News and Analysis
Is Amazon Killing the Holiday Shopping Season?
Long lines of shoppers snaking around retail stores used to be commonplace on the morning after Thanksgiving. So was the tradition of picking up a print newspaper for an early look at the Black Friday ads. But with retailers like Amazon, Nordstrom, Alibaba, and Flipkart creating their own shopping holidays, the frenzy around Black Friday and Cyber Monday has been tamped down. Is this a sign of the times or just a blip in retail’s evolution?
To find the answer, the mobile app marketing firm Liftoff and the mobile measurement company Adjust teamed up and took a deep dive into the consumer activity on shopping apps throughout the calendar year. In a new report, the firms found that with excuses to shop year round, traditional shopping holidays, like Black Friday and the New Year period, are waning in significance. These events are gradually becoming less vital for online and offline retailers, even if they remain important moments.
Chatmeter Scores New Funding Amid Hiring Spree
Local brand management platform Chatmeter announced a new investment by Providence Strategic Growth aimed at helping the company increase its ambitions further after hiring 25 employees over the course of six months. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Report: DTC Brands Outperform Traditional Retail, Win Over Gen-Z
As the millennial generation settles down and moves into its 30s, retailers are looking at a new group of consumers as the most coveted demographic. Generation Z—born between 1994 and 2002—is forming its own identity and seeking out different shopping experiences than its older counterparts.
A new report, released by the location intelligence platform Ubimo, finds that Generation Z shows a surprising preference for physical stores, although members of this group aren’t interested in shopping so much as experiencing new products in-store.
Commentary
Why People-Based Marketing Platforms Will Begin to Dominate in 2017
This past year laid the foundation for major transitions across the marketing landscape. Those trends will accelerate in 2017, ultimately reshaping our industry for decades to come. Ultimately, marketers want to engage real people in the real-world. Next year the impact of this will be felt in numerous ways.
How Marketers Can Convert Mobile Shoppers Into Sales
Although consumers are willing to buy on mobile, the medium is primarily the gateway to get the consumer into the store to make the purchase. A business can prepare for mobile shoppers in many ways, but have you considered the many challenges that mobile shopping creates?
How Facebook Finally Reconciled Commerce and Connections
The social media giant recently rolled out a suite of new experiences for Facebook Pages — most powered by third party technologies. These collaborations mean more engagement, visibility, and revenue for the companies that provide them; but what does it mean for Facebook?
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: DoorDash Can’t Reach $1B Valuation, Facebook Preps for Commerce
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… DoorDash May Be Latest Example of Valuation Pushback (Silicon Valley Business Journal)… Retailers and Shoppers Are Pushing the Right Buttons on ‘Remote Control’ Commerce (GeoMarketing)… You Thought Uber Was Already Everywhere, But Just Wait (The Verge)…
Inside Facebook’s Push to Make Pages the Dominant Mobile Tool for SMBs
Sheryl Sandberg says SMB advertising remains one of Facebook’s “biggest opportunities,” and the company plans to use its Pages product to help corner that market. Street Fight spoke recently with top Facebook execs about driving value for SMBs.
Local News and Ad Industries Eye Sweeping Realignment With Users (Part 1)
The solution to digital news media’s woes, according to Bill Densmore, will necessitate a total transformation of the news industry to create more transparent and mutually beneficial relationships among publishers, users, and advertisers. It can happen through what Densmore calls the “Information Trust Exchange.”
Yext Integrates Google Into PowerListings, Extends Real-Time Updates for Both SMBs and Enterprise
Yext today announced a new integration with Google that will allow the company to offer real-time updates to all of its customers across Google’s suite of listings products. The integration eliminates manual submission, and allows all of the Yext’s customers to adjust how information is displayed on Google in real time.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Puts Focus on Pages for SMBs, Smartphone Purchases Set to Surge
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Inside Facebook’s Push to Make Pages the Dominant Mobile Tool for SMBs (Street Fight)… Print’s Dead — But So Is Digital (USA Today)… Most Digital Buyers Will Make Purchases via Smartphone by 2017 (eMarketer)…
Lesson From Yodle’s Acquisition: Scaling SMB Performance Marketing Isn’t So Easy
While the acquisition is likely welcome news for Yodle’s backers and Web.com’s shareholders, the resounding message for SMB performance marketing vendors is one of caution. The real problem facing large performance marketing vendors like Yodle is that of customer retention.
Street Fight Daily: Alibaba Buys 5.6% of Groupon, Apple and Google Struggle for Upper Hand
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Alibaba Gets New Learning Opportunity with 5.6% Stake in Groupon (Bloomberg)… ‘Apple’s Bargaining Power Over Google Is Weaker Than Previously Thought’ (Business Insider)… The Battle for App-Specific Maps (VentureBeat)…
Openings and New Hires at Factual, Yext, xAd and ZypMedia
Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. This week’s edition includes a new company for SinglePlatform founder Wiley Cerilli, a new gig at Soleo for Jovana Riddle, and a chief people officer appointment at Verve.
Raise Report: Fresh Funding for Branch Metrics, Spotcap, Geofeedia
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 IdealSpot, The Bouqs, and JANDI.
LBMA Podcast: Citymapper, Land Rover, Indoo.rs, and Micello
On the show: Order Domino’s from Amazon Echo; Los Angeles GeoHub; Ace Hotel + WeTransfer; Starbreeze’s Starcade virtual reality arcade; Land Rover’s #hibernot Instagram campaign; Screenvision & Mobiquity bring beacons to the movies.
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem