-location brands to manage Google profiles on their own, does this fact represent an existential threat to listing management companies?
Marketers Want Multiple IDs to Replace Third-Party Cookies
Marketers and publishers asking which will be the next-generation ID to rule them all are misguided, according to a new study by data solutions provider Lotame. The company surveyed 200 senior US marketing and publisher decision-makers, and 33% of marketers said they were open to “any number” of IDs, while 33% said three identity solutions would do the trick.
LBMA: Chili’s Tests a Robot Server
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Chili’s restaurants testing a robot server named Rita, Locky Dock Media Network blending media and public good, ProMobi releasing tech to track frontline workers, and EzFill adding gasoline to a growing list of on-demand delivery items.
What’s Behind Google’s Fake Review Problem?
In an analysis of more than 4 million store reviews on Google, Facebook, Yelp, and TripAdvisor, Uberall and The Transparency Company found that Google has the highest average percentage of inauthentic reviews across business categories. More than one in 10 reviews on Google’s platform was identified as fraudulent or fake in Uberall’s analysis. The category with the highest percentage of fake reviews was locksmiths, while pharmacies came in as the category with the lowest percentage of fake reviews.
Why Are So Many Chatbots Missing the Mark?
The use of chatbots for retail customer service has been on the rise for years. According to a report by Drift, use of chatbots as a brand communication channel increased by 92% between 2019 and 2020. Nearly one quarter of consumers used chatbots to communicate with a business last year. But how many of those interactions were positive, and how many customers left those interactions feeling like their issues were resolved?
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