5 Retailers Tapping Voice-Controlled Assistants for Frictionless Shopping
According to a survey by Linc and BrandGarage, one-in-five retailers already believes voice will be an important channel within two years, and 44% of retailers that are increasing their use of AI say they’re doing so through conversational commerce interfaces, Here’s how five major retailers are harnessing the technology.
Street Fight Daily: Uber Suffers Major Legal Setback, Best Buy Leads the Anti-Amazon Resistance
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber Suffers Major Setback as EU Court Rules It Must Be Regulated Like Taxi Companies… Best Buy versus Amazon: Holiday Edition… Improving Search and Advertising Are the Next Frontiers for Voice-Activated Devices…
Street Fight Daily: Postmates Sheds Employees, What Oath CEO Learned from Leading Patch
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Postmates Laid Off All Its Cities Managers This Week… What Oath CEO Tim Armstrong Learned from Patch’s Struggles… Amazon Pumps Resources into Alexa to Maintain Dominance as Competition Heats Up…
LBMA Podcast: WayRay’s Holographic Navigation System, Samsung Makes Holiday Piano Out of Tablets
On the show: WayRay launches the world’s first holographic navigation system; Samsung fashions a holiday piano out of 112 tablets; Membo — the Yik Yak for local discovery; Moz partners with NavAds BV; Netflix socks turn your TV off if you fall asleep. Plus, news from Factual; Mondelez; Facebook and Uber; JCPenney; and Best Buy.
LBMA Podcast: Walkbase and Samsung Team up for In-Store Analytics, Localistico Makes Location Easier for SMEs
On the show: Walkbase and Samsung team up for in-store analytics; Localistico makes location easier for SMEs; Amazon creates its own Uber for packages with “Flex;” Nescafé and Google partner for 360-degree virtual reality experience; Beacons for Good. Plus, news from Best Buy, Google, Foursquare and OpenTable, and Virgin and Netflix.
Street Fight Daily: Google Will Test Grocery Delivery, How Facebook’s Pages Update Affects SMBs
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Becomes a Rival to Amazon to Deliver Your Fresh Fruits and Veggies (Mashable)… Facebook Update Means More Shopping Pages Are on the Way (Recode)… Amazon Launches a Food Delivery Service Via Prime Now, Starting in Seattle (TechCrunch)…
Street Fight Daily: Twitter Adds Offers, Uber Eyes $40B Valuation
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Twitter Introduces Offers: Discounts You Claim in Tweets and Redeem in Stores (Recode)… Uber Said Poised to Raise Funds Showing $40 Billion Value (Bloomberg)… Clinkle Is Bribing College Students With a Vending Machine Full of Cash (ValleyWag)…
Study: More Local Shoppers Using Mobile Devices for Retail Purchases
As mobile devices become smarter, consumers are turning to their devices for more than last-minute directions and simple searches. A new study from Local Corporation finds that the the smartphone, once thought of as a place where consumers went for quick bits of information, is moving deeper into the decision cycle, playing a larger role in more in depth research, once associated with with tablet behavior…
Mobile-Local Shopping Comes Into Focus
Customers are getting poached right under retailers’ noses by Amazon and the rest of the showrooming brigade. So what are retailers doing to combat these challenges as we enter the biggest shopping season in the biggest year of local retail transformation since the invention of the department store? The results so far are mixed…
How Digital Merchant Marketplaces Are Enabling Hyperlocal Commerce
When we think about online marketplaces, the giants in the field (eBay, Amazon and Craigslist) immediately come to mind. But a new crop of location-based marketplaces is now empowering consumers and small businesses alike to buy and sell products and services from one another in their own backyard…
Black Friday Weekend’s Unreported Story: The Rise of ‘Bricks and Clicks’
The mostly unreported story of Black Friday weekend is that much of the ecommerce growth came from “bricks-and-clicks” retailers, not pure-play e-tailers. The reason: Physical stores offer a critical customer experience and serve as a “brand anchor,” both of which support ecommerce for traditional retailers. Stores drive online sales because they instill a sense of confidence and trust in the consumer.