News and Analysis

Holiday Sales Are Starting Earlier Than Ever. Here’s Why

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“Retailers are responding to social distancing guidelines [this] year and preparing for potential decreases in spending by kicking off promotions earlier than we’ve ever seen,” says Dosh CEO Ryan Wuerch.

Wuerch says Covid-19 safety protocols require a more elongated approach to holiday marketing. Kohl’s, L Brands, and Macy’s have all referenced pulling forward holiday promotions, and Amazon’s Prime Day later this month seems perfectly timed to pull in early holiday shoppers.

Street Fight’s October Theme: Home for the Holidays

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Entering Q4 means many things, but to us it points to the media and commerce world’s annual culmination. That’s right — in this time warp of a year, we’re entering the holidays. Considering the oddities of 2020, what will this year’s holiday season look like? We know for sure it will not be normal.

Answering that question will be Street Fight’s October editorial focus. Branded with the cheeky title “Home for the Holidays,” (title credit: Damian Rollison), this month’s focus will be defining the holiday shopping dynamics of a socially distanced and sheltered-in-place world. What will be different?

Interactive Maps Help Bring Back Shoppers After Covid Hiatus

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As the pandemic has worn on, marketers have begun to ask what’s next. How do you keep open and click-through rates high, even as consumers shift back from e-commerce to in-person shopping? The answer, for many, involves maps.

Just look at Torrid, the women’s retail chain formerly owned by Hot Topic, with more than 600 stores across the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada.

Commentary

Facebook’s Perennial ‘Potential’ in Local

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“In Facebook’s pivot to focusing on person-to-person communications and its strong emphasis on messaging, is there an implicit concession that the company will not make Facebook itself the center of its local effort?” Mike Blumenthal asks in this week’s biweekly column with David Mihm.

Gauging the Opportunity to Replace Local Merchants’ Websites

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We asked respondents what they used their sites for, and, considering the functions they deemed most important, whether they could replace them with a list of suggested companies and platforms. Facebook’s company pages and Google’s enriched listings topped the list.

LBMA Podcast: Walmart, Target, LinkedIN

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Featured on this week’s edition of the Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: LEGO + Grand Visual, LinkedIN, Vyking shoes, Walmart, Target, HERE + Decawave, LBMA D/A/CH.

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Amazon Tackles Brick-and-Mortar, WhatsApp Tests Chat Tools for Businesses

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon Confirms Plans for a 10th Book Store, Demonstrating Commitment to Brick-and-Mortar… WhatsApp Tests Business Chat Tools in Search for Revenue… Joe Ricketts, Local News Publisher and Trump Backer, Acquires Gothamist Websites…

Google’s Pragmatic Approach to the Truth, and Its Pitfalls

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If enough people believe something, should Google consider it to be true? In a world where questionable news is very popular, it’s not so surprising that Google’s logical assumptions might sometimes produce unexpected results. After all, trustworthiness at root is a matter of how many people are willing to trust you.

NinthDecimal Decouples Its Data, Expands Partnerships, and Moves Into the Black

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The location data company announced this morning that it has crossed the line into profitability and CEO Michael Fordyce believes NinthDecimal has found an approach that will help it scale up in a big way. Fordyce and chief revenue officer Brian Slitt spoke with Street Fight recently about the need to measure and understand audiences across a myriad of media and channels.

Street Fight Daily: Instacart Amasses $3.4 Billion Valuation, Uber Seeks COO

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Grocery-Delivery Startup Instacart is Valued at $3.4 Billion… Travis Kalanick Wants a No. 2 Executive… Boston-Based Localytics, a Mobile Engagement Platform, Acquires Berlin’s Tapglue…

Spa Facial

Case Study: How a Maryland Spa Owner Tackles Online Marketing

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Laura Correa has made a name for herself in the Washington, DC area with restorative facials and rejuvenating therapeutic treatments, but in order to keep her skin spa afloat and compete against larger chains, Correa stays on top of the latest digital marketing trends

How Publishers Can Improve Their Revenue — Ezoic’s Experts Spell It Out

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Local news publishers are often able to pull together a decent share of pageviews in their communities — but many can’t wring enough revenue out of them. For practical solutions, I went to two experts at Ezoic, whose artificial-intelligence platform aims at helping its thousands of publisher clients to deliver better user experiences.

Street Fight Daily: IBM and Salesforce Share AI Tech, Consumers Still Tepid About Connected Home

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… IBM and Salesforce Will Start Sharing Their AI Technology… Most Consumers Not Turned On By Connected Home, Study Finds… Mobile World Congress 2017: Main Enterprise Themes…

Why Google Is Becoming the ‘New Homepage’ for SMBs

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“So many things are happening right on Google; clicks to call, driving directions, etc., and even more so than a website,” Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm. “For a business to do well there, things like photos, reviews (everywhere) and other visuals are becoming ever more important.”

Will Native-Social Ads Dominate Mobile?

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The majority of mobile ad companies that don’t evolve their janky and interruptive banners will be displaced. A new era of mobile ads will be defined by intelligent formats that speak to the affinities of buying-empowered millennials (who are now almost 40 by the way).

Street Fight Daily: Uber Wants to Be a ‘Content Marketplace,’ The AP Supplies Hyperlocal Data

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber Plans to Turn Its App Into a ‘Content Marketplace’ During Rides… The AP’s Plan to Put Hyperlocal Data in the Hands of Reporters… Yelp Blames Google for Its Failed International Business…