News and Analysis

BUST: A Hard Landing as Soft Surroundings Files for Bankruptcy

How Showroom Concept Stores Are Changing the Retail Industry

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A number of major retailers and startups have been pioneering a local showrooming strategy, divorcing the purchasing of products from the distribution, and focusing more on experiences than in-person sales. Here are six examples of retailers that have been able to navigate this merchandise-free (or light) approach to local retail.

Street Fight Daily: Pinterest Empowers Brands, Uber Sues an Agency

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Brands Can Now Tap Pinterest’s Pin Collective Via a Self-Serve Customer Platform (AdWeek) Pinterest formed Pin Collective last October as a way to give brands access to the social network’s best content creators—publishers, production shops and individuals—to work directly with them on their campaigns. How […]

‘Mobile Marketplace’ from Button and Ibotta Adds 30 New Brands

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Ibotta and Button today launched a performance-based marketing platform that improves customer acquisition and mobile traffic. The new marketing platform extends the benefits that come with Ibotta rewards to fast-track the mobile commerce efforts of traditional retailers.

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Square Rolls Out Starbucks Deal, Waze Launches Ads

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.7,000 Starbucks Locations Added to the Square Wallet (AllThingsD)… Waze Begins Monetization Push with Location-Guided Ads (GigaOm)… Trulia’s Sales Surge as Real Estate Agents Use Mobile (Bloomberg Businessweek)…

5 Ways to Track Calls Coming From Mobile Ads

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The true test of a mobile ad’s effectiveness isn’t in page views or click-throughs, but in the number of actual phone calls it drives to a business. Tracking the number of incoming calls that result from a mobile ad is a measureable way for big brands and local businesses to gauge the effectiveness of their digital campaigns. Here are six platforms that businesses can use to get a better sense of how many calls are resulting from their mobile ads.

Antengo CEO: Why Local Classifieds Need to Go Mobile

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Antengo is a local marketplace app that allows users and businesses in a city to post classifieds and engage in local, mobile-driven commerce. The app, which is trying to increase and simplify commerce on a local level, just re-designed their app, hoping to expand mobile on-the-go behavior to tablets. Street Fight talked to Founder and CEO Marcus Wandell about how Antengo is changing local commerce, the role of the tablet for location-based apps, and more.

DataSphere Adds Belo to Its Community News Clients

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Hyperlocal middleman DataSphere has added Belo Corp. and 14 of its TV stations in top markets to its client list of broadcast chains who have gone digital at the community level. The Belo markets that DataSphere will serve with tech and sales services include Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Seattle/Tacoma and Phoenix…

Street Fight Daily: Waze Helps FEMA, Springer Continues Classifieds Push

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.How Waze’s Crowd-Sourced Data Helped FEMA Deliver the Gas After Sandy (GigaOm)… Buying Another Classified Site, Springer Sees Digital Filling Print Gap (Paid Content)… Tree Maps and Dwindling Cigarettes: One Hyperlocal Site’s Approach to Sandy (The New York Observer)…

AOL: Patch Remains on Path to Profitability, Expenses Cut 30%

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During its Q3 earnings call Tuesday, the company reassured investors that the hyperlocal network remained on track to achieve run-rate profitability by Q4 2013, driven by, what AOL COO Artie Minson called, continued revenue growth and “an expense base that was 30% lower than last year.”

How One Hyperlocal Editor and His Site Chased, and Were Chased by, Sandy

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When a gigantic “frankenstorm” knocks out the power for your reporters and many other contributors, how can a hyperlocal site keep its coverage online and help its community? Here’s how The Alternative Press, the 19-site, 34-community network in suburban New Jersey, did it last week under the direction of founding editor and publisher Mike Shapiro.

Memo to Google: Solve the Local Data Problem With Local Data

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I think we can now state definitively that the big upsurge in claimed listings that might have occurred as a result of Google’s choice to embed local listings within its social network, a little over five months ago, will not happen on its own. Rather than achieving Facebook levels of adoption, Google+ Local is still an arena where participation depends heavily on early adopters as well as the assistance of local SEO consultants and companies like mine…

Street Fight Daily: Local Mobile Spend Jumps, Foursquare Rethinks Ratings

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Mobile Local Ad Spend to Hit $5.8B in 2016 (NetNewsCheck)… Beyond 5 Stars: Foursquare Looks For A Smarter Way To Rate Businesses(Fast Company)… Groupon’s One-Year Anniversary Feels More Like a Funeral. So What’s Next for Daily Deals? (Venture Beat)…

Local Corp. Survey: SMBs ‘Cautiously Optimistic’

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A new survey released by Local Corporation has found that 92% of small business owners are influenced by the national economy. In recent months, 46% have considered raising prices, while 40% have considered cutting back on marketing. Local Corporation CEO Heath Clarke says the uncertain economic climate has focused SMBs on getting the most ROI for their marketing dollars.