News and Analysis
Holidays 2024: MULO Experts Predict the Spending Future
Although pumpkins currently line store shelves and turkeys are being prepped for November, retailers, restaurants, and service businesses (like spas, salons, and venues that sell gift certificates) have been thinking about the December holidays for a long time. This year, consumers are expected to spend about $241B, setting a new record. Seasonal spending is about […]
MULO & Meta & An Amazing Speaker Line-up!
200 senior professionals will be gathering at Meta’s headquarters in Chicago on November 7th for the re-launch of the Street Fight LIVE Summit. Will you join us? Or get left behind by your MULO (multi-location) competitors? Make sure every one of your locations is booming. Or, if you support MULO brands, this is a fantastic […]
Latest Posts
GroundTruth CMO: ‘Most Brand Marketers Struggle with Marketing Vanity Metrics’
The role of a marketer changed drastically in 2023. Rather than being centered on brand, advertising, and digital marketing, brand marketers today are focusing more heavily on strategic areas, like marketing analytics, revenue growth, innovation, and market entry strategy. Surveys show that while firms are slowing their investments in customer relationship management systems, brand building, […]
Hair Care Today…$41B Tomorrow: The Growth of a Category
Hair care is a rapidly-growing category for multi-location brands. As part of our future-forward series, we’ll cover categories that are on the upswing in the MULO (multi-location) ecosystem, along with trends that will impact individual brands’ survival and growth. Intellectual capital has value, but what’s ON our heads can be as lucrative as what’s in […]
The Taco War Rages On
Publicity stunt or legal battle? Or, perhaps, a little of both. In case you’ve been too busy over the past week to track the battle antics. Here’s a brief summary. Taco John’s trademarked the term “Taco Tuesday” back in 1989. Taco Bell is now taking legal action to invalidate the trademark so all taco-selling brands […]
Billionaire Steve Kuhn Finds New Use for Empty Retail Spaces
What’s that new use? You guessed it…pickleball! But financier and Major League Pickleball founder Steve Kuhn called his new multi-location brand Picklemall. Taking full advantage of large empty spaces in shopping malls, the company will launch its first indoor pickleball concept in Arizona Mills in Tempe in July 2023. It expects to open 50 locations […]
5 Brands Using QR Codes to Drive Traffic to Online Platforms
The predictions were correct. QR codes are back — in a big way. After debuting in the 1990s, then losing relevance in the early 2000s, QR codes came roaring back to life in 2020. Now, three years after QR codes re-entered the mainstream during the Covid-19 pandemic, some of the biggest brands in the world […]
Why One Version of the Truth Is Vital to a Retailer’s Success
When walking into a Walmart, customers know exactly what to expect, as the brand provides a consistent experience from merchandise to employee interactions, no matter the location. With over 10,500 stores, Walmart employs 2.1 million associates. From a managerial standpoint, that number can seem daunting. Providing a consistent experience across all store locations can be […]
Streets Ahead: Google AI Mode , OpenAI & Commerce, TikTok