News and Analysis

5 Hot Retail Strategies in Play This Thanksgiving Weekend

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Top retailers aren’t leaving anything up to chance. In one of the biggest pushes we’ve seen in years, retailers around the country are embracing interactive technology and social channels in a play to capture a greater share of consumer holiday spending. Read on to learn about five innovative strategies.

Grocers Use AI, Voice Tech to Manage ‘Black Wednesday’ Crowds

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Beyond managing the Black Wednesday chaos with extra staffers and longer hours, a growing number of supermarkets are using technology to improve the shopping experience and turn rushed shoppers in loyal customers who will return again once the holidays are through.

Anne Marie Stephen Joins Street Fight as President

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Anne Marie Stephen, a veteran of tech and retail, is taking the helm at Street Fight, the premier media, research, and events company covering local marketing and technology. As president, Stephen will oversee Street Fight’s overall strategy, events, and budget as it pursues aggressive growth in 2019.

Commentary

Is the Humble Phone Call Actually the Killer App for Local Businesses?

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It turns out reports of voice calling’s death are greatly exaggerated. Despite an explosion in data usage and mobile messaging, voice calling — facilitated by search and virtual assistants — remains a popular activity among mobile users. A lot of those calls are going to local businesses, where they are more likely to convert to revenue than web forms or emails.

6 Reasons Why Hyperlocal Tech Initiatives Continue to Elude Consumers

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Hyperlocal is a totally logical concept in the minds of technologists, analysts, and investors, but many hyperlocal tech initiatives have yet to catch fire with consumers. Part of the challenge is people are creatures of habit. Here are six reasons why hyperlocal tech will continue to elude consumers’ grasp in 2016.

5 Reasons Why Local Marketing Will Mature in 2016

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The past few years have seen the introduction of a whole universe of new tools designed to address individual aspects of digital marketing. In 2016, we will see a shift away from many of these discreet, single-purpose tools toward more comprehensive marketing solutions, DataSphere’s Gary Cowan predicts. Here’s a look at five ways SMB local marketing will mature in the coming year.

Latest Posts

Raise Report: Radius, Shopkeep, Stripe Rake in Big Rounds

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Every two weeks we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. In this edition, new investments include big votes of confidence for Twilio, Yozio, and Little.

LBMA Podcast: Beacons, WeChat and Proximity Messaging with NOD,

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On the show: Visor let’s you see what’s happening around the globe; Michigan University opens up MCity to test driverless cars; Beacons + WeChat test from Chow Tai Fook brings in $16M; Hipcamp’s landsharing services. Member news from Canadian Tire, Placed and Wendy’s.

Street Fight Daily: Small-Scale Shipping Firms Are Having a Moment, Jet.com Struggles

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Growth of E-commerce Pushes Funds Into Small-Fry Shipping Firms (Reuters)… Jet.com Runs Into Turbulence With Retailers (Wall Street Journal)… Not Just An App: The Front End Of The Trillion-Dollar, Full-Stack Revolution (TechCrunch)…

Click-to-Calls Are Clicking — And a Lot of the Sales Are Close to Home

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A new study from Marchex has put a dollar amount on the business generated when consumers tap on a click-to-call ad or search listing on their mobile device: more than $1 trillion each year.

Prompt.ly Launches App to Help ‘Solopreneurs’ Manage Their (Very) Small Businesses

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The platform, which provided scheduling, invoicing, payments and promotions, recently launched a mobile app that helps very small business owners — what CEO Richard Titus calls “solopreneurs” — easily manage their businesses on their phone.

Street Fight Daily: Uber Reportedly Losing Money Despite VC Success, Yelp and ProPublica Team Up

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Here Are the Internal Documents that Prove Uber Is a Money Loser (Gawker)… ProPublica Teams Up With Yelp to Make It Easier to Find Good Local Health Care Services (NiemanLab)… Here’s How Facebook Is Turning Its Local Ad Unit Into a Customer Service Channel (AdWeek)…

5 Dashboards for Monitoring Nearby Social Content

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Social media has become a go-to channel for small business marketing, but whether a business is successful at achieving its campaign goals depends largely on strategy. Here are five examples of location-based social monitoring dashboards that merchants can try.

Bringg CTO: Delivering On-Demand Experiences ‘Never Existed Before’

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The emergence of on-demand applications has set a new standard for convenience that has left existing companies struggling to keep up with on-demand startups. Street Fight recently caught up with Bringg’s CTO Lior Sion to talk about the market opportunity for local on-demand.

Street Fight Daily: The Evolution of Groupon, Target Tests Beacons

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Rise, Fall, and Improbable Comeback Strategy of Groupon (Eater)… Target Testing Beacons to Provide In-Store Shoppers Coupons, Recommendations (Minneapolis StarTribune)… Instacart Makes Its First Acquisition With “Acqui-hire” Of App Maker Wedding Party (TechCrunch)…

INFOGRAPHIC: A Quick, Deep Dive Into Local Optometrists

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Local optometrists in the U.S. number some 33,000 businesses and generate an estimated $15B in annual sales at an average of $450k per year. The industry is growing at 5% annually, but it’s under considerable pressure from the likes of Amazon and Warby Parker.