News and Analysis
5 Hot Retail Strategies in Play This Thanksgiving Weekend
Top retailers aren’t leaving anything up to chance. In one of the biggest pushes we’ve seen in years, retailers around the country are embracing interactive technology and social channels in a play to capture a greater share of consumer holiday spending. Read on to learn about five innovative strategies.
Grocers Use AI, Voice Tech to Manage ‘Black Wednesday’ Crowds
Beyond managing the Black Wednesday chaos with extra staffers and longer hours, a growing number of supermarkets are using technology to improve the shopping experience and turn rushed shoppers in loyal customers who will return again once the holidays are through.
Anne Marie Stephen Joins Street Fight as President
Anne Marie Stephen, a veteran of tech and retail, is taking the helm at Street Fight, the premier media, research, and events company covering local marketing and technology. As president, Stephen will oversee Street Fight’s overall strategy, events, and budget as it pursues aggressive growth in 2019.
Commentary
Why Online Marketplaces Will Continue to Beat Word-of-Mouth Platforms in the Battle for Local Business
People seek the opinions of their friends. They care what they think, and they trust them to make recommendations on everything from a good meal to a good mechanic. It’s word of mouth marketing — the most prized of its kind since the Stone Age. And its staying power undeniably supports the rationale for a […]
What Local Marketers Can Learn From the Trials of Google Plus
With Google’s recent announcement that Google Plus will be decoupled from YouTube and other services, industry watchers are predicting that this may be the beginning of the end for the social network. Here are a few lessons a local marketer might learn from the social network’s challenges.
How SMBs Can Respond to the ‘Uber Effect’
If the past 15 years have taught us anything, it’s the resilience of brick-and-mortar businesses. Effective enterprises sense and respond to change by incorporating new technology and business models while relying on their distinct advantages, such as face-to-face service and distinctive ambience.
Latest Posts
5 Ways Mobile Is Improving the In-Store Shopping Experience
Hyperlocal tech has the power to revolutionize the in-store shopping experience, but whether those changes ever come to fruition will depend largely on retailer adoption. Here are five examples of ways that hyperlocal technology is being utilized in stores right now…
Street Fight Daily: Groupon Buys Booking Site, Delivery Hero Nears IPO
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Groupon Acquires Beauty Salon And Spa Booking Startup (Chicago Business Journal)… Takeout Giant Delivery Hero Raises Another $110M at Over $3.1B Valuation Ahead of IPO (TechCrunch)… Google Misses Out on Apple’s Slice of Mobile Transactions (Wall Street Journal)…
Tomorrowland: How AOL’s Digital City Foreshadowed More Than the Future of Local
Creating and operating city guides for all major U.S. markets turned out to be something of a cover. What we were really doing was running a skunkworks project with few boundaries on creativity — where success or “failing-fast” were not the goals…
Openings and New Hires at Gannett, Vendasta, Instacart, Microsoft & HTC
Every two weeks, Kelly Benish — who knows practically everyone in hyperlocal — covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. In this week’s edition, new jobs and hires at SocialCentiv, PageLaunch, Comporium and Thrive Analytics.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Rethinks Location, Yahoo Kills Maps
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Messenger Updates Location Sharing. Is Uber Integration Next? (Recode)… Yahoo Maps Hits A Dead End, Shutting Down End Of This Month (Search Engine Land)… Google Says It May Unverify Inactive Local Business Listings (Search Engine Land)…
Where Does Local Search Fit in a World of Apps?
Where is Google’s place in a world where the browser is no longer the front door? On the desktop, trillions of web pages compel an index and a friendly entry point. But an app-heavy mobile environment — already siloed into neat little buckets — doesn’t beg for a core search engine…
#SFSW15: At McDonald’s, Digital is about ‘Fun and Convenience’ — Not Branding
At Street Fight Summit West in San Francisco Tuesday, Julia Vander Ploeg, US VP Digital at McDonald’s, sat down with Street Fight’s COO David Hirschman to talk about how her digital team is weaving technology into the fabric of one of the world’s largest franchise brands…
7 Ways Local News Sites Can Grow Their Digital Audiences
“Creating a ‘sticky’ hyperlocal news site is certainly something that publishers need to work toward,” says Bryan Marovich, publisher of the Newport Dispatch. Here are seven strategies that hyperlocal publications are using to make their websites sticker, in the hopes of attracting and retaining a larger base of readers…
Street Fight Daily: Mondelez Warms to Retail Tech, SMBs Embrace the Cloud
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Mondelez Makes New Call to Startups for Retail Tech (AdAge)… Small Firms Shift Toward Cloud-Based Software (Wall Street Journal)… Uber CEO: “I’m Not Perfect and Neither is This Company.” (Mashable)…
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
Why Restaurant PR Matters for Local Growth