News and Analysis
Retailers Embrace Mobile As Pandemic Holiday Shopping Ramps Up
While this holiday season will be unlike any other, retailers have reason to be optimistic. Holiday sales are set to rise 1% to 1.5%, with e-commerce growing as much as 35%. Consumers are expected to spend between $1.147 trillion and $1.152 trillion between November and January. Much of that spending will happen with large retail chains that have omni-channel experiences already set up, and that has smaller retailers rushing to put their own mobile strategies in place.
How 5 Retailers Are Using AR for Covid-Compliant Try-Ons
With hygiene and customer safety now a top priority, more retailers are beginning to use AR to simulate the try-on experience. Whether they’re “trying on” items at home or in-store, AR tools are giving retailers a way to assist customers in their buying decisions as they virtually test out thousands of products using their mobile devices.
Here are five examples of how innovative retailers are taking full advantage of AR in the Covid era.
Foursquare’s New Audio Assistant is a Peek into the Future of Local Tech
Dubbed Marsbot for Airpods, Foursquare’s virtual assistant will whisper insights to users about their surroundings, unprompted, as they move throughout the world. This may be a recommendation for a local coffee shop or a fun fact about a landmark.
For brick-and-mortar businesses and the technology providers that help them connect with customers, the marketing possibilities are tantalizing.
Commentary
How Peoria Journal Star Did a Lot More With Less After Deep Cuts Shrank the Newsroom
“We made it our mission, working with our publisher at the time, Ken Mauser, that we would reach out to the people of the South Side and make sure they had a place where they could tell us about the good things happening where they live,” Peoria Journal Star Executive Editor Dennis Anderon says of reaching out to neglected community members.
Most Local Merchants Unfazed by Facebook Controversies, Though Some Signs of Trouble
By now, consequences of the negative aura surrounding Facebook’s role in customer info abuse, fake news, and Russian political meddling should have started to take hold. Yet over half of local merchants we polled said they would continue to use Facebook as they had previously, and only one in five said they may use it less.
Google’s Local Improvements—Posts Become Essential, and Mike Wins the Bet!
“Google’s made plenty of laudatory improvements to Google My Business and associated products over the past 24 months, and there does seem to be a qualitative shift in the way it’s approaching the space,” David Mihm tells Mike Blumenthal in their biweekly column.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: How Brands Fare on Snapchat, Facebook Reaches Out to Local Newsrooms
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… New Report from Snaplytics Breaks Down How Brands Fare on Snapchat… Facebook is Beginning to Reach Out to Local Newsrooms… Google Maps Adds Feature Allowing Users to Plan and Share Itineraries…
What Does It Mean to Practice Local SEO Ethically?
It can be all too easy to give the client the impression that search marketing is too hard from them to really understand — so they should just trust you. But that sets the stage for a relationship that is not based on ethical behavior.
Here’s How Marketers Can Capitalize on Valentine’s Day Foot Traffic Trends
According to a new analysis of Valentine’s Day foot traffic trends conducted by the location intelligence company Foursquare, movie theaters are the place to be on Valentine’s Day. Theaters see an incredible 255% lift in foot traffic, compared to the week before — and 64% of moviegoers opt to eat out before or after the show.
Street Fight Daily: Amazon Disrupts Retail in Seattle, Oracle Makes IoT Data Actionable
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon’s Living Lab: Reimagining Retail on Seattle’s Streets… Oracle Launches Apps to Surface Predictions and Insights from IoT Sensor Data… Using Data to One-Up the Competition…
Raise Report: New Funding for MapAnything, Cuebiq, SIM Partners
Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes funding for The Bouqs, Soundhound, Reserve, and Fuze.
Why Back-end Tech Is Key for Food Delivery Startups
Outside of college campuses, local food delivery startups generally have larger neighborhoods to cover and customers with more niche needs. This may be why some of the biggest names in local delivery don’t seem as different at first glance, because their focus is on the back-end.
Street Fight Daily: Yelp Sees Growth in Local Ad Accounts, Facebook Agrees to Audit
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yelp Stock Plunges After Sales Outlook Misses Mark, But Local Ad Accounts Grow… Facebook Agrees to Audit of Its Metrics Following Data Controversy… Lyft Has Hired the Head of Google Street View to Lead Its Mapping Team…
Swirl Launches Direct Facebook Integration for Online-to-Offline Attribution
Retailers using Swirl’s platform can now connect “verified” real world store visits to Facebook ad impressions and more accurately measure the direct impact that Facebook ad campaigns are having on the way consumers move around inside their stores.
Newspapers Have High Level of Trust, but Will They Capitalize on It?
The key will be not how Facebook shares its revenues or tinkers with its news-feed algorithm. How successful newspapers are in achieving sustainability will depend on the richness of the connections they build with their audiences.
Street Fight Daily: Square Launches POS App for Retailers, GrubHub’s Sales Surge
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Square Launches Dedicated Point-of-Sale App And Service for Retail Merchants… Grubhub’s Sales Surge… The Washington Post Rolls Out Customizable Content Ad Unit…
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