News and Analysis
Forget the Alexa-Powered Toilet. The Big Local News at CES is the Amazon Echo Auto
While it may be the Alexa-powered toilet dominating water-cooler conversation this week, the real device to look out for is Amazon’s Echo Auto, an Alexa-powered, voice-activated product that will provide all the utility of Alexa, and connections to other voice-activated devices, from the dashboard of buyers’ cars. The device, which can be requested for just $25 and is available to a limited number of consumers now, has already been requested a whopping one million times—and counting.
Big Data Helps Predict Which Brick-and-Mortar Locations Will Thrive and Fail
While the Gap says its decisions are being made based on traffic trends and profits—the brand saw a 7% decline in quarterly comparable sales—data scientists from top technology firms are working feverishly behind the scenes to use big data to predict which store closures could come next. Having a heads up on which retail locations have a high likelihood of closing could benefit those in the commercial real estate sector, as well as retail brands looking to decide on future store locations.
After Amazon-Whole Foods, Microsoft-Kroger: The Grocery Revolution Is Happening
Microsoft and Kroger are teaming up, challenging Amazon’s dominance in grocery innovation and pushing back against its takeover of an increasing number of corporate verticals, including cloud infrastructure in the form of Amazon Web Services. (Street Fight’s Mike Boland has predicted that Amazon will sell its grocery tech just as it’s done with AWS, taking an in-house innovation and transforming it into a cash cow.)
Commentary
Understanding the Context of Local Advertising’s Supply and Demand
The current election cycle, if nothing else, has demonstrated the importance of context in the supply and demand of local media. In this type of market, the early bird gets the worm. Consumer brands are learning this lesson the hard way and getting shut out of local opportunities that otherwise might have been available.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Google Introduces Android Pay, Foursquare Wants to ‘Fake’ Beacon Tech
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Android Pay Is Finally Here (Huffington Post)… Dennis Crowley Explains Foursquare’s New ‘Magic Trick’ (Business Insider)… Uber’s Chinese Rival Quietly Backs Its U.S. Rival Lyft (Wall Street Journal)…
7 Tools SMBs Can Use to Track Leads
When local merchants spend big on digital marketing, they expect to see results. Without using the appropriate tracking technology, however, it can be downright impossible to determine whether a marketing method is working. Here are seven options, each for a different type of business or marketing scenario.
Is Local a Specialist or a Full-Service Game?
Local startups have reached a tipping point — go big, or go home. The fifth annual Street Fight Summit on Oct. 20th in NYC will explore the shifting local landscape. Conversations will look at the future of beacons, retail marketing, the changing programmatic landscape, and the nascent battle in mobile.
Street Fight Daily: Analyzing Yesterday’s Apple Event, Square Plans Q4 IPO
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Same, Only More So: Apple Introduces Comprehensive Refresh of Mobile, Wearables, and TV (Street Fight)… Square Said to Seek Fourth-Quarter IPO as Twitter Decision Looms (Bloomberg)… It’s Not ‘Winner-Take-All’ for Uber or Lyft, Says the Only Investor in Both (Business Insider)…
Swipely CEO: We Want to Provide the Operating Platform That Restaurants Run On
“If you’re not going to fundamentally improve the guest experience, then there’s really no motivation for either the consumer to change the way that they’re buying in the restaurant or for the merchant to replace the operating practices they have,” said Swipely CEO Angus Davis about mobile payments.
Street Fight Daily: Google Will Test Grocery Delivery, How Facebook’s Pages Update Affects SMBs
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Becomes a Rival to Amazon to Deliver Your Fresh Fruits and Veggies (Mashable)… Facebook Update Means More Shopping Pages Are on the Way (Recode)… Amazon Launches a Food Delivery Service Via Prime Now, Starting in Seattle (TechCrunch)…
The Not-So-Low-Hanging Fruit: Why the Local Market Remains Elusive
“The great challenge of winning the local market boils down to balancing sufficient reach and scale with specificity,” writes Noah Elkin, who is joining Street Fight today as managing editor. “It turns out thinking globally and acting locally isn’t always easy — as a consumer or a marketer.”
M&A Report: A Long, Hard Look at Loyalty Programs
Loyalty encompasses more than just promotions and punchcards. Tech companies that connect the data dots and create meaningful, accurate consumer personas that explain why we as consumers are loyal to a brand (not a promotion) should be able to parlay that information into new revenue per customer.
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