News and Analysis
Report: Text Messages, Online Chat Essential Channels for Businesses
More than 70% of US consumers polled in a survey commissioned by business messaging platform Quiq had engaged with businesses via text messaging or online chat two or more times in the previous month.
That should be a signal to businesses that email and phone are no longer sufficient; messaging will be key to survival for consumer-facing businesses of the future.
Amazon is Making Meaningful Gains in Search Ad Market
It will be key to see if the pace of Amazon’s overall and search ad revenue slows down in the next few years as it exhausts. For now, its ad success is just one more sign, like the news that it will likely sell its Go tech to retailers, that Amazon can find and dominate new businesses beyond its core identity as the Everything Store.
Retail as a Service: Amazon Tips its Hand
Amazon has a knack for moving into new vertical segments and then applying its logistical mastery and economies of scale to carve out margins and undercut incumbents. Then, it doubles down by scaling things up to its signature high-volume/low-margin approach. As Jeff Bezos ruthlessly admits, “Your margin is my opportunity.”
The latest place for this to unfold is retail. No, we’re not talking about Whole Foods, though that’s part it (more on that in a bit). We’re talking about Amazon’s transformation of the in-store experience — upending and streamlining logistics just like it’s done in shipping and cloud computing.
Here are some predictions for how Amazon’s disruption of retail via licensing of its Go technology will upend the industry.
Commentary
Can Yelp Extend Its Moment in the Sun?
“[Yelp has] not been very innovative in approaching the many needs of the SMB markets,” Mike Blumenthal writes to David Mihm. “It would seem that there could be (or should have been?) a raft of functionality that they could provide from appointments to customer follow-up that would be a natural fit.”
Latest Posts
6 Ways That Local Merchants Are Using Pokémon Go to Drive Business
With interest in the augmented reality game reaching a fever pitch this week, savvy local merchants and national retailers are using social media and targeted rewards to lure in Pokémon Go players and turn them into paying customers. Here are six examples of ways that merchants are doing that right now.
Foursquare President: ‘Huge’ Industry Developing Around Location Intelligence
As the company maps consumers’ digital actions to where they are and what they do in the real-world, it is looking to become the “Nielsen of the real-world.” Street Fight recently spoke with Foursquare president Steven Rosenblatt about the explosion of location data, and why there is a big opportunity in connecting the dots between ads and store visits.
7 Platforms National Brands Can Use to Run Local Campaigns
The biggest challenge for national marketers targeting local markets has traditionally been scale, but new hyperlocal solutions are making it easier for major brands to reach hundreds, or even thousands, of markets with individualized campaigns that can be generated with the click of a button.
Street Fight Daily: Pokémon Go and Local Commerce, Millennials and Retail
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Foursquare President: ‘Huge’ Industry Developing Around Location Intelligence… Pokémon Go Gets Consumers Back to the Mall, But Will They Shop?… Lyft and GM Expand Express Drive Driver Rental Program…
Thanx CEO: Loyalty Programs Using Data to Better Identify ROI
“You don’t want to spend money to collect data if it doesn’t change your revenue, and you want your revenue to deliver value,” says Thanx CEO Zach Goldstein. “A negative ROI on your marketing would say, ‘I should stop doing that,’ and a positive ROI should say, ‘I should do more of that.'”
Street Fight Kicks Off 2nd Annual Local Visionary Awards
Have you got the goods to take home a belt? For five-plus years, we have tracked the evolution of local, from the trendy daily deals then to the trendy chatbots today. Local is continuously inventing and innovating, and for the second year in a row, we’re honoring the best of these developments with our Local Visionary Awards.
Street Fight Daily: News Sharing Remains Low-Tech, DoorDash CEO’s Crowded Sector
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Pew: Most News Sharing Remains Low-Tech, Offline… DoorDash CEO: Food Delivery Winner Will Be Best Service, Not Biggest Brand… The Athletic Brings Subscription-Based Local Sports Coverage to a City Near You…
Street Culture: Seattle Food Startup Delivers Culture to Chef Partners
When building trust and loyalty with both customers and employees, the company mission is a backbone often referred back to for consistency and clarity. Food ordering/delivery startups Lish’s three company values are the focus on the customer, quality, and variety, says CEO Aakhil Fardeen.
Lessons for Mobile Marketers From Meeker’s 2016 Internet Trends Report
The report focuses on several trends that should be of interest to retail marketers and their mobile marketing strategies. For starters, there is less differentiation between products, brands, and retailers. These days, products evolve into brands, brands become retailers, and retailers become products.
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