News and Analysis
With Shoelace, Its Latest Foray into (Local) Social, Google Aims to Do for Friends What Tinder Did for Dating
Perhaps Shoelace is less ambitious than Google+. But is finding friends, or others with whom to socialize, not the most central and yet unachieved aim of social networking? One that hinges on location and would be a gold mine for advertising, as it captures users far down the sales funnel, all the way at the point where they are ready to get together to spend some time at a local business? What if, in the same way online dating has gone from disreputable to de rigueur over the course of 10 years, finding friends online is something young people all do in 10 years, an engineering problem that Tinder rival Bumble is already trying to crack?
That would be a pretty big social network. The ambitions may not be so modest.
Retailers Are Using AI for Onboarding, Associate Retention
The retail landscape is going through an evolution, with mom-and-pop stores on Main Street being replaced by e-commerce outlets that rely on sophisticated algorithms to manage virtually every aspect of business operations.
While most headlines about the transformation of retail focus on the consumer-side of the equation, there’s even more change going on behind the scenes. Competition between e-commerce and brick-and-mortar is forcing innovation in the way retailers approach the challenges that come with onboarding and retaining in-store associates.
Retailers Leverage Prime Day to Boost Offline Sales
Unlike other shopping “holidays,” like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Amazon Prime Day is specific to a single retailer. But as the event grows, other retailers—both online and offline—are finding ways to leverage the anticipation that consumers are feeling.
Last year, 63% of Prime Day shoppers said they visited competing websites to compare prices. This is a major opportunity for online retailers to capitalize on the spike in traffic and provide consumers with personalized and targeted offerings and exclusive deals.
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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