News and Analysis
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.Â
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.
Olo Deal Helps Restaurants Access Traffic From Google’s Platforms
Ninety percent of consumers research restaurants online before dining—more than any other business type—and the vast majority of those web searches start on Google. The search giant plays an important role in the success of restaurant marketing online, making it a desirable partner for any digital platform serving the restaurant industry.
Partnering with Google often means increased search traffic and a strengthened position within the restaurant vertical, which helps to explain the enthusiasm coming from Olo’s recent announcement that it will be working with Google to allow its restaurant partners to receive orders directly from Google Search, Maps, and Google Assistant.
Commentary
Making Sense of Posts in Google’s SMB Product Portfolio
“In local, most businesses do not have a transaction so Google wants to control the action,” Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm. “If they can sell an ad, great, and if not then they take credit for a click or a call, driving directions or response to a CTA (and gather the data of those activities).”
Latest Posts
5 Locally-Focused Meal-Kit Delivery Vendors
Meal-kit delivery services are a segment of the food market that’s expected to grow to between $3 and $5 billion over the next decade. Companies deliver individually wrapped ingredients, along with plain-simple recipes, to their customers’ doors for a premium price. Here are five examples of meal-kit vendors taking a localized approach.
Targeted Ads Can Miss Targets — But They Still Keep Coming
Over the past few weeks, I’ve received a barrage of ads for storage centers in St. Louis despite the fact that I live in South Carolina. I’m also seeing ads reminding me to “finish your trademark” event though I’m not interested in trademarking anything. I asked experts about why mis-targeted (and wasteful) ads like these persist, and what the ad industry is doing about them.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Tracks Offline Commerce, Uber Seeks $2 Billion In Leveraged Loans
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Taps GPS, Square to Track Your In-Store Visits and Purchases… Uber to Raise Up To $2 Billion in Leveraged-Loan Market… Pinterest Takes a Page from Facebook’s Playbook and Steps Up Its Ad-Targeting Game…
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
Streets Ahead: Google AI Mode , OpenAI & Commerce, TikTok