News and Analysis

More Ad Transparency, Control Come to RE/MAX Street Fight

More Ad Transparency, Control Come to RE/MAX

Brands that advertise on real-estate site RE/MAX, now have the benefit of centralized control over their data and ad operations via a media automation platform called Unify.  The platform also enables brands to precisely target local audiences. As with any big-ticket purchase, the journey to buying or selling a home begins online, often times with […]

A First Glimpse Into Street Fight LIVE 2025

A First Glimpse Into Street Fight LIVE 2025

Street Fight LIVE made its comeback in 2024. Now, we’ll give you a sneak peek at the 2025 version. Although dormant for several years (due to the pandemic), the curated and dynamic event at Meta’s headquarters in Chicago was met with rave reviews from attendees, sponsors, and speakers. We believe it’s the only think tank conference that […]

The MULO Dozen: February in Review Street Fight

The MULO Dozen: February in Review

The MULO (multi-location) ecosystem is continuously re-inventing, expanding and shrinking, and enhancing the consumer experience with a wide range of new products, technologies, and ways to buy. Here are the trends of the month. Have news to share? Please e-mail [email protected] and join us in September for our Street Fight LIVE 2025 gathering, which will […]

Commentary

The Very Public Demise of Bed Bath & Beyond

BUST: The Very Public Demise of Bed Bath & Beyond

Who will remember the brand Bed Bath & Beyond in a few years, and what will they say? Only time will tell, but in the interim, the retail media has had no fodder shortage over the past few weeks, dissecting how and why this iconic multi-location brand declined and ultimately declared bankruptcy. Monday morning quarterbacks […]

Pop-up shop brands

Pop Goes the Pop-Up Shop — For Big Brands and Mom & Pops

The Pop-up shop has long been part of the retail and restaurant landscape. They are temporary locations. Multi-location brands may take their products into small footprints or new configurations and venues and small brands may start with a limited-run concept and then expand it. 5 Pop-Up Models Some are seasonal. For example, Bryant Park in […]

The Home Depot’s Melanie Babcock on the Rise of Retail Media Networks

The Home Depot’s Melanie Babcock on the Rise of Retail Media Networks

Melanie Babcock joined The Home Depot in 2013 as Senior Director of Social Media and rose through the ranks to become Vice President of Retail Media+ and Monetization in February of this year. RM+ is the largest home improvement retail media network. StreetFight sat down with the Ann Arbor, Mich., native to get her insights […]

Latest Posts

Report: Retail Is Robust Again

The fickle finger of fast fashion just got longer in the U.S. market. According to findings from the Consumer Edge Insight Center fast fashion, defined as the reproduction of high-end fashion designs cheaply and selling them at retail for the masses, is even holding its own against luxury fashion. Retailers such as Shein, Temu, The Gap, Zara, Uniqlo, Topshop, […]

The MULO Dozen: December Brands in Review

The MULO Dozen: December Brands in Review

As MULO (multi-location)  brands prepare for the new year, they make bold moves — from new leadership to hot consumer trends we look at December brands in review. Here’s what we saw this month. Have news for 2024? Please e-mail me. Love’s names two new executives. The C-store “experience” is now officially a trend. (LEADERSHIP) 50 […]

Do You Have One of the Most Stressful Jobs?

Do You Have One of the Most Stressful Jobs?

You may think that managing marketing, business operations, or technology gives you daily headaches. But there are other more stressful jobs. This new “Top 10” report is one that MULO (multi-location) retailers would probably not want to hear about. According to new data from the U.S. Department of Labor, front-line retail management ranks high as […]

Holiday Blur: Retail Merchandise Accelerates

As of this writing, the trees, menorahs, and tinsel are still in living rooms and consumers have barely finished recycling their wrapping boxes, washing dishes from their December feasts, and returning from family visits.  The ball in Times Square hasn’t dropped. And yet, retail merchandise for upcoming holidays is already on the shelves at many […]

Third-party Cookies, The Future is Here

The future is here. As the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 2023, another clock gets set into motion: the beginning of the end of third-party cookies. Google’s long-debated cookie depreciation will begin in January incrementally and support for them will be gone by the end of the year. While anyone tracking this environment has seen […]

Ethan Chernofsky of Placer.ai on the Omnichannel Experience

One word we’ve seen non-stop in the MULO (multi-location) space over the past five years is OMNICHANNEL. Smartphones, the pandemic, and Amazon all accelerated this shopping style. The consumer not only decides which brands they like and what products they need (or want) but also how they want to buy them, pick them up, and […]

5 Predictions for Digital Advertising in 2024

Unveiling the Crystal Ball: 5 Predictions for Digital Advertising in 2024

As we say goodbye to 2023 and look forward to 2024, the digital advertising landscape is poised (yet again) for significant shifts and transformations. Here are five bold predictions that are set to reshape digital advertising in 2024. Political Ad Spend Will Soar to Unexpected Heights Creating Unanticipated CPM pain for ALL Marketers and Brands […]

10 Things We Saw in the Multi-Location Brand Space in 2023

10 Things We Saw in the Multi-Location Brand Space in 2023

Of course, we’ll be publishing predictions for 2024 and beyond, but here’s a brief recap of some of the major shifts (and tiptoes in new directions) in the MULO (multi-location) brand space in 2023. The pandemic is over…the virus remains…and some shopping and dining trends have forever changed. We’ll detail some of those evolutions (or […]

Study: Higher Allocation to OOH Channel Boosts Performance

Study: Higher Allocation to OOH Channel Boosts Performance

It’s time for media buyers to click their heels together three times and repeat: there’s no place like out-of-home  (OOH). A study of ad-trends data from 2017-2022, the most recent data available, indicated that brands that re-allocated more of their media spending to the OOH channel saw increased effectiveness of campaign performance. Three verticals in […]

BOOM: Dina Mitchell Launches a Gluten-Free MULO Brand

Dina Mitchell was the brain behind The Tropical Smoothie Café brand in Nevada and Southern California. Starting with only 23 locations, the brand grew to 1,300 and Mitchell’s stores clinched several Franchise of the Year awards and she became the Area Developer of the Year. After fifteen years of growth (including a $22 million year) […]