News and Analysis

Optable Integration Ushers in a New Era of Privacy-Centric Advertising

Optable Integration Ushers in a New Era of Privacy-Centric Advertising

Since Google’s announcement regarding the eventual end of third-party cookies, the advertising industry has been actively seeking alternatives to ensure continued effectiveness while respecting user privacy. Among the proposed solutions, data clean rooms have emerged as a promising avenue, offering a secure environment for data collaboration in the absence of traditional tracking methods. Optable, a […]

Swiftly Connects the Cart to the Screen for Save a Lot

Swiftly Connects the Cart to the Screen for Save a Lot

Large multi-location (MULO) grocery stores have the resources to develop technologies that enable consumers to make their shopping lists, see sales and coupons, and arrange for delivery or pick-up. But smaller stores may have been at a disadvantage — that is until Swiftly stepped in.  Swiftly, a leading provider of innovative technologies, partnered with Save […]

Placer.ai, ESRI Form Analytics Partnership

Placer.ai, ESRI Form Analytics Partnership

What do you get when you cross a location-analytics company with a company that uses sophisticated geographic-information system (GIS) technology? It’s no joke, and this isn’t a punchline: Placer.ai and ESRI have formed a partnership to provide advertisers and their partners with new and advanced analytics and insight. The goal is to get deeper insights […]

Commentary

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.

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?

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.

Latest Posts

2022 Martech Predictions on Retail Media, CTV/OTT, and Messaging

Each month, Street Fight sources expert insights from the businesses in our ecosystem on our theme. This month’s theme is 2022 predictions, and our experts share their takes on the growth of retail media, the battle for consumer attention, the growth of CTV/OTT, and the increasing centrality of messaging to marketing.

Reputation Report Shows Increasing Relevance of ​​Google Business Profiles

Examining 3.7 million shopper reviews online, Reputation found that Google Business Profiles now have more impact on a location’s findability than any other factor. With 90% of consumers reading reviews before making a purchase, and review volume up 12% from 2020, retailers can’t afford to miss out on the opportunities that localized online marketing provides.

2021 Ranking Factors Report Underscores Importance of Google Profiles and Reviews

Three of the most notable trends — the ever-increasing importance of native Google My Business (now Google Business Profile) factors and, in particular, of reviews, as well as the diminished impact of citation building — are reinforced this year, with Google profile optimization accounting for 36% of local ranking, up from 33% last year, and reviews inching up from 16% to 17%, while citations continue at 7%, down significantly in importance compared to their prominent role in earlier years.

Inform Your Multichannel Customer Experience Strategy

Business Messaging Best Practices: A Conversation with Meta

Messaging is one of the core ways customers interact with local brick-and-mortar businesses. Yet this key part of the customer experience often leads to frustration, and automation, which is supposed to boost convenience, sometimes leaves customers feeling underserved.

Heap Raises $110M to Fund the Future of Digital Analytics

Heap, a startup that helps businesses build better digital experiences by surfacing hidden friction and opportunities in the customer journey, has closed on a $110 million Series D round. That brings the company’s valuation to $960 million and solidifies Heap as one of this year’s heavy-hitters among digital analytics platforms for product builders, growth marketers, and analytics teams.

Yelp: Consumers Want Reviews, Not Just Ratings. OK, Google?

For Yelp, consumers’ stated preference for written reviews is good news to share, as the company forces reviewers to leave written text, whereas Big Tech rival Google, which has gained sway in the local reputation space in recent years, allows reviewers to leave a rating out of five stars without further commentary.

5 Predictions for Digital Advertising in 2022

2022 will be another big year for digital advertising. Over the next 12 months, we are likely to see new norms take shape surrounding privacy, targeting, and evolving channels, fundamentally reshaping the industry as we know it today.

5 Brands Leveraging AI to Give Consumers What They Want This Holiday Season

What do shoppers really want this holiday season? As more brands transition to first-party data, advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are taking the guesswork out of managing supply and improving the shopping experience with more personalized service.

Last-Mile Delivery

With Supply Chain in Crisis, Retailers Use Tech-Enabled Processes to Monitor Demand

Demand for e-commerce shopping and fast shipping continues to be high, which puts additional pressure on retailers to fulfill consumers’ needs. As smaller, independent retailers look at how they can handle the upcoming surge, now is the time to utilize cloud-based communication tools like Twilio to keep customers satisfied.

LBMA: Supermarket Uses In-Store Data to Drive Programmatic DOOH Ads

In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Life360 acquiring Tile, Albert Heijn using in-store data to inform programmatic DOOH ads, Mondelez Vietnam using AI in a mooncake marketing campaign, and WaitTime bringing load-balancing tech to retail with a Mall of America pilot.