News and Analysis
With Shoelace, Its Latest Foray into (Local) Social, Google Aims to Do for Friends What Tinder Did for Dating
Perhaps Shoelace is less ambitious than Google+. But is finding friends, or others with whom to socialize, not the most central and yet unachieved aim of social networking? One that hinges on location and would be a gold mine for advertising, as it captures users far down the sales funnel, all the way at the point where they are ready to get together to spend some time at a local business? What if, in the same way online dating has gone from disreputable to de rigueur over the course of 10 years, finding friends online is something young people all do in 10 years, an engineering problem that Tinder rival Bumble is already trying to crack?
That would be a pretty big social network. The ambitions may not be so modest.
Retailers Are Using AI for Onboarding, Associate Retention
The retail landscape is going through an evolution, with mom-and-pop stores on Main Street being replaced by e-commerce outlets that rely on sophisticated algorithms to manage virtually every aspect of business operations.
While most headlines about the transformation of retail focus on the consumer-side of the equation, there’s even more change going on behind the scenes. Competition between e-commerce and brick-and-mortar is forcing innovation in the way retailers approach the challenges that come with onboarding and retaining in-store associates.
Retailers Leverage Prime Day to Boost Offline Sales
Unlike other shopping “holidays,” like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Amazon Prime Day is specific to a single retailer. But as the event grows, other retailers—both online and offline—are finding ways to leverage the anticipation that consumers are feeling.
Last year, 63% of Prime Day shoppers said they visited competing websites to compare prices. This is a major opportunity for online retailers to capitalize on the spike in traffic and provide consumers with personalized and targeted offerings and exclusive deals.
Commentary
The Coming Polarization of the SMB Software Market
Strangely, despite the size of the opportunity you don’t find too many SMB companies in most VC portfolios. You see plenty of consumer and enterprise-focused startups, but much fewer on the SMB side. The reason for this is that it’s “hard” for companies serving SMBs to grow at the rate that can deliver “venture” returns.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Twitter Integrates with Yelp, Facebook’s Geotargeting Capabilities
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Twitter Integrates with Yelp for Location Tags in the UK and Japan, Bypassing Foursquare (TechCrunch)… How a Senator Used Facebook Ads to Influence Employees in a Single D.C. Building (Fusion)… The Road to Self-Driving Cars Winds Through Here (Crain’s Chicago)…
Street Fight Daily: IAB’s Annual Digital Report, Publishers Threatened by the Rise of Platforms
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Digital Advertising Revenue Jumped 20% in 2015 (Adweek)… Most Smartphone Owners Use Location-Based Services (eMarketer)… Google’s Parent Alphabet Misses Profit Expectations As Moonshot Spend Soars (The Guardian)…
Street Fight Daily: Google Officially Charged by EU, Facebook’s TV-Like Ad Buying
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… EU Files Formal Charges Against Google Over Android Conduct (Wall Street Journal)… Ad Buying on Facebook Just Got More TV-Like (AdAge)… Ad Tech Is Broken. Here’s How Newsrooms Can Help Fix It (Poynter)…
Street Fight Daily: Airbnb Makes Local Push, Google Dominates Mobile Paid Search
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Airbnb Wants Travelers to ‘Live Like a Local’ With Its App (New York Times)… Google Drove 95% of U.S. Smartphone Paid Search Clicks in Q1 (Search Engine Land)… Porch Partners with Wayfair to Take On Amazon (Seattle Times)…
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