Loyalty sales (including analytics) are typically associated with large brands such as Hilton and United Airlines. But a number of companies have been also trying to crack the code on SMBs, where the volume is. This week, Edo Interactive announces…
Deals are fading for many publishers. Group Commerce Inc., for instance, is just the latest company to cut back on its support of local deals. But for local businesses, deals remain potent building blocks for a wide range of promotional…
Various companies have built SMB websites and landing pages by scraping the Web. PaperG comes to mind. How about using Facebook. BIA/Kelsey data from our Local Commerce Monitor shows that more than 40 percent of U.S. SMBs have Facebook pages.…
We’re seeing a rich breeding ground of startups fuel the next generation of Web services. BIA/Kelsey is recognizing local-themed startups during our upcoming Leading in Local event in Boston March 18-20. During a special startup segment on Day 2, we’re…
Local has become a key channel - not only for local small businesses, but for regional businesses, national franchises, and national brands. The inclusion of national players and revenue to local channels has added a new cast of major characters…
Google Commerce last week introduced Zavers by Google, a coupon/transaction marketing management and loyalty rewards service that it purchased last November. Using Zavers, shoppers find offers on their websites and save them to their Zavers account. The offers are then…
Scoutmob, the Atlanta-based, mobile deals provider, has been taking a fresh approach to the deals space since its launch. It has focused entirely on mobile to leverage geo-location; changed the business model from commissions on deal value to flat fee;…
Vertical sites such as AutoTrader, Cars.com, Zillow and Trulia that provide listings, services and features are seeing a large share of their user base move to mobile. But all-in-one classifieds sites in the mode of Craig’s List, Pennysaver, Recycler.com, newspapers…
At this time of year, a lot of us in the analysis and strategic research world are thinking about our predictions for 2013. Some of our predictions will be based on data trends; other predictions will be based on gut…
Another bank has telegraphed its strategy in the offers and loyalty space. JP Morgan Chase, the nation’s second largest bank after Bank of America, announced today that it had purchased Bloomspot. The acquisition follows MasterCard’s recent purchase of TruAxis and…
"Buy 10, Get 1" loyalty programs are directly descended from paper punchcard programs and serve a general purpose. They are especially effective for transactions that are always about the same (i.e. coffee, pizza and the movies). But how do you…
Appearing at a time of rumors that Google is in talks to purchase a slumping Groupon on the cheap, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason told The Mobile-Loco conference in San Francisco that the four-year -old, 12,000 employee company remains focused on…
In considering mobile strategies, small businesses are focused on being found, but there are very different issues than simply searching on Google. Telmetrics' CEO Bill Dinan, speaking at ILM West in Los Angeles today, noted that small business owners all…
Leveraging social media models to drive more traffic and sales is one of the "works in progress" in the local ecosystem. At ILM west, we had a special session dedicated to exploring the innovation in the space. Panelists included Payvment's…
“You used to have a screenplay but now you have an app,” joked Elizabeth Osder, a leading veteran content developer and strategist , during an interview on startup principles today at ILM West in Los Angeles. “The barriers to entry…
Mobile and local is in the middle of a “perfect storm” of opportunity that represents a “once in a generation opportunity,” noted Internet legend Bill Gross, CEO of IdeaLab, who provided the opening keynote at ILM West today in Los…
Local media companies have increasingly zeroed in on smaller SMBs for growth. In many cases, however, they don't have the resources to go after them. Enter DataSphere, which handles telemarketing, content and search optimization for its growing list of media…
Our flagship event, ILM West, is next week in sunny Los Angeles (weather forecast: in the 70s). We have a bulging attendee sheet, and 47, hand-picked thought leaders on stage. Here's my personal cheat sheet on some of what's happening:…
Sometimes the ability to track the ROI of a local campaign is as important as the campaign itself. That is part of the assumption behind Bizible, a Seattle stat-up which works with SMBs to track lead sources from different media…
Building ecommerce, promotions, search, social and same day delivery services around store inventory is one of those high concept "local" concepts that always make so much sense but have been tough to build around. Intuit and eBay have both purchased…
