News and Analysis
7 Loyalty Platforms for Restaurants
One area where restaurants have particularly specific needs is in promoting customer loyalty. Vertical-specific loyalty platforms for restaurants tend to have features and capabilities that more generalized loyalty platforms do not. For example, many loyalty platforms for restaurants are tied to reservation systems, so waiters know customers’ preferences before seating them at their tables.
Although the number of loyalty platforms for restaurants is growing every day, we’ve put together a list of seven important players that anyone who is interested in this space should be following.
Amazon Pursues Retail-as-a-Service, Looking to Sell Go Tech to Cinemas, Airports
This time, it’s not Amazon Web Services, the cloud underpinning Amazon’s operations and those of other companies around the world, but Amazon’s Go technology that is being peddled to new clients. Bezos’ e-commerce behemoth is in talks to sell the flashy cashierless solution to movie theaters and airports, CNBC reported.
If Amazon is successful, the play to sell Go to other businesses may some day turn what now appears a revolutionary technical advance (with potentially devastating consequences for cashiers) into a commonplace asset. Just as AWS, the B2B play partially financing Amazon’s low-margin retail biz, supports thousands of businesses unbeknownst to their customers, Go-as-a-service could come to change all of retail without many consumers even realizing Amazon is behind changing checkout norms.
These Retailers Are Using Mapping Tech to Change the Shopping Experience
Over the past few years, a number of national retailers have added mapping technology into their mobile apps. Even more retailers have given store associates handheld devices with integrated indoor location features, putting the answers to frequently asked questions—like where products are located and how to get to certain store departments—at their fingertips.
Even though location and mapping technology is embedded into many consumer-facing shopping apps, and it’s used by retailers to fuel both their marketing initiatives and back-end operations, publicly explained use cases from retail brands are rare. Here are five examples of how retailers are applying the technology and using mapping to fundamentally change the in-store shopping experience.
Commentary
What We Talk About When We Talk About ‘Fake News’
“Fake news” is actually about stories written to win clicks (and potentially do harm). Losing the focus on this accurate definition to spin and political jockeying creates a challenge for the business of marketers, advertisers, and publishers.
What Happens When Google Can Manipulate the Very News It Seeks to Protect?
A recent controversy finds the search giant caught in a contradiction. The company has strong financial interest in acting as the gatekeeper to the news. But Google also has a strong interest in portraying itself positively in the news that it effectively controls.
Why Real-time Geofencing Is a Missed Marketing Opportunity for Brands
Many marketers are focusing too exclusively on the simplest form of location data. Geo-fencing severely limits the potential of location data and also the reach of a digital campaign.
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)…
Openings and New Hires at MindBody, NavAds, TruMeasure
Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. This week’s edition includes moves and new openings at Wrap Media, Yieldbot, and Facebook.
Raise Report: New Funding for Affirm, NestAway, Rinse
Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes new cash infusions for AdTile, Luka, and Beekeeper.
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)…
Why Online Locations Matter Even More in the New Retail Landscape
In order to compete in the the new information-rich environment, businesses have been presented with a new and complex challenge: to win the battle for consumer attention they have to appear wherever customers are looking.
Hexagon Geospatial Aims to Make Maps More Important Than Ever Using Geo-data and Analytics
These days, we rely on maps not only to provide us a route, but also to be relevant in real-time. If a road is closed, we expect our map app to tell us as much. If a place of business we were planning on driving to is no longer open, then our map better have that information.
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)…
Displacement and Measuring the Unknown in Multi-Device, Multi-Channel Marketing Attribution
Now more than ever, conversions are the metric used to measure the value of every pit stop along the customer journey as it moved across multiple devices and channels. Displacement-based attribution strategies help marketers stay in step with consumers.
How Merchants Can Use Reviews to Influence Sales
When local merchants turn online reviews into marketing collateral, posted on their websites, social media, or in print, they’re likely to encourage other positive reviews and also influence sales. Here are five examples of ways that merchants can leverage these reviews.
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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