News and Analysis

Urban Airship Acquires Accengage, Becomes World’s Largest Mobile Customer Engagement Company

Urban Airship, which serves Fortune 25 brands such as Adidas, BBC, and Vodafone, indicated that it would use the combined resources now at its disposal to expand the technical capabilities of its slate of mobile solutions. It will also take advantage of Accengage’s native expertise in the European market, particularly at a time when increased regulation on both sides of the Atlantic is underscoring the importance of strong policy and PR teams.

Google and Amazon Escalate Voice ‘Platform Wars’

Mike Boland: Any entity competing for local commerce—publishers, brands, ad-tech players—has a looming platform choice for voice. Like the platform wars between iOS and Android, it’s a matter of deciding where to apply finite resources and development muscle. Maybe the answer is “both” Google and Amazon. But for now, Google appears to have the lead.

Doddle Launches in US, Pushing Click-and-Collect Forward for American Retail

Touting the fact that 70% of U.S. shoppers have leveraged click-and-collect options at their disposal in the last six months, Doddle, which has been active in the UK, will be helping major retail partners such as Amazon create smoother buying experiences for customers who want to take advantage of one-click online ordering while avoiding the process of delivery.

Commentary

Street Fight’s Predictions for 2016: Part Two

With 2015 drawing to a close, it’s time again to look ahead to what we can expect in the hyperlocal space in 2016. We asked Street Fight staffers and weekly columnists what they thought would be the biggest story (or stories) in local in 2016. We ran the first installment yesterday — now here are the rest.

Street Fight’s Predictions for 2016: Part One

With 2015 drawing to a close, it’s time again to look ahead to what we can expect in the hyperlocal space in 2016. We asked Street Fight staffers and weekly columnists what they thought would be the biggest story (or stories) in local in 2016. We’ll be running their outlooks in two installments, the first today and the second tomorrow.

Rating Street Fight’s 2015 Predictions

At the end of each year, Street Fight invites staffers, friends, and luminaries from the industry to share their predictions for what’s in store for the coming year. Today, we take a look back at some of the predictions for 2015 to see who was on target and who missed the mark.

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Google Introduces New Parent Company, Amazon Launchpad’s Challenges

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Meet Alphabet, The New Conglomerate Absorbing Google (Marketing Land)… Amazon’s Next Big Challenge: Getting You to Buy Stuff You Didn’t Know You Wanted (Recode)… Startups Vie to Build an Uber for Health Care (Wall Street Journal)…

Street Fight Launches ‘Local Visionary Awards’ to Honor the Industry’s Best and Brightest

For four-and-a-half years, Street Fight has been the go-to resource for people working in local media, marketing, commerce and tech. Building on that history, today we are launching a 10-category competition designed to honor the very best campaigns and ideas in local.

6 Reasons Why Beacon Programs Fail

Beacons have been heralded as the future of retail, with 85% of retailers expected to use the technology by 2016. But getting a successful proximity-marketing program off the ground involves more than just setting out a few digital devices. Here are few common pitfalls and tips on how to avoid them.

Mono CEO: In Local Marketing, U.S. Is Maybe 5 Years Ahead of Europe

Since its founding in 2007, Mono Solutions has been giving SMBs a complete package — from website building, to helping with online visibility, to engaging with customers, to doing business online. We recently caught up with the company’s CEO, Louise Lachmann, to talk about how she sees the local industry evolving.

Street Fight Daily: Crowley on Foursquare’s Future, Google Still Working on Same-Day Delivery

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Groupon Reports Profit but Still Falls Short of Expectations (Wall Street Journal)… Google Puts Exec Behind ‘Buy Button’ in Charge of Express Delivery Service (Recode)… Understanding The Future Of Mobility (TechCrunch)…

Street Culture: Flexibility Helps WeddingWire as It Scales Up

At WeddingWire, an online marketplace serving the wedding and events industry, its expanding employee base is providing new opportunities to fine-tune company policies, according to the company’s vice president of people, Jenny Harding.

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

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,

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

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

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.