News and Analysis

This E-commerce Startup Is Helping DTC Brands Navigate the Pandemic

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While other firms in the retail infrastructure and logistics space are struggling, Whitebox is closing on a Series B funding round of $18 million. CEO Marcus Startzel says timing has played a key role in his company’s success. Whitebox was focused on solving e-commerce challenges for brands before the pandemic began, but the opportunities to work with major brands to improve and automate the e-commerce process have only grown over the past few months.

Has Covid Killed the Single-Day Sale?

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Limited-time offers and one-day sales are a mainstay of the holiday shopping season. But this year is unlike any other, and retailers are taking a different approach.

With Covid-19 restrictions limiting the number of customers who can be inside a store at any given time, retailers are looking at extending the shopping season to accommodate socially distant crowds.

Brands Are Struggling with Customer Loyalty in 2020. Here’s Why

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The pandemic has sparked changes in consumer behavior. Some changes are predictable, like people stocking up on toilet paper when lockdown orders first went into effect.

But other changes occurring over the past seven months have been more slight and easier to miss. Now, with the holiday shopping season getting into full swing, brands are discovering that these minor shifts in consumer behavior have the potential to wreak havoc on their seasonal marketing strategies.

Commentary

Top Lesson for News Sites in SF Innovation Tour: Identify Users and Win Them Over One by One

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Revenue was, naturally, very much on the minds of the 12 publishers, broadcasters, and other news media executives who took part in the Local Media Association’s June 2018 San Francisco Innovation Mission. But Jed Williams, LMA’s chief innovation officer, said the event focused on audience engagement.

Earn an A+ with Back-to-School Email Marketing

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Retailers, have you optimized your email marketing for back-to-school shopping? If not, it’s not too late—there’s still a huge opportunity to capture your share of this year’s lucrative season, with sales predicted to reach nearly $83 billion.

Mobile Coupons Are About to Overtake Paper—Here’s How Retailers Can Capitalize on That

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When participants in CodeBroker’s 2018 Mobile Coupon Consumer Research Report were asked just how quickly they would likely redeem a coupon they received via text message, 25% said they would use it within three days. That number grew to 60% when they were asked if they would use it within a week.

Latest Posts

3 Location Marketing Lessons That Healthcare Brands Can Teach Other Industries

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When the location marketing experts discuss best practices, they often focus on industries like retail. But the healthcare industry can teach us a lot about location marketing. Partly because healthcare faces constant turmoil, healthcare is a source of constant reinvention.

LifeStream’s Personalized News Empowers Users, Protects Their Privacy

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The soon-to-launch news service from Graf Mouen and Bill Densmore plans to deliver highly personalized news and other information to consumers, while still maintaining the privacy they don’t currently have on the rest of the Web.

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Challenges Slack, Deliveroo Launches Platform for Delivery-Only Kitchens

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Looks to Seize Control of the Workplace with Free Offering, Workplace Standard… Deliveroo Launches Platform for Restaurants to Open Delivery-Only Kitchens… Audience Measurement Struggles to Keep Up with Changing Viewing Behavior…

The Coming Polarization of the SMB Software Market

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Strangely, despite the size of the opportunity you don’t find too many SMB companies in most VC portfolios. You see plenty of consumer and enterprise-focused startups, but much fewer on the SMB side. The reason for this is that it’s “hard” for companies serving SMBs to grow at the rate that can deliver “venture” returns.

How Retailers Can Use Social Media for Better Customer Support

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A new survey by the marketing agency Rational Interaction found that 92.5% of brands are failing to meet their customers’ social customer care expectations. Here are seven strategies for how brands and retailers can offer better customer support across all the social channels that their customers use.

Street Fight Daily: Big Retailers Support Mobile Payments, Snap Ads Struggle to Grab User Attention

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon, Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks Drive Mobile Payment Behaviors… How Do Users Like Snapchat Ads?… AOL’s CEO Explains that Oath is About B2B Branding…

5 Ways Retailers Are Using Marketing Tech to Support Personalization Efforts

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The notion that marketers don’t have access to the types of data they need to improve the relevancy of their marketing efforts is a fallacy. Most retail brands already have everything they need, it’s just a matter of using the data in creative ways to generate more personalized content for consumers.

MapQuest Tackling More Location Data and Services Under Verizon Ownership

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Elise Neel, the head of MapQuest for business, spoke to Street Fight recently about the ways marketers now regard and value location data, the role mixed reality may play in mapping, and what it means for MapQuest to operate under Verizon’s ownership.

Street Fight Daily: Twitter Adds Location Sharing Tools for Businesses, AOL and Yahoo Become Oath

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Twitter Adds Location Sharing for Businesses Offering Customer Support via DMs… AOL and Yahoo Will Become Oath Following Verizon Deal… Consumer Adoption of Voice Assistants Doubled in Q1: Here’s Why…

Mobile Payments: Does Local’s Holy Grail Have Holes?

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Mobile payments continue to be equally opportune and elusive. The potential benefits are huge, but I’m skeptical that mainstream consumers will alter their entrenched habits when they still don’t see cash or credit cards as a pain point.