News and Analysis

he Power of Place: Retailers Revolutionize Store Location Selection with Geospatial Intelligence

Retailers Revolutionize Store Location Selection with Geospatial Intelligence

It’s a tale as old as time. A retailer picks a storefront, leases a building, and renovates a space — only to discover that the location itself is a dud. Maybe there isn’t enough foot traffic, or parking is too difficult. Or maybe shoppers in the neighborhood just aren’t interested in buying whatever products the […]

StoreConnect, a Trailblazing Force in E-commerce, Raises $9 Million

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

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 […]

Commentary

What Brands Can Do When the Cookie Crumbles

As third-party cookies are phased out, brands will have to stay nimble to weather the transition successfully. It’s a good idea to shift focus to contextual marketing and build up first-party data now. Keep an eye on better alternatives like Unified ID 2.0, and watch how agencies are adapting. That way, you’ll be ready when the cookie crumbles.

Ad Tech and Privacy

Anonymized, Localized Shopper Data Offers a New Beginning for Brand Marketers

Rather than fear upcoming changes, marketers should welcome the steps being taken to safeguard consumer data privacy and recognize the opportunity to leverage the massively rich, privacy-compliant consumer data sets that are still available to them.

Using Business Insights to Complement Automation and Optimize Search Strategy

With automation leveling the playing field, marketers need to find new ways to use their proprietary business intelligence to keep an edge over their competitors in search. Marketers can add immense value to automation, maximizing its ability to drive strong performance.

Latest Posts

How Apple’s IDFA/ATT Change Will Affect App Publishers

If Apple doesn’t change course, we’re in for a possibly very humbling year for SMB app publishers and an App Store that advantages the largest publishers with the biggest wallets

Inform Your Multichannel Customer Experience Strategy

The Comment Section Could Be the Next Big Source of Audience Data

Comments sections can be a source of feedback, wisdom, and community. They can also provide rich, first-party audience data. OpenWeb is betting on the latter.

Firefly Launches StreetIQ Platform with Puma Campaign

The Location-Based Marketing Association covers Firefly launching its Street.IQ platform with a Puma campaign, putting automobile advertising into action.

Contact Center Should Be the Marketing Engine

Expert Roundup: How Will Retail Transform in 2021?

Retail transformation experts expound on Google and Amazon’s approaches to e-commerce, managing customer relationships, and targeting after cookies.

The New Content King: Short-form Audio

With so many hours in the day, people are getting screened out. That’s why audio is coming back with a vengeance.

The Case for Internet Tracking

What does Apple’s IDFA change really mean for consumers? It will undermine personalization, make it harder for SMBs to compete, and upend free services.

The Stakes of Apple’s IDFA Change

The IDFA change means that iPhone users will be asked whether they want to allow tracking when they open apps. It will deal a blow to digital advertising.

Google’s Latest Privacy Play Has Big Implications for the Open Web

Looking for the ‘Big Picture’ in Local Search

Tunnel vision is an issue that’s long plagued the SEO community. Single-location rank trackers don’t tell the complete story of how well a business is really performing in local search results. But with so many avenues to go down in measuring success, it’s almost impossible not to get sidetracked from time to time.  If businesses […]

How Restaurants Are Using Interactive AR in 2021

Restaurants, retailers, and other local businesses looking to engage customers in a socially-distant way are giving AR-enabled interactive experiences a try.

This Startup Enables Human Connections at Virtual Events — Here’s How

Virtual event organizers are struggling to reproduce the human connections that people crave in a digital-first environment. Welcome is working on a solution.