News and Analysis
After Amazon-Whole Foods, Microsoft-Kroger: The Grocery Revolution Is Happening
Microsoft and Kroger are teaming up, challenging Amazon’s dominance in grocery innovation and pushing back against its takeover of an increasing number of corporate verticals, including cloud infrastructure in the form of Amazon Web Services. (Street Fight’s Mike Boland has predicted that Amazon will sell its grocery tech just as it’s done with AWS, taking an in-house innovation and transforming it into a cash cow.)
How 5 Brands Leverage Voice Search Technology
Twenty percent of mobile searches now are voice-initiated, with voice technology users most likely to ask about business addresses, directions, and hours, followed by whether stores carry specific items. Let’s look at how five of these brands are taking advantage of voice search, and what other industry players could be learning from their approaches.
Los Angeles Sues Over Weather Channel App’s Data-Collection Practices
The move is representative of changing winds on attitudes toward privacy in the location data ecosystem. Following a series of New York Times Facebook and location data exposés and explainers, and with America’s own GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act, slated to go into effect on January 1, 2019, companies are waking up to a new reality in which selling and sharing user data to the tune of billions of dollars in revenue with little oversight is over.
Commentary
Black Friday Weekend’s Unreported Story: The Rise of ‘Bricks and Clicks’
The mostly unreported story of Black Friday weekend is that much of the ecommerce growth came from “bricks-and-clicks” retailers, not pure-play e-tailers. The reason: Physical stores offer a critical customer experience and serve as a “brand anchor,” both of which support ecommerce for traditional retailers. Stores drive online sales because they instill a sense of confidence and trust in the consumer.
On-Demand and Deep Linking Becoming More Deeply Linked
The worlds of on-demand and deep-linking took another step closer when ride-sharing giant Uber announced a new mechanism for app developers to incorporate a button for users to request an Uber driver. Expect to see more of this kind of app integration among on-demand services, giving the market leaders greater scale and distribution.
How Multi-location Brands Can Keep Up with the Push for On-Demand
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.
Latest Posts
Sponsored Content: Ad Improvements Could Strengthen Local Appeal of Costco, Sam’s Club
Members of the wholesale retail chains Sam’s Club and Costco swear by the low costs that come with buying in bulk, and locations cater their offerings to the local market. But these two companies could take a fresh look at their branding strategies and interactions with customers.
Why the Contractor-Employee Conundrum Isn’t a Fatal Liability for the On-Demand Economy
The recent California Labor Commission ruling, classifying one Uber driver as an employee has led to a lot of chatter about cracks in the business model underlying the “on-demand economy.”
Street Fight Daily: Square IPO Looms, Amazon Plans Drive-Up Grocery Stores
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Square’s Filing Turns Talk to Dorsey’s Juggling Skills (New York Times)… Amazon Planning Drive-Up Grocery Stores (Silicon Valley Business Journal)… Instagram Mobile Ad Revenues to Reach $2.81 Billion Worldwide in 2017 (eMarketer)…
So How Do We Define a ‘Small Business’ Anyway?
Small businesses pack a big punch when it comes to the economy. A working definition that most people and corporations can agree on would aid market interpretations, statistical analyses, and, of course, make it simpler for advertisers to reach the right audience.
Raise Report: New Funding for AdYapper, Cinarra Systems, Granular
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 JetSmarter, SuperAwesome, and Made.com.
LBMA Podcast: Google Gets Into Beacons, Amazon Turns 20
On the show: Spotify’s musical map of the world; Enplug’s digital signage app marketplace; CrispMedia partners with Taste Of Home for hyperlocal content in grocery stores; Swrve and Plot Projects partner; NTT DoCoMo helps us shop with our eyes. Special guest is Ian Dallimore, Director of Innovation and Digital Strategy for Lamar.
Street Fight Daily: Payments App CurrentC Ready For Trial Run, TripAdvisor Transformed
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Retailers’ Answer to Apple Pay Is Said to Hit Stores in August (Bloomberg)… Get Ready For the ‘Big One’ (GeoMarketing)… TripAdvisor Transformed: The Booking Site Is Now in Full Swing (Skift)…
Street Culture: MomentFeed CEO Says ‘Don’t Work Here Unless You Absolutely Must’
“We only grow at a rate that guarantees that we can provide [our customers] the product and expertise that will drive that high level of customer success,” says CEO Robert Blatt. “We are growing rapidly, but we really limit our growth so we can always deliver client success.”
Hyperlocal News App Blockfeed Takes Another Stab at Geo-Aggregation
Hyperlocal news organizations can be necessarily limited by their neighborhood focus, but Blockfeed thinks local news has the potential to be far more viable, because the essential components — content, an audience, and advertisers — have already been brought together by geography.
Sponsored Content: Duplicate Listings Are Killing Your Business
Duplicate listings are one of the most common data problems plaguing small businesses and Fortune 500 companies alike. They can confuse potential customers, and cause your clients to lose business. But many marketers are uncertain about how duplicates are created, the problem they cause, and how best to address them.
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem