News and Analysis
Retailers Hoping for Record Cyber Monday to Follow Friday Windfall
US retailers set all-time records on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, wracking up $11.6 billion in online sales. Adobe predicts that Cyber Monday will also set a fresh record of $9.4 billion, pushing the Thanksgiving weekend total to nearly $30 billion.
The increasing importance of online sales has forced traditional retailers to compete with e-commerce natives like Amazon not only by offering their own robust set of deals but also by investing in delivery infrastructure and reducing friction for consumers ordering online.
The Beauty Industry is Prepping for Small Business Saturday – Here’s How
Small Business Saturday is one of the most important events of the year for local beauty and wellness providers. Spas and salons rely on sales of gift cards and beauty products to sustain their businesses during leaner times.
Developed by American Express in the depths of the recession in 2010, Small Business Saturday is placed in the middle of two of the biggest shopping events of the year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. While proportionally fewer sales happen on Small Business Saturday than Black Friday or Cyber Monday, consumer awareness around the annual event is growing.
The Risks and Outsize Rewards of Political Branding
In a time of unprecedented political partisanship, the risks and rewards of corporate political messaging are amplified. Viral marketing strategies including Nike’s partnership with racial justice activist and football star Colin Kaepernick, Gillette’s toxic masculinity ad, and Chick-fil-A’s anti-LGBTQ stances rally political sympathizers to a brand’s side and alienate ideological foes.
Street Fight checked in with Jen Capstraw, director of strategic insights and evangelism at growth marketing company Iterable, to get a sense of how significant the benefits and drawbacks of political branding are, which ideological direction political ads are predominantly taking, and how strong the evidence is for the efficacy of partisan messaging.
Commentary
Understanding How Google Measures Store Visits
Even though ecommerce is growing and brick-and-mortar retail is arguably in the midst of a slow decline, 90% of consumer dollars are still spent in physical stores, and the intent of Google’s store visits data is to help demonstrate the efficacy of multiple online touchpoints that might drive consumers into a store.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Restaurants Eager for New Tech, P&G’s Facebook Experiment
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… How Yelp Plans to Consolidate Mobile Gains and Reach $1B in Revenue… Restaurants Would Implement Predictive Ordering, Drones if Available… Why P&G Decided Facebook Ad Targeting Often Isn’t Worth the Money…
Moz Targets Duplicate Listings With Revamped Dashboard for Businesses
Multiple business listings can be a serious problem, according to Moz Local’s GM Dudley Carr: “When a business is not where it’s supposed to be or the phone isn’t answered, it has significant brand impact for the business. And typically the customer will blame the brand, and not Google or Bing or Apple for the information.”
Street Fight Daily: Lyft Adds Multi-Stop Feature, Search Attribution Elusive for SMBs
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Lyft Riders Can Now Add More Than One Stop to Their Routes… Moz Targets Duplicate Listings with Revamped Dashboard for Businesses… Most Retailers Offer Mobile Coupons, Payments, But Implementation Not Always Easy…
As Local’s Complexity Grows, What Does It Take to Build a Sustainable Agency Business?
“There are two paths for consultants or small agencies today,” writes David Mihm. “Either be a generalist who’s aware of all the major channels, and the kinds of businesses that are good fits for those channels, or develop an incredibly deep focus in a particular channel, and make a name for yourself as the go-to resource within that channel.”
6 Ways Mobile Shopping Apps Are Targeting In-Store Customers
More retailers are attempting to utilize the data breadcrumbs that shoppers leave behind when they use mobile devices in and around physical stores. Mobile shopping companion apps that add contextual intelligence layers — and target consumers in the moments when they’re most persuadable — are catching on among national retailers.
Street Fight Daily: Retailers Use Snapchat to Target Millennials, Walmart Buys Jet.com
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Walmart is Buying Jet.com for $3 Billion and Will Announce the Deal Monday… With Hype Faded, Foursquare Tries Reinvention as a Data Business… Some Retailers Ignore Snapchat, While Others Capitalize with Lens and Geofilter Ads…
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
Why TV Remains the Heartbeat of Local Connection