News and Analysis
Happy Returns Expands Into College Market
Startup Happy Returns, based in Santa Monica and founded by alums from HauteLook and NordstromRack.com, offers a way for shoppers to return e-commerce purchases at real-world kiosks. Beginning this fall, Happy Returns will be setting up kiosks—which it calls “Return Bars”—at five campuses around the country to capitalize on the returns generated by back-to-college online shopping.
Commentary
Unmanaged Local Listings Hurt Consumers and Businesses Alike
Google Maps and its competitors have become the most important pathways to brick and mortar businesses outside foot traffic and word of mouth. As one recent case indicates, an accurate Google Maps listing can be a matter of life or death for a local business. The company needs a stronger and more concerted effort to enlist the help of business owners to address this problem…
Unlocking the Power of Passive In-Store Data Analytics
In the world of indoor location analytics there are two types for data collection: active and passive. Retailers have embraced active data via apps and are now testing beacons — but they should also consider the value that passive location data brings to the overall understanding of consumer behavior in-store…
Latest Posts
Why Local Marketing Is a Function of Commerce, Not Media
I’ve come to believe that the initial narrative about digital — the one about eyeballs simply moving online — actually impedes an effective analysis of the local marketing industry. Once we see local marketing as a function of commerce (ad not media) we start to find a more dramatic shift than previously thought.
Street Fight Daily: Zomato Buys Urbanspoon, Ford Opens Dashboard
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Zomato Food Portal Buys Urbanspoon to Expand in U.S. (Businessweek)… With Applink 3.0, Ford Lets You Choose Your Navigation App (GigaOm)… 75% Of Small & Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs) Say Internet Marketing Is Effective (Street Fight)…
Marsh Supermarkets Brings Beacon Messaging to Apple Watch
Marsh Supermarkets is working with InMarket to install a system in its stores that will use Bluetooth beacons to “wake up” applications on the Apple Watch and deliver relevant content to their shoppers wrists. Shoppers can decide whether or not to receive push notifications upon entering the store…
Street Fight Daily: Apple Watch Meets Beacon, Foursquare’s Uncertain Growth
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…The New Foursquare: People Are Checking In, But They May Not Be Staying (New York Business Journal)… Google Results For “Car Insurance” Could Look Different Very Soon (Search Engine Land)… Shopify Preparing for Dual U.S.-Canada Initial Public Offering in 2015 (Wall Street Journal)…
Street Fight Daily: TripAdvisor Targets OpenTable, Cracks In The Geoweb
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Line Launches A Taxi Booking Service In Japan Because Chat Apps Have Become Platforms (TechCrunch)… TripAdvisor Goes on a Dining Reservations Binge With Acquisition of Iens (Skift)… Cracks In The Digital Map: What The ‘Geoweb’ Gets Wrong About Real Streets (Guardian)…
Scaling Seasonal SEO Across Locations With AI Insights