News and Analysis

By Unlocking Vehicle Data, Car Rental Companies Help Build Smarter Cities

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As operator of three of the most recognized brands in the industry — Avis, Budget and Zipcar — Avis Budget Group represents a mobility ecosystem of more than 11,000 locations in approximately 180 countries. The company recently partnered with the connected-car data firm Otonomo to manage its connected cars on Otonomo’s automotive data services platform. Otonomo will help ABG derive insights from its large connected vehicle fleet, including anonymizing, standardizing, and delivering data from Toyota, Ford, Peugeot and GM vehicles.

The deal between ABG and Otonomo is expected to generate more than 4 billion road miles of data this year, and 7 billion road miles of data by 2020, with much of that data being used for predictive maintenance, smart city planning, and streamlining of the rental process.

5 Business Models for On-Demand Delivery

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In the on-demand food delivery vertical alone, revenue is expected to reach $94 billion this year. Other verticals, like beauty, parking, health, shipping, and marijuana, are seeing significant gains, as well. Although the space is maturing, investors are still seeing great growth opportunities. Any number of on-demand delivery startups has the potential to take over the space if it continues to grow as its current pace.

To understand where that growth might occur, we need to take a step back and examine which business models are proving most successful in the on-demand delivery space and how startups are implementing those business models for financial gain.

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How Retailers Are Reaching Back-to-School Shoppers

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It’s that time of the year. As summertime comes to an end, parents around the country have started filling up shopping carts with pencils, notebooks, and binders. Families in the U.S. are expected to spend an average of $696 on back-to-school supplies this year, the highest amount ever recorded by the National Retail Federation.

Back-to-school shopping has become an important event for retailers like Target, Walmart, and Office Depot. While ecommerce is king at other times of the year, parents shopping for their kids’ back-to-school supplies are just as likely to shop in-store as they are online.

Commentary

Tried and True Marketing Tactics SMBs Can Borrow From Premium Brands

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Many small-but-growing businesses have a multi-store operation and a dynamic online presence, but simply can’t afford the custom-built, integrated retail and ecommerce systems that keep a premium brand’s customer experience tight and consistent. Here are some tactics they can employ to hack that problem.

What Does the Bot Bubble Mean for Facebook’s Long Game?

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“Facebook has long been a force in post-sale retention and Messenger can really play a huge part as a CRM tool,” Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm. “I see it as the “real” social network… the one where folks communicate with those closest to them.”

Yext’s IPO Could Raise All Boats in Local — And Herald Consolidation

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While the company’s long-anticipated announcement yesterday didn’t come as a huge surprise for those following local, the news that it was imminent still packed a punch. So we asked several luminaries to weigh in on what the offering might portend for the broader industry.

Latest Posts

Inevitably, There’s a ‘Bot of Bots’ Digging Up Local Services

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Bot Hunter allows queries about the latest hot bots, and its makers envision lots of local bots populating the platform. Key use cases include scheduling appointments, retrieving basic information, receiving automatic follow-ups after certain purchases, as well as promotions and loyalty programs.

Why Local Publishers Shouldn’t Aim So Exclusively for Millennials

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I’ve been a cheerleader for local news organizations in their quest to attract Millennial audiences, but I’m starting to wonder if publishers are too convinced that reaching the youngest generation of adults is the magical elixir for all their problems.

Street Fight Daily: Local News Publishers Form Ad Company, Google Still Betting on Beacons

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… 4 of the Biggest Media Publishers in the U.S. Form an Advertising Company (Business Insider)… Google May Have Found a Way to Make the Real-World Web Work (Wired)… Apple Pursues New Search Features for a Crowded App Store (Bloomberg)…

BUST: A Hard Landing as Soft Surroundings Files for Bankruptcy

Case Study: Fashion Retailer Boosts Engagement With Data-Driven Initiatives

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Customer acquisition has never been a problem for the team at fashion consignment retailer 2nd Time Around. But generating the type of data that’s necessary to get a complete picture of customers had been a challenge, according to CEO Kristin Kohler Burrows.

The Rise of Text Messages as a Political Ad Medium

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The 2016 election will be remembered for many things, but for marketers it will be the emergence of text messages as a medium. Text messaging has become an essential tool in running a political campaign and every candidate now uses SMS/MMS to get the word out.

Street Fight Daily: Kayak to Debut Restaurant Search, How Brands Can Use Chatbots Effectively

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Kayak to Launch Restaurants, Tours, and Activities Comparison-Shopping Features (Skift)… Can Brands Turn Real-Time Facebook Messenger Chats into Meaningful Engagements? (Mobile Marketer)… Ride-Hailing Start-Ups Compete in ‘Uber for Children’ Niche (New York Times)…

Survey: How National-to-Local Marketers Plan to Grow Their Digital Budgets

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Street Fight recently surveyed decision makers at over 200 national-to-local marketers and found nearly half of them spend a third or more of their digital marketing budget in support of their franchises, branch offices, and distributors.

Publishers Finding Success With Tech Niches Within Their Local Markets

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“Traditional media has national reach because if something has a big enough dollar sign next to it, it will get covered,” Streetwise Media’s Reid Snyder said. “We have national reach because we have this narrow and deep knowledge of local markets.”

Street Fight Daily: How Apps Are Changing Shopping, Facebook’s Plans for Messenger

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Shoppers Flock to Apps, Shaking Up Retail (Wall Street Journal)… Facebook Bets on a Bot Resurgence, Chattier Than Ever (New York Times)… The Newest Rainmakers at Publishers: Ecommerce Editors (Digiday)…

TableHero Serves Up Restaurants, But Can it Be the OS of Local?

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“There’s an entire layer of mission critical technology that small local business owners know they need, but absolutely abhor their current relationship with technology,” says TableHero’s Deap Ubhi. “And at the foundation of that is digital presence, their Websites.”