News and Analysis
These 5 AR Providers Are Changing the Beauty Space
Augmented reality isn’t just for dog filters and Pokémon catching. A growing number of beauty brands are hopping on the AR bandwagon, hoping that virtual makeup try-ons with facial recognition will help spur e-commerce sales. Here’s a peek at how five AR technology providers are making their mark on the beauty and fashion industries.
5 Brands Innovating with Augmented Reality
While just 12% of brands say they’re interested in exploring AR in the near-term, according to a recent Street Fight survey, that figure is expected to increase exponentially in the coming years. Part of that anticipated explosion in the AR market is thanks to companies like Facebook and Snapchat, which are aggressively building out their AR offerings. It’s also thanks to innovative thinkers at major brand retailers, who are reimagining AR technology and making it all their own. Let’s take a closer look at how five brands are innovating in the AR space.
Amazon Plans to Set New Standard for On-Demand by Expanding 2-Hour Delivery
Amazon is planning a substantial expansion of its Whole Foods grocery stores, a move that will aim to put much of the nation’s deep-pocketed customers in range of its two-hour delivery service, Prime Now. Under the proposed changes, reported in the Wall Street Journal, Prime Now would become available from all Whole Foods stores.
Commentary
Square Deal: Payments Startup Passes First Test as Publicly Traded Company
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
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.
Retail, Restaurants, and Roofers: Where Does On-Demand Work (and Not)?
A year into the on-demand revolution, the question persists: Where’s it going next? So far, it’s gone into nearly every local vertical, but there are still areas with the right conditions for on-demand models to take root, some of which remain underdeveloped. These include higher-end professional services like lawyers and doctors, project-based work like design and writing, and, of course, SMBs, especially when it comes to local marketing and advertising.
Latest Posts
11 Tools SMBs Can Use to Manage Social Media
Instead of relying on agencies to manage their social media accounts, local merchants are increasingly using self-management platforms to post on multiple networks, optimize campaigns, and calculate ROI from their social investments. Here are 11 platforms that SMBs can try.
Sponsored Content: What to Know About SEO
In order to start seeing a positive ROI on their websites, businesses of all sizes need to find ways to drive traffic to their digital properties beyond online listings and digital offers. In most cases, that means relying on search engines to bring in the crowds.
Street Fight Daily: Auto Makers Move to Buy Nokia Mapping, Yahoo’s Q2 Struggles
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Audi, BMW, and Daimler Near Deal to Buy Nokia Mapping Service (Wall Street Journal)… Yahoo Posts Loss, Despite Rise in Its Display Ad Business (New York Times)… Amazon Expands Home Services to 15 Cities in Pursuit of Growth (Bloomberg)…
On-Demand Services: Lessons Learned From the Rise and Fall of Homejoy
The news that on-demand home cleaning service Homejoy is shutting down at the end of the month wasn’t a big surprise. Here are a few key lessons that stick out in thinking about the company’s trajectory.
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)…
8 Things SMBs Should Consider Before Adopting Mobile Payments
With 22.6 million people in the U.S. expected to make at least one mobile payment in 2015, merchants of all sizes are feeling the push to start accepting mobile payments. But whether every local business should jump on board is still a matter of debate within the hyperlocal community.
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)…
Openings and New Hires at Drawbridge, Yieldmo, Acxiom and Microsoft
In this week’s column, Steve Huffman is in as new Reddit CEO, two shifts at Microsoft, a new president of marketing services at Acxiom, and a new VP of Sales at Moasis.
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem