News and Analysis
As Visual Search Takes Off, Brands Adapt to Shifting Demands
Visual search and image recognition are capturing the attention of investors, retail insiders, and everyday consumers. To find out more about where visual search is heading, and what marketers can do to adapt their strategies with the latest trends in mind, we checked in with Apu Gupta, CEO of Curalate, a social commerce company that turns images and videos into storefronts.
The Future of Location in Retail: Beyond Ad Targeting
Location data is serving as the conduit to connect consumer-facing marketing initiatives with behind-the-scenes merchandising and logistics. According to a survey by Blis, WBR Insights, and Future Stores, the majority of retail marketers (71%) have some type of location strategy in place, with the primary goal being to drive foot traffic and trigger location-based mobile advertising. That’s not a particular surprise, given how popular the latest location-based marketing tactics have become. More surprising, however, is how common it has become for retailers to use location data for local product and inventory search (60%) and localized online customer service (51%).
Amazon’s Dash Buttons Have Met Their End. Does Their Demise Truly Signal Failure?
Dash buttons were met with detractors right from the get go. Some called out the “hideous” design, while others lambasted Amazon for creating $5 buttons that would inevitably end up in landfills. But at Amazon, the Dash button initiative isn’t considered a failure. Rather, the project was designed to get consumers more comfortable with the “connected home” concept and the idea of shopping through devices other than desktop computers and smartphones.
Commentary
New Report Shows Urban SMBs Do Better with Agency Help
Street Fight’s new analysis, The Urban SMB Report, indicates that local business owners in big cities get better results from their digital marketing efforts by not doing it themselves. The more they outsource, either to internal staff or to an agency, the higher their satisfaction rating. But there is room for improvement.
Brand Battles in Depth: Looking at Starbucks vs. Dunkin’ Donuts
The series demonstrates the real complexity of cross-platform digital marketing and the importance of a data-driven strategy in identifying meaningful objectives and tracking performance. This commentary explains how Brand Battles are constructed and how their subject areas fits into the bigger picture of local marketing for national brands.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Foursquare Gets a New CEO, How Apple’s iAd News Affects the Industry
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Foursquare CEO Steps Down as Valuation Plummets (Wall Street Journal)… What Apple’s iAd Changes Mean for the Industry (Digiday)… How Google’s Search Chief Has Been Living the “Mobile First” Life (Search Engine Land)…
Dealmakers: On-Demand and Deep-Linking Companies Born Under a Lucky Star
Two areas in the industry I see creating genuine value are in-app search, or “deep linking,” and on-demand tech. In both cases, the value these two segments of our industry bring is in the efficiencies they create. In other words, where and how they reduce friction in consumer transactions is where we will see 2016 investment and M&A activity.
Street Fight Daily: The Trouble With “Uber for X” Companies, Apple Moves Away From Mobile Advertising
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… ‘Uber for X’ Will Fail in 2016, but Uber Will Continue to Thrive…Why? (Recode)… Apple Steps Back From Its iAd Advertising Business (BuzzFeed)… How Mobile Apps Stack Up Against Mobile Browsers (eMarketer)…
Street Fight Daily: How Google and Apple Dominate the Web, Self-Driving Lyfts Are Coming
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Web Giants Are Raising the Performance Bar on Everyone (ReadWrite)… GM to Launch Self-Driving Lyft Fleet in Austin, Texas (Mashable)… How Local Governments Are Using Technology to Serve Citizens Better (Harvard Business Review)…
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The Road Ahead: What Autonomous Cars Teach Us About Marketing Automation