News and Analysis
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.
What’s Visual Search, and How Will It Play Out in 2019?
While visual search isn’t exactly catching on like fire yet, its evolution is buttressed by powerful developments of late in the tech industry. Among these: smartphones are increasingly ubiquitous, more efficient, and we’re all more accustomed to using them; investment in AI from both big companies and startups is widespread, making machine vision more effective; and augmented reality (AR), a similar modality in which tech overlays graphics onto images captured via camera lens, is taking off. Below are a few ways visual search will play out in local and retail in 2019.
Voice’s Local Impact in 2018 and 2019
Street Fight’s Mike Boland explained in a white paper on voice this year that there’s a number of misconceptions regarding how the medium will play out in local search and commerce, and there’s plenty of research out there to illuminate where voice is really headed. I outline some key insights about voice as brands and SMBs alike make plans to tackle it in the months to come.
Commentary
DEBATE: The Marketing of SMB Marketing Solutions
Speculation over the best model for providing and marketing SMB solutions — do-it-yourself (DIY), do-it-for-me (DIFM), or the middle-ground option, do-it-with-me (DIFM) — has been swirling for years. Columns from two Street Fight contributors indicate that while technology is part of the current problem, it’s undoubtedly part of the solution as well.
SMBs and Self-Service: Are We There Yet?
The question of whether or when SMBs are going to self-provision online marketing has been a topic of intense debate for at least a decade. Signs now point to the emergence of solutions simple enough to make self-service viable within three to five years. Ultimately, rather than a do-it-yourself vs. do-it-for-me dichotomy, we’re likely to see an increasingly stratified local market that looks a lot like a three-cabin airplane seating chart.
The Price of Free Listings
When the Yellow Pages directory came out once a year, if your business’ phone number was printed incorrectly, you were in trouble. It was the same with local business listings on the internet, except that instead of one or two books, there were thousands of websites carrying your bad data. This added up to a serious headache for multi-location brands and a serious opportunity for solutions providers that could bring order to the free business listings chaos. Here’s a look at how listings management has evolved.
Latest Posts
Raise Report: New Funding for Yieldify, Zosi, Adored, and Airbnb
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 Onefinestay and UrbanClap.
LBMA Podcast: Beacons on Buses, Apple’s New Patents
On the show: Selfridges Tiffany & Co brings flagship store to augmented reality; Starbucks taps Lyft for free frappucino deliveries; Uber acquires mapping team from Microsoft; TCS acquires Loctronix. Special guest is Jeff White of Gravy.
Street Fight Daily: Google’s Plan for Mobile Search, Uber’s “Lead Generation” Defense
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Reinventing Google for a Mobile World (New York Times)… Uber: We’re Not a Taxi Service,“We’re a Lead Generation” App (Business Insider)… Location Is Everything: Talking Mobile Programmatic With Avazu’s Yi Shi (AdMonsters)…
McClatchy Says It’s a ‘Digital’ Company, but More Work Still Remains
There is no doubt that McClatchy is putting an enormous amount of energy and talent into digital — but will it be enough when print is shrinking so rapidly? Street fight spoke to the company’s VP of products, marketing and promotion, Christian Hendricks, about where McClatchy is in its digital evolution
Why All Brands Need to Prepare for the Localization of Marketing
In order to fully appreciate the significance of localized marketing, we first need to understand the dominant forms of marketing that preceded it. There have been three major technological disruptions over the past century that fundamentally changed the marketing landscape.
On the Road: The Future of On-Demand Delivery Is in Motion
Figuring out how to consistently and quickly deliver services to a driver when the destination is unsure means a provider needs to develop a mesh network of always-in-motion providers of services and also serve customers in a place they are unaccustomed to doing business.
Street Fight Daily: BBC’s Hyperlocal News Push, HotelTonight App Introduces Local Concierge
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… BBC Seeks to Forge Working Links With Hyperlocal News Sites (The Guardian)… Mobile App Company HotelTonight Launching Personal Concierge Feature (Wall Street Journal)… Google Upgrades Mobile Browser Display to Allow Reviews (Blumenthals.com)…
ShopKeep Working to Reduce SMBs’ Vulnerability to Credit Card Hacks
What can be done to protect both small businesses and their customers’ credit card information from hackers? We caught up with Norm Merritt, president and CEO of ShopKeep to talk about how software and cloud-based solutions protect local businesses.
6 Vendors Bringing Hyperlocal Tech to Medical Offices
A changing healthcare landscape is leading many physicians to rethink the way they market their practices, and this is creating new opportunities for hyperlocal vendors. Here are six examples of platforms that use hyperlocal technology to help local medical professionals acquire new patients.
Sponsored Post: Building an Integrated Local Digital Strategy
Merchants like Brendan Madigan, owner of Alpenglow Sports in Tahoe City, Calif., say local listing management is an important component in their larger digital marketing strategies: “So many people want to contact your business … and if you’re late to the party, you’re just shooting yourself in the foot.”
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
Why AI Describes Locations Differently