News and Analysis

Contact Center Should Be the Marketing Engine

How Should Retailers Navigate the Post-Covid Landscape?

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While the return of nearly unrestricted in-person shopping heralds brighter days for brands and retailers, it is also a challenge. Consumers have gotten used to digital shopping as e-commerce soared amid the pandemic. How will retailers provide that same frictionless experience to meet elevated customer expectations in-store? Amy Vale, CMO at cash-back app Dosh, weighs in.

Innovation Brief: Instagram, Rockets, and Drones

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M7 Innovations’ Matt Maher discusses Instagram’s creator economy, commercial space travel, and drone delivery.

6 Buy Now, Pay Later Solutions for Retailers

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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.

Commentary

The Future of AI Is Here: Reflections on IBM Think

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Damian Rollison: Among hundreds of sessions, exhibits, and demos, one theme came through clearly at IBM Think this month in San Francisco: for large enterprises especially, the AI-driven future for which we’ve been told to prepare is already here. In fact, enterprise companies are using IBM’s Watson technologies today to address a myriad of challenges inherent in the scale of those businesses.

Identity Crisis: Optimizing a Brand While Pursuing Omnichannel

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Andrew Witkin: When viewed as a way to raise brand awareness and impressions, a clicks-to-bricks move can still net an overall gain—if the traffic from the retail space driven to the website costs less than what it would to purchase those impressions through online advertising. The end goal of an omnichannel strategy is not only to engage customers with an experience that isn’t available online but also to use this unique experience and brand awareness to boost online sales.

LBMA Vidcast: Coachella and Amazon Lockers, DoorDash Raises $500M

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On this week’s Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: Coachella + Amazon Lockers, Colruyt uses Google Assistant, DoorDash raises $500M, Kroger launches mobile pay app, Crate & Barrel + Handy. Special co-host: Carsten Szameitat.

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Uber Loses London License, Facebook Upgrades Mobile Ads

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber Loses Its License to Operate in London… Facebook Will Introduce Canvas Templates for Its Collection Ads, Aiming to Boost Brands… Google and Its Partners Will Issue Refunds to Advertisers over Fake Traffic…

Facebook on Local News Partnerships: ‘We’re Just Getting Started’

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The “Facebook Journalism Project” was launched recently to meet the “needs” of a news industry concerned about all the free editorial content being made available to the giant distribution platform. In this Q & A, Josh Mabry, manager of Facebook’s local news partnerships, details what FB is doing and plans to do for community news.

At Mobile Innovation Summit a Focus on Customer Experience and Paths to Purchase

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Total digital commerce has more than doubled in the last five years, it shows no signs of stopping, and brands must address customer experience on mobile if they intend to grow in coming years. That was one takeaway from the Mobile Innovation Summit event in Denver this week.

Street Fight Daily: Duopoly’s Strength Exceeds Expectations, Pubs Struggle with Apple News

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google and Facebook Tighten Grip on US Digital Ad Market… Publishers Continue to Encounter Problems with Apple New… Alphabet’s Waymo Wants Uber to Pay $2.6 Billion for Single Stolen Trade Secret…

BUST: A Hard Landing as Soft Surroundings Files for Bankruptcy

How Showroom Concept Stores Are Changing the Retail Industry

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A number of major retailers and startups have been pioneering a local showrooming strategy, divorcing the purchasing of products from the distribution, and focusing more on experiences than in-person sales. Here are six examples of retailers that have been able to navigate this merchandise-free (or light) approach to local retail.

Sophistication, Efficiency, Control: Unlocking the Future of Programmatic Direct for App Publishers and Advertisers

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As it splits the difference between real-time bidding and totally manual ad-buy systems, programmatic direct allows publishers and advertisers to create specific agreements around how the process will work. It guarantees protected inventory and premium placements without requiring much in the way of hands-on operation.

Street Fight Daily: Pinterest Empowers Brands, Uber Sues an Agency

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Brands Can Now Tap Pinterest’s Pin Collective Via a Self-Serve Customer Platform (AdWeek) Pinterest formed Pin Collective last October as a way to give brands access to the social network’s best content creators—publishers, production shops and individuals—to work directly with them on their campaigns. How […]

‘Mobile Marketplace’ from Button and Ibotta Adds 30 New Brands

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Ibotta and Button today launched a performance-based marketing platform that improves customer acquisition and mobile traffic. The new marketing platform extends the benefits that come with Ibotta rewards to fast-track the mobile commerce efforts of traditional retailers.

How AI Bots, Voice Assistants Are Changing Shopper Behaviors

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Rapid changes in the way people communicate aren’t just impacting personal relationships, they’re also hitting the retail market as consumer preferences evolve. In a new report released just this morning, the post-purchase solutions provider Narvar uncovers generational differences in how consumers prefer interacting with retailers.

Street Fight Daily: Google Appeases Antitrust Regulators on Shopping, Brands Turn to Influencers

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Offers to Treat Shopping Rivals Equally Via Auction… Why More Brands Are Adding Young Influencers to Their Creative and Marketing Teams… The Luxe Lab at Neiman Marcus Signals a Shift in Focus for Department Stores…