News and Analysis
How Brands Are Using AR to Generate Buzz, Promote Loyalty
The push into AR can be seen as a way for brand retailers to differentiate themselves from Amazon, bringing the in-store experience into the online world. It’s also a way for retailers to jumpstart word-of-mouth marketing, with the hope that using innovative technologies is new ways will have a viral effect and get people talking.
DoorDash Will Put an End to Old-School Delivery—And Smaller Rivals
What does the big money for DoorDash mean for the crowded on-demand delivery space? The market is growing as a whole, but there isn’t all that much growth share to go around. DoorDash CEO and founder Tony Xu has said as much. “If you look at where the U.S. is, there’s two players gaining share. It’s DoorDash and Uber. And DoorDash is growing 65% faster,” Xu said in a conversation with Recode editor-at-large and co-founder Kara Swisher earlier this year.
Alexa Has the Confidence of SMB Marketers. Should It?
Forty-eight percent of marketers surveyed by Uberall said they trust the e-commerce giant over its competition when it comes to marketing applications of voice technology in these early days of the medium. Google Assistant had the vote of 29% of the market, with Apple’s Siri scoring a surprisingly high 17% given the widespread consensus that voice is really a two-way race at the moment.
Commentary
Why Retailers Like McDonald’s Should Take Note of Starbucks’ Loyalty Program Misstep
There has been a lot of backlash from Starbucks customers after the company changed the mechanism of its My Starbucks Rewards program last month from frequency-based rewards to dollars spent. The switch is informative for other retail brands, and indicates that personalization is key.
All That Glitters Is Not Gold: Separating Real Value From ‘Shiny New Things’ in Local
Perhaps there is an industry epidemic of insecurity around the value provided to local businesses given the large market opportunity. Or, perhaps some organizations still think there is business in obfuscating value long enough to make some profit regardless of the damage.
E-commerce Is a $341.7 Billion-dollar Industry — Can SMBs Get a Piece of the Pie?
Small businesses can close the gap between online and offline commerce with some hard work and adherence to a smart strategy. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: The Future of Search, Button’s Big Mobile Commerce Partnerships
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Looking Ahead: The New Search Landscape (Search Engine Land)… Mobile Startup Button Inks Airbnb, Ticketmaster Deals to Link Bookings to Other Apps (Recode)… Microsoft’s New Windows Phone App Lets You Recommend Home Maintenance Services to Friends (The Next Web)…
Four Local Marketing Strategies to Boost Same-Store Sales
Company success often rises and falls on the ability to deliver same-store sales increases, so multi-unit brands spend a lot of energy managing around this core metric. But it’s difficult to drive local success at scale with a one-size-fits-all approach. Here’s a list of four creative strategies (and associated tactics) that local stores can implement to boost their overall performance.
6 Tools for Tracking Business Competitors
Every business owner wants to know the competition’s secret sauce. Now, merchants who are interested in tracking their competitors can let technology do some of the work. Competitive analysis tools allow local business owners to understand what neighboring merchants are doing right through their digital marketing and on social media to get people through the door. Here are six examples of platforms that businesses can use.
Street Fight Daily: Twitter Launches ‘Buy’ Button, AOL’s Armstrong Ready to Fight Ad Blocking
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Twitter Makes ‘Buy’ Button Widely Available (New York Times)… Tim Armstrong Says AOL Is in the ‘Best Position’ to Fight Ad Blocking (Adweek)… Sources: Jack Dorsey Expected to Be Named Permanent Twitter CEO (Recode)…
Yext Gets in the Customer Engagement Xone
Fast-growing Yext is broadening its suite of location-based targeting products with the launch this week of Xone, a beacon-based program for businesses to engage in-store consumers with relevant content. Xone’s central feature is Tips, which enables businesses to customize and deliver messages to smartphone users who pass within range of an in-store Xone Beacon.
Whither the Search Engine in the Age of Mobile?
The path to purchase ceased being linear some time ago, probably as soon as online-to-offline became a standard part of the marketing lexicon. But as mobile has begun to wield increasing influence over the shopping process — at home, on the go, and in-store — the path has grown even more convoluted. The latest evidence comes from a new study conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC) on behalf of YP.
ReachLocal’s Rowlands: In Order to Stay Relevant with Your Market, You Have No Choice But to Broaden
“A lot of companies started with a one-product solution — ReachLocal in search and other companies in email marketing or social. But our customers’ needs evolved, and they needed more than that one product. In order to stay relevant with your market, you have no choice but to broaden,” said ReachLocal CEO Sharon Rowlands about the pressure to offer a full suite of services.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Wants Your TV Ad Budget, Are Ad Blockers ‘Highway Robbers?’
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Why Sheryl Sandberg Says Big Brands Should Spend Their TV Ad Budgets on Facebook (Adweek)… Ad Blocking Companies Are Like Highway Robbers, IAB Says (Wall Street Journal)… Instacart Hires Its First CFO (TechCrunch)…
Case Study: Coffee Shop Leverages Dayparting to Perk Up Afternoon Lull
Walk into any coffee shop in the late afternoon and you probably won’t have a problem finding an open table. That afternoon lull can be tough to overcome. At Sunshine Coffee Roasters in Northern California, owner Mike Doherty’s approach adds a shot of technology to established customer outreach tactics. He relies on his cloud-based POS system, ShopKeep, for the majority of his promotional work and business management.
Editor’s Take: The Apps vs. Browser Debate Is a Distraction
The venerable apps vs. mobile web debate continues to rage on but it is largely a distraction for local merchants. Business owners do need to understand the changing media landscape to make the most effective possible use of their limited marketing budgets, but their time and their dollars are better spent on marketing fundamentals rather than investing in the increasingly difficult and crowded race to acquire, retain, and monetize app users.
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem