News and Analysis

What Will AR Mean for Consumer Brands?

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What’s driving AR today? And what does it mean for big consumer brands? Our lead analyst Mike Boland tackles these questions in this week’s Road Map column, which delves into the tech giants’ investments in AR and what they mean for the future of XR-driven brand advertising.

5 Big Takeaways from Black Friday 2018

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As Cyber Monday gets underway, another Black Friday looms behind us. Below are the highlights of brick-and-mortar retail’s big day as we prepare for the windfall expected from its digital counterpart.

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.

Commentary

How Multi-location Brands Can Keep Up with the Push for On-Demand

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In the era of UberRUSH, Postmates, DoorDash, and others, every business with an in-house delivery fleet is feeling the pressure to provide the same kind of on-demand delivery experience. The driving force behind the demand for on-demand is time, or the perceived lack thereof. Consumers have shown they will pay a premium to save it.

Square Deal: Payments Startup Passes First Test as Publicly Traded Company

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Square made its debut on the public markets yesterday. After its much-commented-on offering price of $9 per share, which some took as a shot across the bow for unicorn startups, the Jack Dorsey-helmed payments firm surged more than 45 percent in its first day of trading. The pressure may be off Square momentarily, but it won’t stay that way for long.

Targeting Consumers on the Holiday Purchase Path Means Reducing Friction

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Around the holidays, consumers tend to spend a lot more time on multiple devices, altering standard shopping habits and behaviors. This means brands and businesses need to ensure they are accurately and competitively represented in search, social, and mobile channels, and that social engagement and advertising efforts are properly targeted to the right consumers at the right times.

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Groupon’s Food Delivery Service, The Missing Online-Offline Link in Retail

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Groupon Challenges GrubHub and Yelp With 10% Off All Delivered Orders (Adweek)… The Missing Link Between Shopper Marketing And E-Commerce (Marketing Land)… A Fragile Moment for Big Media (Recode)…

6 Ways Wearables Will Enhance the Shopping Experience

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In order to take full advantage of the data that wearables provide, businesses need to give consumers a reason to share. Here are six examples of ways that wearables can be leveraged to enhance the shopping experience for customers at brick-and-mortar stores.

A Deeper Look at ‘Michele’s List’ of Independent Local News Sites Reveals a Gloomier Picture

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After taking a second, closer look at “Michele’s List,” I’m more worried about independent community news sites. I was surprised to see that more than half of them generate only $50,000 or less in revenue, hardly enough to run a “Ramen-noodle”-type operation.

Street Fight Daily: Google Tests Home Services Ads, StubHub and Uber Pair Up

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Home Services Ads For Locksmiths, Plumbers Hit San Francisco Market (Search Engine Land)… StubHub Now Lets You Request an Uber Ride So You’re Never Late to an Event (The Next Web)… How Apple’s Embrace of Ad Blocking Will Change Native Advertising (Digiday)…

Placed Builds Out Attribution Platform, Connecting Store Visits to Dollars Spent

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Location-based analytics provider Placed is looking to prove that mobile ads have the power to drive sales. The company today unveiled a new tool that collects data on whether consumers bought anything at a store for which they saw a mobile ad, and how much they spent.

Sponsored Content: 6 Strategies for Success in Social Media

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Business owners should be developing comprehensive social marketing strategies. Those merchants who haven’t taken the first step by creating Facebook pages and Twitter accounts for their businesses are losing out on customer loyalty, as well as new opportunities for growth.

Q2 Earnings: Mobile Users Driving Yelp’s Growth, Levchin Resigns From Board

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“Consumers are turning to apps for everything,” said Jeremy Stoppelman, the company’s chief executive said on the company’s quarterly earnings call Tuesday. He said that the company’s executive team is guiding Yelp toward a revenue stream composed mainly from localized advertising.

Street Fight Daily: Yelp Shares Drop After Q2 Miss, Google’s Location Hours Feature for Mobile

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yelp Drops 14% After Reporting Profit Miss In Q2 On Stronger-Than-Expected Revenue Of $133.9M (TechCrunch)… Google Now Featuring a Location’s Popular Hours on Mobile Devices (Blumenthals)… New Breed of Digital Publishers Just Say No to Ad Tech (Wall Street Journal)…

The Future of Retail: ‘In-Store Mode’ and In-Aisle Payments

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Wouldn’t it stand to reason that higher receptivity to promotional messaging comes when consumers are truly in buying mode. And wouldn’t the probability of that mode be greatest when someone is in-store, as opposed to browsing Instagram on their couch?

6 Tools to Merchants Can Use to Quantify the Impact of In-Store Events

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Being able to attribute offline marketing to in-store sales closes the loop for retail marketers and generates a better understanding of how various factors can impact sales.