News and Analysis

Tech Vendors See Opportunity in CCPA Compliance

Share this:

The California Consumer Privacy Act has just recently gone into effect, and full enforcement won’t begin for another six months, but companies are already making big changes as they endeavor to ensure compliance.

Under the new CCPA regulations, companies are required to notify users of the intent to monetize their data and provide users with the ability to easily opt out of data monetization. Many companies are struggling to come into compliance, but for businesses that work with multiple technology vendors, the issue is creating even more headaches.

Retailers Find New Marketing Opportunities with Wearables

Share this:

A recent announcement that Amazon, Apple, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance are working on an open-source network standard is likely to lead to even more investment in connected devices among retailers. The open-source network that the group is working to develop is supposed to make life easier for IoT hardware vendors and software developers, but it also serves a secondary purpose of assuring retailers investing in connected technology that their budgets aren’t being wasted. With a common IoT communication and control standard, smart devices will be even more reliable and seamless to use in the coming years.

“Open source will bring businesses more agility and enable them to process data quickly while simultaneously producing valuable insights,” says Heikki Nousiainen, chief technology officer at Aiven, a firm that develops managed cloud service hosting for software infrastructure services.

Blending Online and In-Store: The Boom of BOPIS

Share this:

BOPIS — buy online, pick up in store — has become a fixture among cutting-edge retailers over the past several years. But this holiday season has made 2019 the breakthrough year for BOPIS. There’s rising demand among consumers for this handy shopping option. And retailers, seeing how the tactic benefits them as well, are stepping up to meet that demand.

Commentary

Social Media Gets the Local Spending Growth, Partly by Default

Share this:

Social media is widely used — and deemed particularly effective — by SMBs. But when you dig deeper, it looks like most local marketers are using social media as substitute for display advertising (and to reach mobile audiences) rather than as a uniquely local or even “social” medium.

How Voice Assistants Could Transform Local (Part II)

Share this:

Voice assistants continue to evolve as a medium for local search, as I examined here last month. But what does it mean for local media players and startups? If consumers are increasingly searching with voice, how do you wedge your way into that conversation?

Facebook Local: The Launch We’ve All Been Waiting For?

Share this:

Last week’s rebranding of its Events app as Facebook Local could be Facebook’s long-awaited foray into serious competition with the Googles and Yelps of the world for market share in local search. Meanwhile, another Facebook local product, Marketplace, has proved to be a sleeping giant.

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Amazon Warehouses Spreading Rapidly, Google Adds More Ride Services to Maps

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… New Amazon Data From Wall Street Should Terrify All Retail Stores in the US… Google Adds Lyft and Gett to Taxi Options on Maps… How Publishers Can Help Brands Navigate the Content Marketing Crossroads…

Making Sense of the Mobile Marketing Spending Disparity

Share this:

Consumers’ relationships with media and mobile devices have changed. Advertising needs to change as well. The responsibility is with advertisers and their agencies and service providers to demand the granularity and specificity that you can only achieve with the targeted data you get from mobile advertising.

As 10-Year Mark Approaches, West Seattle Blog Sticks to Profitable Basics

Share this:

In December 2005, West Seattle Blog was a “personal project” with no news or advertising. A major windstorm that struck West Seattle and King County in December 2006 changed all that, and in the nearly 10 years since, WSB has become a highly regarded inspiration for independent digital community sites.

Street Fight Daily: Washington Post’s Digital Rise, Snapchat Ends Local Stories

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Leaked Memo Supplies Details on the Washington Post’s Digital, Financial Success… Snapchat Ends Local Stories to Focus on Live Events… Amazon Adds Food Delivery in London…

XPlenty CEO: Pokemon Go Data’s Usefulness Depends on Integration and Visualization Strategies

Share this:

“It’s pretty difficult to get access to location data,” says Yaniv Mor. “There are quite a few companies today that are starting to provide products for smaller businesses that will help them take advantage of location data, but at this scale — hundreds of millions of users — that’s something that we haven’t seen yet.”

Spa Facial

Case Study: Rhode Island Spa Looks to Automate Repetitive Marketing Tasks

Share this:

When Alayne White first started using an online booking portal at her eponymous Rhode Island spa, her goal was to get just 10% of clients to book online. Eight years later, she’s inching closer to the 50% threshold, as nearly half of her clients are booking their appointments through desktop and mobile devices.

Street Fight Daily: Uber Tried to Buy Lyft, Google Helps Brick-and-Mortar Biz

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber Tried to Buy Lyft in 2014 But Negotiations Fell Apart Over Price… Google Helps Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Turn Mobile Scrolling Into In-Person Buying… With Facebook’s Power Growing, Publishers Scramble to Connect Directly with Audiences…

Why Data Attributes Power the Long Tail of Local Search

Share this:

The mandate for brands is simple: manage data attributes as a crucial element of your location marketing strategy. But it’s not enough to create attributes. You need to constantly monitor the ever-changing nature of your business and your customers and be ready to act on your attributes as needed.

5 Predictive Ordering Platforms for Restaurants

Share this:

One area where restaurant owners struggle is inventory management — that is, predicting how many diners will show up at a given time and how much food they’ll consume. But many restaurant owners don’t realize that a number of hyperlocal platforms are already offering solutions to help with this issue.

Street Fight Daily: Google Updates Analytics App, Ad Buyers Talk Digital Platforms

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Updates Analytics App, Providing Insights in Five Minutes… What Ad Buyers Think About Facebook, Twitter, and Everything In Between… To Run a Killer Loyalty Program, Retailers Need to Think Big…