News and Analysis
5 Next-Gen RFID Solutions for Omnichannel Retailers
Radio-frequency identification, or RFID, has found new life in the post-pandemic retail space. By attaching small strips of metal that can transmit radio waves with information about any product, retailers are finding that they can accelerate and automate the store checkout process. Unlike barcodes, which must be scanned individually, RFID tags can be scanned together and they hold significantly more information.
Marketers Struggle to Balance Personalization and Privacy
While consumers are increasingly coming to expect personalization in their inboxes, too much personalization can damage trust and steer customers away. Nobody wants to feel like they’re being watched, but recent surveys show consumers are also growing increasingly frustrated with marketing materials that aren’t targeted enough.
Oomiji Helps Brands “Build Their Own Walled Gardens” of Customer Data
Zero-party data, or information customers willingly provide about themselves, is gaining popularity as a way of amassing customer data at a time when privacy restrictions are making that more difficult. The platform Oomiji is betting on that trend, differentiating itself from other CDPs by helping its clients ask their customers for data (instead of relying on AI to extrapolate limited data to probabilistic segments and preferences).
Commentary
What Retail Has Learned About AR Since Pokémon Go
Retailers are only beginning to realize the potential of AR. As a new generation of shoppers steeped in AR grows up, their expectations will exceed the novelty acts the industry has put out to date. AR features won’t just be a one-off promo or tied to a game release; they will become the basis of the in-store customer experience, one that looks nothing like the retail of today.
Brick-And-Mortars Are Taking A Data-Driven Approach To The E-Commerce Challenge
Brick-and-mortar stores have contended with competition from the likes of Amazon and the steady growth of e-commerce, where testing is easily done. Yet brick-and-mortars can also take a data-driven approach to the e-commerce challenge. In-store experimentation based on advanced data science allows them to test everything from the store CX to its operations with relative ease and in a scalable way.
Real-world, science-based testing isn’t limited to product merchandising. It can be applied across a wide range of brick-and-mortar challenges, new product launches, store remodels, loyalty programs and more. A test-and-learn culture like the one described here can take a company’s research capability to the next level, helping to avoid failed ideas, fuel faster new product rollouts, maximize marketing ROI, and ultimately driving better business results.
GrubHub or GrabHub? Thoughts on the Latest Predatory Industry to Target SMBs
“Growth hacking” along these lines is enough to gag a maggot, but there is the more “benign” approach of Google that says, “Let’s add an order button to every restaurant for the ‘benefit of the customer’” that is equally reprehensible. The business is effectively paying a searcher “head tax” to the food delivery companies on brand searches where the consumer just wanted to get the restaurant phone number, and the searcher was offered a big order button that is so much more convenient to click.
In Google’s case, it would be a simple matter to provide the local restaurant the option to turn off the Order CTA in the dashboard. Instead, if a business complains to Google, they foist them on the delivery service for resolution. (Or not.)
Latest Posts
As Amazon Preps Attribution Tool, Media Buyers Demand Greater ROI
Amazon’s massive consumer audience and billions of touch points, coupled with its newly acquired brick-and-mortar presence, means the company’s ad services could be in a position to explode if it does a good enough job illustrating the influence its ad services have on driving online-to-offline or strictly online sales.
Street Fight Daily: Media Buyers Weigh in on Facebook’s Data Changes, A New Era for Uber?
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Agencies: Facebook’s Removal of Third-Party Data Turns Back the Clock on Targeting… A Deep Dive on the Challenges Facing New Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi… Paid Search, Shopping Campaign Media Buys Continue to Rise…
What NinthDecimal’s Growth Means for the Hyperlocal Marketing Industry
In an announcement that could be indicative of larger trends in the location-data space, the omnichannel marketing platform NinthDecimal recently announced its third consecutive year of more than 100% annual revenue growth.
Street Culture: Thumbtack Employees Driving Culture from the Bottom Up
Justin Angsuwat, Thumbtack’s vice president of people, says the Thumbtack team describes its company culture as the “Midwest of cultures.”
Street Fight Daily: Microsoft Makes a Big Move, Snap Slashes Ad Team Numbers
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Microsoft Is Ready for a World Beyond Windows… Snap Cuts About 100 Employees on the Advertising Side of the Biz… How Facebook’s Shutdown of Third-Party Data Affects Advertisers…
4Cite’s Email Platform Helps Digital Brands Secure the Path to Purchase
“Across the board with all of our retail clients, the most successful marketing campaign they have is their abandoned shopping cart email campaigns,” 4Cite CEO Bob Gaito said, referring to emails sent to remind customers that they have items left in their shopping carts.
‘Ads.txt’: How a Little Bit of Code Is Putting a Big Dent in Ad Fraud
The ad fraud crisis finally is beginning to be addressed at least partly through an initiative from the Interactive Advertising Bureau bearing the nerdy name “ads.txt.”
Street Fight Daily: Google Puts Mobile First, Facebook Cuts Out Third-Party Data Brokers
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Search Takes Another Big Step Toward a Mobile-First World… Facebook Is Cutting Third-Party Data Providers Out of Ad Targeting… Amazon Directly Hires Housekeepers to Conquer Local Services…
Identifying a New Breed of Consumers—What Retailers Should Know
“Successful brands need to engage with conscious consumers ‘in the moment’ for immediate returns while also investing in the longer term, emotional bank to ensure they ride out future mistakes or service failures,” says Alex Wright, head of global insights at Blis.
First-Party Data is King
More and more marketers are using first-party data to eliminate wasted impressions and achieve the strongest ROI on their data-driven marketing efforts. Who doesn’t want that?
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AI Won’t Fix Advertising – It May Scale Its Chaotic Nature