News and Analysis
6 Mobile Customer Service Platforms for Retailers
Tech vendors are stepping in with mobile solutions designed to expand the ways store associates interact with customers. These solutions allow employees to do everything from checking inventory and processing transactions on smartphones to accessing real-time information about current promotions and customer purchase histories.
Street Fight Daily: Online Brands Go Brick-and-Mortar, Voice-Assistant Arms Race Escalates
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Why E-Commerce Brands Are Opening Brick-and-Mortar Stores… Amazon and Apple Escalate Battle of Virtual Assistants… Tech Companies, Led by Amazon, Spend More Than Any Other U.S. Companies on R&D…
GTCR Acquires Majority Stake in Simpli.fi
GTCR, a Chicago-based private equity firm, has acquired a majority stake in Simpli.fi, a programmatic advertising platform that helps brands master local marketing at scale. The Simpli.fi management team, headed up by co-founders Frost Prioleau and Paul Harrison, will remain in charge of the company’s operations.
Latest Posts
Marketers Adopting New Metrics Like ‘Footfall’ and ‘Deals Redeemed’
Not only has the world of mobile deals exploded, from Foursquare to Groupon, Dealfind and more. There has also been a shift in metrics for determining success. In the old days we would look at mobile ads and measure their effectiveness in terms of CPMs, click-throughs and such. But with the advent of location-based services, that’s simply not enough. Many businesses are turning to new metrics such as increases in footfall; deals redeemed; and the number of friends you share deals with. I refer to this as social magnification.
Street Fight Daily: Apple Exec Exits Over Maps, Village Voice Sues Yelp
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… An Apple Exit Over Maps (Wall Street Journal)… Village Voice Sues Yelp for Using “Best of” (PaidContent)… Could Sandy be Instagram’s Big Citizen Journalism Moment? (Pando Daily)…
Case Study: Pizza Chain Finds New Ways to Build Email Database
As the director of marketing at Stone Hearth Pizza in Boston, Alex Chamberlain is always on the lookout for ways to grow her email database. She’s found that the best way to acquire new email addresses is by requiring customers to input their contact information when redeeming limited-time deals and promotions…
Postmates CEO: Online and Offline Commerce Will ‘Melt Into One’
“We give our consumers what can be seen as a remote control that allows them to browse the inventory of a city, buy an item, and have that item delivered in under an hour,” says CEO Bastian Lehmann. “Whatever Fedex does on the global level, we want to be able to do that on a micro-urban level.”
Street Fight Poll: Word-of-Mouth Is Primary Driver of Local Business
A new Street Fight poll finds that even with a slew of new locally targeted marketing platforms at local merchants’ disposal, word-of-mouth is still a primary driver of local consumer behavior. The poll of 500 U.S. consumers found that 43% of consumers are most likely to shop or dine at a local business after a recommendation from a friend or colleague…
PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — Placecast, Expion
In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan reflect on the first 100 shows. Innovation finally strikes with ByteLight; the Green Giant makes his augmented reality debut; stories from Placecast, Klash and Facedeals; and a ton of acquisitions, our resource of the week from Shopify, and special guest Erica McClenney of Expion…
Why TV Remains the Heartbeat of Local Connection