News and Analysis
The Freezer Beyond the Grocery & C-Store
Cryotherapy is one of the latest categories to scale in the health, wellness, and longevity space. In this column, we’ve detailed how brick-and-mortar businesses have expanded far beyond the typical gym as the population ages and become more concerned about staying healthy longer. Highly specialized brands and franchises are offering body-related services like IVs. I […]
Early Spending Results are In! MULO BOOMs this Holiday Season
As of this writing, Black Friday and Cyber Monday (now seemingly extended to Cyber Week) are behind us. MULO (multi-location) pundits and agencies involved in retail and restaurant analyses and predictions are starting to call the winners and losers in the holiday Street Fight, which now involves battles between brands, products, SMBs, and MULO chains, […]
Street Fight LIVE Insights: Stopping at C-Stores with Mike Templeton
Some people collect snow globes or stickers on road trips. Others boast that they’ve seen all the National Parks. Still others have a thing for selfies in front of weird vintage structures. But Mike Templeton, one of the speakers at Street Fight LIVE stops at and collects insights from convenience stores (C-stores), the unsung heroes […]
Commentary
AI Can Bring the Fun Back to Advertising
Long ago, the advertising industry lost its key ingredient — fun. With an overabundance of campaigns to optimize and oversee, marketers have no time to tap into the creativity or strategic thinking that persuaded many to pursue a career in the industry in the first place.
Data is the Key to Knowing What You Don’t Know About Consumers
As businesses turn to what’s readily available to them, first-party data strategies have emerged as a powerful tool for understanding the buyer’s journey. But the challenge is effectively collecting, managing, and driving the most value from this data in order to understand both known and unknown consumers.
Why Diverse Talent Is Key to Digital Advertising Success
Advertisers need to speak to diverse audiences and adtech companies need to enable them to do so if the digital advertising industry is to be successful at its core goal: connecting advertisers with consumers to build relationships and drive business outcomes.
Latest Posts
BUST: Multi-Location (MULO) Restaurants & Retailers Declaring Bankruptcy in 2023
Although we all watched in dismay (and perhaps fear) as Bed Bath & Beyond and Jenny Craig took nosedives this year, reports of other brands facing the multi-location (MULO) “apocalypse” may contain more than a little hype. Here are some facts: More than 2,100 retail locations are expected to close in 2023, but Bed Bath […]
These 5 Retailers Are Investing In Virtual Try-On Tech
Virtual try-on is becoming a key differentiator for e-commerce brands, and an opportunity for traditional retailers to bring the in-store try-on experience into the comfort of their customers’ homes. When Parfums Christian Dior launched its virtual try-on solution at Viva Tech 2023 earlier this month, the company joined a growing list of luxury brands leveraging […]
In-House vs. Outsourced Marketing: Pros & Cons for Multi-Location Businesses
When it comes to marketing for multi-location businesses, a constant debate is whether or not to outsource your marketing or run it in-house. Since both come with a cost, deciding which marketing route is best can’t be determined by a simple coin toss or guessing game. You want to know for sure that you’re maximizing […]
Whose Job Is It to Explain Why Consumers Should Consent to Share Data?
Everybody is talking about user consent and privacy. Days after Swedish regulators fined Spotify more than $5 million for violating the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and failing to inform consumers how their data was being used, and months after Meta saw an even greater fine of $414 million for forcing its users […]
The Oldest Franchises in the U.S. That Are Still Going Strong
Keeping a business alive and thriving for 50+ years is no small feat. Many of us get calls and LinkedIn messages asking, “Have you considered investing in franchises ?” It may be a valid question because the franchise industry is growing at a rate of 4.2% and is expected to hit a whopping $460B in […]
Vistar Verify: DOOH Needs Quality Inventory Standards
Vistar Media wants to help establish quality inventory standards for the DOOH market. To that end, it has launched Vistar Verify. The program creates a shared definition of quality inventory in the Vistar marketplace using manual and automated checks. The objective is to ensure inventory is represented accurately and meets a collective set of standards […]
Study: ‘Ghosting’ Customers Leads to $2.4 Billion Loss in Retail Sales
Even if you haven’t heard the term “ghosting” before, you’ve almost certainly experienced it. Ghosting, or ending a relationship by suddenly withdrawing from all communication, is the exact opposite of what brand marketers are going for when they work to cultivate and deepen their relationships with customers. And yet, according to a new study, by […]
Google Third-Party Cookies, Adds LiveRamp to Data Clean Room Lineup
One year. That’s how long Google says publishers have to test — and raise any red flags on — the cookie alternatives in its Chrome Privacy Sandbox. In a recent announcement, Joey Trotz, director of product for Google’s Privacy Sandbox Ecosystems, all but guaranteed the company would finally be depreciating third-party cookies in the second half […]
Meet the Robotproof Leader: An Interview with Matt Robison About Boosting Product Sales
Matt Robison is the Founder & CEO of a marketing agency called Robotproof. The company is aptly named because he has a unique perspective on how to boost product sales by entertaining and engaging humans — and training the people who sell to them — at multi-location retailers. Robotproof’s primary focus is experiential marketing — […]
How Retailers Are Getting More Mileage from Curbside Pickups
With the pandemic firmly in the rearview mirror, consumers have returned to stores en masse. Surveys show that shopping behaviors in 2023 are not all that different from 2019 — with a few big exceptions. Online shopping continues to be more popular today than it was before the pandemic, and BOPIS—buy online, pickup in-store—has also […]
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