News and Analysis
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.
6 Scheduling Platforms for Fitness Studios
One of the most exciting verticals right now is the fitness space, where the number of boutique gyms and studios is on the rise. Scheduling software has become an absolute necessity for fitness studios, giving clients a way to quickly book classes, pay for memberships, and even check in from their smartphones.
Here are six scheduling platforms serving the fitness vertical.
Commentary
A Look at Google’s ‘Quality Rater Guidelines’ Over Time: How to Put Information Into Action
Google is vague on a lot of things, but every now and then we get a glimpse into what the search giant values and deems important — as we do in the recently updated Quality Rater Guidelines.
Frustration With Digital Marketing Vendors Boils Over for One SMB
If it’s possible to distill the 30 million small business owners in the U.S. into a single persona, Marc Reisner strikes our columnists as a great candidate: “Marc has been disillusioned by past performance and that poor performance has understandably tarred the entire industry with the same brush.”
How Brands Can Find the ‘Advertisable Moments’ They’re Missing
Advertisable moments exist in a range of digital and physical contexts beyond TV sets and even beyond desktop browsers — and if a brand wants to capitalize on all available moments (especially those proverbial micro-moments) it has to look for ad opportunities in unexpected places.
Latest Posts
Amplified Robot CEO Lays Out a Case for the Role of AR/VR in Retail
At the LOCALCON conference in London last week, Amplified Robot CEO Steve Dann gave a keynote address on VR’s practical uses for the retail industry. VR is steadily “climbing up the slope of enlightenment,” Dann said, and it’s in our best interest to familiarize ourselves with it.”
Street Fight Daily: Search Engine Jelly Relaunches, How Foursquare Predicted Chipotle’s Sales Drop
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… With Relaunch, Jelly Makes Another Run at Q&A-Style ‘Social Search’ (Search Engine Land)… How Foursquare Knew Before Almost Anyone How Bad Things Were for Chipotle (Washington Post)… Google Is Reportedly Building an All-in-One Travel App Called Trips (The Next Web)…
Can Facebook Messenger Become an Effective Local Marketing Platform?
The pieces are in place for Messenger to become a major new marketing platform. Indeed, the various (mostly mobile) use cases range from customer service to e-commerce. So far, none of my experiences has been great. But there’s huge potential over time.
How Time Out Plans to Strengthen Its Vertical Offerings With Ecommerce
At last week’s LOCALCON conference in London, Time Out’s Russ Cohn, Zenchef’s Xavier Zeitoun, and FreshLime’s Bob Barnes discussed the impact of vertical approaches on local marketing. We followed up with Cohn again after the conference to learn more about how the publisher is working to become a comprehensive booking platform.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook’s Mobile Advertising Dominance, Is This the Year for Beacons in Retail?
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Cements Status as a Mobile Juggernaut with $4.2 Billion in Ad Revenue (Mashable)… Where Do Beacons Fit in the Retail Sensor Landscape? (Marketing Land)… Pinterest’s Plans for World Domination (Business Insider)…
Moving App Zootly Wants to Make Your Relocation On-Demand
Launched in 2015, the on-demand moving app connects anyone who needs a mover or delivery with a professional mover in minutes. Whether it’s for moving a couch, a whole home or even getting some big purchases home from a day of shopping, the idea is that you can get a van or a truck and some movers when and where the need arises.
6 Local Directories Every VSB Should Be On
Consumers are increasingly going online to research local services and products, but for very small businesses (VSBs), this trend is becoming a problem. Fifty-nine percent of VSBs still don’t have websites, with owners often citing perceived cost and lack of technical expertise as reasons why they haven’t made their way online. For business owners who […]
Street Fight Daily: In-Depth Look at Restaurant Tech, Consumers Getting Ads Through FB Messenger
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Restaurant OS (TechCrunch)… You Could Get Facebook Messenger Spam from Any Website You Visit (Business Insider)… Will Readers Pay for Local News? A Digital Startup in Tulsa Bets That They Will (Columbia Journalism Review)…
What It Takes for Legacy Media Companies to Innovate and Thrive
As the media industry spins further away from the long-established familiarity of print models, its companies — large and small, old and new, hyperlocal and international — are hurrying to implement a plan for sustainability. Three organizations with creative solutions spoke on a panel at Street Fight’s LOCALCON in London last week about their strategies.
Why Top Newspaper Groups Are Pitching New ‘Solutions’ to the Ad Market (Part 2)
Christian Hendricks, the longtime leader of McClatchy’s digital operations who was recently promoted to VP of Products, Marketing and Promotion, talks about at NMS from the perspective of one of its four founding newspaper groups, and discusses its relationship to the 3-year-old Local Media Consortium.
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem