News and Analysis
Early Spending Results are In! MULO BOOMs this Holiday Season
As of this writing, Black Friday and Cyber Monday (now seemingly extended to Cyber Week) are behind us. MULO (multi-location) pundits and agencies involved in retail and restaurant analyses and predictions are starting to call the winners and losers in the holiday Street Fight, which now involves battles between brands, products, SMBs, and MULO chains, […]
Street Fight LIVE Insights: Stopping at C-Stores with Mike Templeton
Some people collect snow globes or stickers on road trips. Others boast that they’ve seen all the National Parks. Still others have a thing for selfies in front of weird vintage structures. But Mike Templeton, one of the speakers at Street Fight LIVE stops at and collects insights from convenience stores (C-stores), the unsung heroes […]
The MULO Dozen: November in Review
As November and 2024 draws to a close, news from MULO (multi-location) brands has hardly slowed down! In fact, this season is a make-or-break for retailers, restaurants, C-stores, and service businesses as consumers travel near and far to eat, shop, and squeeze in those errands before the year ends. Of course, the biggest news of […]
Commentary
Lessons from the 2022 Holiday Shopping Season
As 2023 gets into full gear, we should look at the key trends and factors persisting and fueling growth into the next holiday season peak, which will arrive before we know it. Retailers and brands planning for upcoming quarters should remember these lessons from the 2022 holiday e-commerce shopping season:
5 Martech Trends That Will Define 2023
As the US follows in the EU’s footsteps, privacy regulations will only play a larger role in marketing in 2023. While the GDPR is still the strongest privacy regulation to date, we will see an increasing number of regulations in the U.S. The best marketers are agile and should be using the coming year to make preparations for the loss of third-party cookies. One thing is clear: decisions must be strategic, privacy-centric, and backed by data.
Latest Posts
Bad Stock Art: How Your Photos May Be Hurting Engagement
We all know the importance of graphics and videos in generating clicks, engagement, and traffic. One study claimed a lift of as much as 650 percent for posts and ads including imagery, versus text-only marketing. But the types of graphics or stock art you use may be as important as the fact that you use them. […]
What Lies Ahead for the Car Dealership?
Are we racing into the future or just cruising along? You may not think of a car dealership as MULO (multi-location) brands, but drive through commercial areas, and you’ll probably see one dealership after another. New cars, used cars, and luxury cars are all on display for consumers to browse, test drive, and buy. The […]
DoubleVerify Pushes Into Retail Media with Instacart Ads Partnership
DoubleVerify is pushing deeper into retail media, as the company looks to solidify its position as one of the most influential firms in the ad verification and digital measurement space. While the company already covers 90% of the top retail media inventory currently available, executives are looking for more. DoubleVerify recently announced a partnership with […]
The Mall of the Future
The media love to show pictures of vacant and deteriorating malls. But the reality is that the mall isn’t dying. It’s just changing. Let’s think back to 1992 when The Mall of America opened and became a destination — not just for shopping but for dining and playing. It’s now a major tourist attraction and […]
Seedtag Brings Proprietary Contextual AI Tech to Digital Advertising
It shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that artificial intelligence has been a hot topic in the world of digital advertising as of late. There are a number of concepts floating around involving the best way to embrace the technologies. But Seedtag, a contextual advertising company with a global footprint, believes it has a solution […]
Jordan Blakesley Answers the Question: Do You Really Need PR?
Jordan Blakesley is the founder of B Public Relations (BPR), a company that manages 24 PR professionals in five cities. In addition to SMB boutiques and independent hotels, destinations, and restaurants, the company works with many multi-location brands, including Snooze, an AM Eatery, Next Level Burger, and King’s Seafood Company. We have observed at Street […]
What Comes Next for Retail Media 2.0?
We all know where retail media has been. The channel has a history that dates back to at least 2012, when Amazon became a pioneer in the space and launched its first retail media network. That set off a chain of events that forever changed adtech as we know it. Walmart followed suit, with the […]
Toys ‘R’ Us is Not Playing Around With its Retail Re-launch
Setting what might be an example of a future retail model, mega toy brand Toys ‘R’ Us is emerging from bankruptcy with a new retail strategy involving airports and cruise ships. Called the “air, land, and sea” initiative, the big box MULO (multi-location) brand is opening up to 24 flagship stores and locations in airports […]
To Scale or Not to Scale? 10 Factors for Brands to Consider
Multi-location (MULO) brands are complex and sometimes filled with risks. In the retail sector alone, more than 3,000 stores have closed so far this year. However, establishing a brand in one region and scaling it to multiple geographies (sometimes even global) can be very profitable in the long run. But with that complexity comes a wide […]
Beyond Likes: Win Hearts with Emotional Marketing