News and Analysis

How Dunkin’ Thinks About Google Assistant Integration and the Future of Mobile Ordering

“Increasingly, brands are being judged by the experience they deliver as much as the product,” said Paul Murray, Dunkin’ brands director of digital experience. “This is a really good example for us where we’re delivering on a great product and we’re also delivering on the experience, and we’re leveraging new technology to do it.”

Is Voice the Future of Local AR?

Visual AR won’t go away and is aligned with several use cases like gaming. But audio could get here sooner and take over a certain share of micro moments like getting informed about people or surroundings. We’re talking local discovery, shopping, and proximity-based social media.

Street Fight Daily: Ad Tech Too Crowded for Marketers, Facebook Crackdown on Targeting to Build

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Why Choosing Mar Tech Vendors Is Challenging for Marketers… Facebook Plans Crackdown on Ad Targeting by Email Without Consent… Amid Heightened Competition, Domino’s Mobile Game Offers Rewards Points..

Commentary

Sounds and Places: Experiencing Bluebrain’s ‘Central Park’

Washington DC-based band Bluebrain has created a location-based album called Central Park (Listen to the Light) which accomplishes what very few others have to date been able to: namely, to build an app that actually augments reality vis a vis location…

The Daily Deal — Dead Man Walking?

The evolution of daily deals has not been unlike that of other successful startup stories. But while the story is the same, the pace at which the deals industry went through the stages of maturity has dramatically amplified the signal. Almost four years later, where do we stand?

Understanding the Location-Based Engagement Stack

The “SoLoMo Manifesto” looks at how brands can use these new technologies and services to learn more about their customers at the local, regional, and global level than was ever possible before…

Latest Posts

Conference Notebook: The Future of Local Is the Marketplace, Not the Message

The local market has seen a seemingly endless flood of startups come online over the past few years, with many building the next iteration of last year’s feature. But as the market matures, and later-stage startups look to expand their addressable markets, the industry is starting to coalesce. According to data presented at the Interactive Local Media conference in San Francisco Tuesday, the number of M&A deals jumped by 65% this year thanks to strong performance online, but explosive growth in mobile…

MomentFeed Nabs $5.5M in Funding to Scale Social for Multi-location Brands

MomentFeed announced this morning that it has closed a $5.5 million Series A funding round led by Signia Venture Partners. Robert Blatt, who was quietly installed at MomentFeed’s new CEO earlier this year, told Street Fight that the new funding would go toward further scaling MomentFeed’s platform…

Street Fight Daily: Patch Co-Founder Exits AOL, Tracking Tech Gains Traction

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology.Patch Co-Founder Leaving AOL to Join a Startup (Wall Street Journal)… Tracking Technology Sheds Light on Shopper Habits (Wall Street Journal)… ApartmentList’s Big Bet On Mobile (PandoDaily)….

Could Healthcare Be Local Tech’s Next Big Opportunity?

The botched launch of the Healthcare.gov has brought the healthcare industry — and its dysfunction — to center stage. But in the private sector, startups like ZocDoc and iCouch.me are quietly reinventing the ways patients are discovering and buying healthcare services locally, building a familar feature set that navigates the complex network of insurance companies, doctors and healthcare providers. Street Fight recently caught up with Sam Zebarjadi, Medicast’s co-founder and CEO, to find out more about how digital healthcare tools are being shaped for local markets…

6 Mobile Payment Solutions for Restaurants and Bars

When it comes to mobile payment processing, the restaurant industry is in a league of its own. Mobile platforms that are designed for a wide cross-section of businesses don’t always have the features that restaurants need, like menu integrations and add-on tipping tools. As restaurant owners look for ways to streamline the payment process and improve table turnover rates, an increasing number are utilizing mobile payment solutions built specifically for their industry…

Street Fight Daily: Square’s New Reader, Layoffs At Clinkle

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology.New Square Reader Offers Better Performance, Thinner Design (PCMag)… 6 Mobile Payment Solutions for Restaurants and Bars (Street Fight)… Uber’s CEO Hints That It Could Branch Out Into Other On-Demand Transport And Delivery Services (TheNextWeb)…

Yext’s New ‘Pages’ and the Future of One-Stop Solutions for Small Businesses

The first large-scale technology company that can service small businesses in all of the following four industries will have the best opportunity to be the next leading hyperlocal superstar: 1) Website building, 2) email/loyalty marketing, 3) hyperlocal technology and 4) Online advertising, promotion and deal solutions…

6 Strategies For Helping SMBs Understand the Importance of Mobile

According to a Manta survey, 67% of small business owners don’t expect mobile to impact them this holiday season. Only 8% of the 1,003 SMBs surveyed said they expect mobile to drive shoppers to their brick-and-mortar locations. This presents a challenge for hyperlocal vendors looking to sell their mobile products and services, however it’s something that can be overcome through a combination of education and original thinking…

Street Fight Daily: Apple Expands iBeacon, The Hack That Saved Foursuare

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology.Apple Launching iBeacons To Guide Store Visitors (Associated Press)… The Brilliant Hack That Brought Foursquare Back From the Dead (Wired)… Twitter’s Dorsey Vies With SoftBank’s Son for Japan Shops (Bloomberg)…

Openings and New Hires at Datalogix, Yelp, and Clinkle

Every two weeks, Search Influence’s 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 hires and jobs at Street Fight, MOGL, VendaAsta, Leaf, and AOL.