News and Analysis
After E-Commerce Gains, Retailers Struggle with Return Logistics
$70.5 billion worth of holiday purchases this year are expected to be returned, and 400 million square feet of additional warehouse space could be needed just to process those returns. For retailers already facing a deluge of products coming back into their warehouses, it could already be too late.
Commentary
Data is Technology’s Currency: Increase Its Value by Maintaining Accuracy
By defining their organizations’ definition of “accuracy,” allocating marketing resources to external solution providers that can provide unique data sets pulled from mobile phones, and ensuring all data is as up to date as possible via location-based approaches, marketers will begin to see an improvement in the quality and transparency of the data they purchase.
Latest Posts
Are Website Builders the Next Big Growth Market in Local?
Website builders have been around almost as long as the internet itself. As you would expect, this is a busy market. Sitebuilderreport.com tracks 35 vendors. There are many more. Interestingly, only 4 of the 35 vendors get a good rating. Clearly, this is a large market that is ready for new and better solutions.
Google’s Next Local Conquest: Visual Search
Indoor mapping continues to be one of those “holy grail” topics in local. It picks up where GPS drops off, tracking consumers all the way to the cash register. The latest move comes from Google, with an approach that could leapfrog beacons by using the positioning capability already in your phone (or soon will be).
How Legacy Retailers Are Infusing Tech Into Brick-and-Mortar
Many brick-and-mortar retailers are finding more ways to integrate in-store experiences and ecommerce into their offerings — both to offset brick-and-mortar declines and to drive more foot traffic into their stores. It is a redefinition of a retail revolution that still has fighting power for the old retail guard.
Through This Ourglass, Watching TV in Public Is More Fun
“Making TV smarter” has been the mantra for many a failed startup over the years. I won’t tell the sad tale of AOL TV, which I helped build content for. That said, Ourglass is approaching things a little differently: targeting TV out-of-home and looking to make public experiences with the tube more fun and useful.
Street Fight Daily: Uber Fires Self-Driving Car Architect, Google Tests Personalized Search
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber Fires Former Google Engineer at Heart of Self-Driving Dispute… Google Tests Personalized Search, Likely a Future Ad Targeting Weapon… How to Differentiate Among the Many Marketing Automation Companies…
Streets Ahead: Google AI Mode , OpenAI & Commerce, TikTok