News and Analysis
StoreConnect, a Trailblazing Force in E-commerce, Raises $9 Million
E-commerce has come into focus as a critical solution — sometimes the only solution — for small and mid-size businesses that want to sell outside their physical stores and collect insights into consumer behavior. Given the important role that online sales now play in local commerce, it’s no surprise that firms focused on the e-commerce […]
Search Fails May Cost Retailers as Much as $13.8B in Sales This Holiday Season
MULO (multi-location) retailers struggle to compete with Amazon, the online giant. But they are never going to win that battle if they don’t focus on search for the holiday season. A new study by Nosto reveals that as much as $13.8B in sales may be lost on Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) because when consumers […]
Party On! Bankruptcy for Party City May Not Be the End
The media is filled with stories these days of MULO (multi-location) retailers closing stores and doors and declaring bankruptcy. Our BUST series covered Bed Bath & Beyond, Jenny Craig, Christmas Tree Shops, and others. But before you start ringing the death knell on one more MULO brick-and-mortar retailer or restaurant, be aware that the party […]
Commentary
No One Solution Will Dominate the Cambrian Explosion of Digital Identifiers
Over the past year, many solutions have emerged as a means to fill the niche left behind by the third-party cookie – and while not all solutions in this space take the form of newly minted digital identifiers, the population of upstart cookieless IDs continues to grow in size, features, and wide-ranging industry support. This raises the question of just how we’ll identify the ultimate cookieless ID.
How a Brand-First Approach Builds Customer Loyalty
When every step of the buyer journey reflects your brand, from the time shoppers enter your website to the time they make a purchase, you improve your ability to forge deep and lasting connections with your customers. These customers will become loyal brand ambassadors who will advocate for your business and drive meaningful improvements in revenue and loyalty — metrics that will ultimately determine your business’ success.
Latest Posts
6 Buy Now, Pay Later Solutions for Retailers
Retailers that don’t start offering flexible payment options on their checkout pages soon risk losing shoppers who prefer the unconventional approach to financing, especially for more expensive items. Flexible payment solutions tout bigger carts, customization, and faster transactions among their benefits.
B2B Strategy: How to Use Video Marketing to Build Your Brand
There’s no denying it now: Video is the future of B2B marketing. Time and again, studies show that B2B marketers get the most significant results and highest ROI from video marketing efforts. Perhaps it’s no surprise that 93% of marketers say that video is an integral part of their strategy, and 99% intend to continue using it, per Wyzowl research.
Retailers Turn to AI to Assist with Forecasting Challenges
With machine learning and AI, retailers have been able to navigate the continued imbalance between supply and demand. This is especially true for digital-first retailers and on-demand businesses. The number of online grocery shoppers increased by 35 million during the pandemic. That opened the door to new opportunities, but it also opened the door to certain logistical challenges that grocers never experienced previously. For example, online grocery shoppers expect the items in their mobile apps to be in-stock and available for delivery immediately, which is different from a shopper who casually browses store aisles to see what’s available at a brick-and-mortar location.
Street Fight’s May Theme: Payment Power
This month, we change focus to payment innovations with a theme we’re calling Payment Power. Most digital marketing aims, however indirectly, to drive transactions. But what a transaction looks like is rapidly evolving today, and that’s true not just of the technologies that power the point of sale but also of the way brands and retailers are leveraging the point of sale itself to increase revenue, collect data, and differentiate themselves from the competition. The upshot is that payments are powerful, and this month, we investigate the innovations driving that power.
Locations Are Pointing the Way Forward After Third-Party Cookies
When marketers store and analyze location data on the device, they reap the benefits of location-based marketing without running afoul of privacy standards. They are able to marry real-world insights with other types of data such as app behavior and online interactions while keeping all the consumer’s data on their phone.
LBMA: Amazon Opens a Hair Salon
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Amazon opening a hair salon in London with magic mirrors and AR, Japan’s Mitsubishi and Unerry partnering on a smart city project in Jakarta, CVS rolling out digital audio messaging with In-Store Audio Network, and Gentle Monster creating experiential retail with robots and donkeys.
Private Ad Marketplaces Pave the Way for Post-Cookie Advertising
Private marketplace ad programs (PMPs) are becoming more and more popular with advertisers. In 2020, eMarketer announced that programmatic ad spending on private marketplaces will exceed open exchanges for the foreseeable future. Let that sink in for a minute — the exchanges that have long underpinned the way we way buy digital media are no longer the most popular tactic for media buyers.
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