News and Analysis
US E-Commerce Brands Need to Localize to Maximize Overseas Opportunities
International ecommerce sales are skyrocketing, but selling abroad means taking on the challenge of catering to consumers with localized preferences. A recent global ecommerce report by payments infrastructure provider PPRO shows many brands are not currently up to the task.
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.
Commentary
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.)
Alexa, Draw a Line Between Convenience and Control
It’s that factor, consumer data and Amazon’s vast store of it, that stands out most in Jason Del Rey’s reporting on Recode’s new podcast series, Land of the Giants. Specifically striking is the episode on Alexa, in which Amazon employees openly speculate about a future in which smart microwaves will hook up with Amazon’s growing healthcare ambitions to tell you when it’s time to stop making popcorn and smart countertops will join the intelligent kitchen conversation. As Del Rey notes, Amazon execs talk about this future openly, dropping tidbits about customer obsession along the way and appearing truly unperturbed by the thought that such interventions into our domestic lives may go too far or generate unintended consequences. Optimism for the quality of Amazon products and a fervent belief in the company’s benefit to consumers—without due consideration for products’ risk and would-be limits—seem to pervade the corporate culture.
Latest Posts
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?
Street Fight Daily: Waze Launches Local Ads Program, Kohl’s Doubles Down on Amazon Partnership
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Waze Launches Ad Program to Connect Drivers & Small Businesses… Kohl’s CEO Says Company Is Doubling Down on Its Deal with the Devil… Snapchat Is Building the Same Kind of Data API That Got Facebook in Trouble…
Selling to Multi-Location Brands: Applying Geotargeting Lessons to Mobile Push
Mobile push marketing is one of the most popular technologies multi-location brands say they’re interested in exploring in the near term. Suppliers of local marketing technologies and services can help them do more than explore by taking lessons from brands that have had success with geotargeting.
How Restaurants Can Leverage Behavioral Data in Saturated Markets
A new white paper released by the real-time consumer-intelligence firm Sense360 found that a fraction of a percentage point in market share, gained or lost, can mean the difference between hitting targets and financial ruin for restaurant operators.
Street Fight Daily: Ad Tech Grows Faster Than Digital Advertising, FTC Investigating Facebook
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… More Money Goes to Ad Tech Than to Actual Media… The FTC Is Officially Investigating Facebook’s Data Practices… Walmart Files Patent for In-Store Drone…
Q&A, Reviews, and Fake News on Google: False Content Is Not Just a Facebook Problem
“Given the primacy of Google’s market position, and the primacy of Knowledge Panels in SERPs—also a conscious product decision on Google’s part—the percentage of customers who are likely to come across fake information is great,” David Mihm tells Mike Blumenthal in their biweekly column.
What SXSW Foot Traffic Data Means for Location & Event Marketers
Simpli.fi’s analysis shows the role that timing plays in creating effective mobile marketing campaigns. It could also help marketers uncover hidden opportunities to reach targeted groups of consumers at next year’s SXSW event.
Street Fight Daily: Brands Have Work to Do on Mobile, CPMs on the Rise
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Consumers Still Widely Dissatisfied with Mobile Shopping Experiences… Study of Digital Ad Prices Finds CPMs on a Steady Rise… Facebook Denies It Collects SMS and Call Data Without Permission…
Raise Report: Pilot, Airtable, AdStage Secure New Funding
Every two or three weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes funding for RapidAPI, Chargebee, Made.com, and TheSkimm.
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
The Agency Offering Your Clients Need: Citation Intelligence for AI Search