News and Analysis
Why Are Retailers Hesitant to Explore Omnichannel Opportunities?
More than 90% of shoppers combine digital and physical channels on the path to purchase, and four in 10 online shoppers are using buy-online, pick-up-in-store (BOPIS) checkout options. But the big news coming out of the 2018 holiday season isn’t how many shoppers are taking advantage of online-to-offline fulfillment. It’s how few retailers are offering it.
Commentary
Do You Bing? If Not, It’s Time to Start
Microsoft recently announced that Bing turned its first profit since being launched in 2009. The company continues to extend its reach, grow its share of the search market, and add features that make it a stronger commerce tool. The question businesses should be asking is not whether Bing will catch up to Google, but whether they view Bing as a critical publisher to improve the reach of their location data.
The Privatization of Local Search
Local search takes place across services that are proprietary and dedicated, even if indirectly, toward earning revenue for the companies that run them. But that doesn’t preclude us from thinking of local search as a kind of public utility whose objective is to provide accurate and consistent information. That means treating local listings primarily as a public good, not a business.
Forget DIY, DIWM, and DIFM: ‘Do Nothing’ is the Best Approach to Capturing the SMB Market
The future of SMB marketing solutions isn’t do-it-yourself, do-it-for-me, or even do-it-with-me. Rather, it lies in a new go-to-market model called “do nothing” that combines context, content, software, and automation into solutions that are low-cost, have next to no barriers to entry, and require little in the way of learning or doing from customers.
Latest Posts
Local Publishers: Take Back Control of Your Brand
The announcement of the Digital News Initiative partnership with Google is yet another step backwards for publishers. If they would just consider how they operated their own platforms before the 1990’s they will realize that Google, Facebook and other current tech platforms owe them nothing.
Street Fight Daily: Jet.com’s Plans to Dethrone Amazon, Instagram’s New Web Search
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Jet.com Will Launch With Amazon Prices Front and Center (Recode)… Instagram Brings Search To The Web (TechCrunch)… Online Takeout Orders Could Overtake Phone Orders in Five Years or Less (Mashable)…
Charlotte Agenda Carves Out Role as Brand Builder, Market Developer
In April, online city guide Charlotte Agenda arrived onto a shifting Charlotte, N.C. digital scene. The site’s eclectic mix of five-to-ten quick-read, mobile-friendly stories and a distinctive conversational style of commentary is standing out among local media players eager to reach a young audience, but will it prove sustainable?
Street Fight Daily: Yahoo Files for Alibaba Spinoff, Google Scoops Up Homejoy Staff
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yahoo Files for Alibaba Spinoff, Though Tax Issues Linger (New York Times)… Google Is Getting Into the Home Services Market With Hire of Homejoy Staff (The Next Web)… TripAdvisor Taking on Airbnb? (Travel Trends)…
Will Newspaper Companies Find Revival in Local Video?
Ten years from now newspapers will be delivering more local video programming than TV stations. Inconceivable? Sub out the word newspapers for “a local media company formerly known as a newspaper,” and consider the assets, cash-flow and aggressiveness of these big print companies, and you might warm up to my theory.
Street Fight Daily: Groupon Buys OrderUp, Advertisers Struggle With Google’s Mobile Update
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Groupon Acquires OrderUp Food Delivery Service (TechCrunch)… Google And Its Advertisers That Didn’t Prepare For Mobile Face Uphill Struggle (Marketing Land)… How Eddystone Will Take Beacons Further Than Ever Before (ReadWrite)…
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Why TV Remains the Heartbeat of Local Connection