Grocery Delivery 2.0

Interesting approach:

http://www.retailleader.com/top-story-tech___logistics-coming_soon__grocery_delivery_2.0-6207.html

Here is a snippet of the news:

According to the Sacramento Bee, Instacart has teamed up with personalized nutrition service provider PlateJoy to offer same-day delivery of groceries tailored to individual nutrition requests.

That fits.  The hyper-personalization approach opens doors to anything imaginable.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Wayfair Crushes Short Sellers

As an old hand in the investment game I love a lede that says short sellers got crushed.

Love it!

The little eCommerce company that could keeps on doing.  Not so little any more.  These companies are the future of eCommerce.  Amazon is huge and getting bigger.  A few big retailers will be able to play the game too (Walmart).  The rest requires strong understanding of a particular niche.

Here is a snippet from the news:

Wayfair shares spiked Tuesday after the online furniture retailer reported better-than-expected first-quarter results.

The stock was up 23 percent as of midday Tuesday. Wayfair is one of the market's best performers this year with its shares up 79 percent year to date versus the S&P 500's 7 percent return.

Here is the full story:

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/09/short-sellers-annihilated-after-wayfair-surges-more-than-20-percent.html

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Where Global Ad Spending is Going

Facebook and Google.

Done.

Well, there may be a bit more to the story.  Those two account for 20%.  Huge.

Read on:

https://www.recode.net/2017/5/2/15516674/global-ad-spending-charts

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Global ad revenue is growing and the top earners are taking an increasingly bigger cut.

Google is the largest recipient of global ad revenue, taking in $79 billion in 2016, according to new data from media agency Zenith. That’s three times as much as the No. 2 biggest ad revenue recipient, Facebook, which raked in nearly $27 billion in ad revenue last year.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0250 Mobile App Marketing

Best Reading of the Day

Great article, yet again, from the folks at Google.

Never forget however they are looking to sell you something.  Don't let that stop you from reading this if you are in to mobile apps.

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/app-marketing-new-download-growth-engaged-users.html

Here is a snippet from the piece:

App marketers may be flush with new downloads, but not everyone is equipped to make loyal users out of them. Ken Rudin, director of growth and analysis at Google, shares tips on how data can provide the insights needed to keep new users engaged and loyal.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Augmented Reality for HBC

I think this is very cool.

We've seen something like this in the world of Lowe's and Home Depot.  Virtual assistance on remodeling efforts or the like.

How about a personal assistant to try on beauty products, through your smart phone?

Read more:

https://econsultancy.com/blog/69016-why-beauty-brands-are-betting-on-augmented-reality/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

Sephora is the latest brand to introduce AR into its app, with its ‘Virtual Artist’ feature allowing users to ‘try on’ different looks by overlaying make-up onto photos. A tutorials feature also demonstrates exactly how to achieve specific looks.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Fake News? There is a Wiki for That

Well, not exactly, but a co-founder of WikiPedia wants to make strides in this department.

One of the greatest challenges the western world faces today is "fake news" and this is mostly a technology problem.  How to solve it without stifling free speech?

Here is a bit of news:

https://www.cnet.com/news/wikipedia-jimmy-wales-wikitribune-fighting-fake-news/

Here is a snippet from that piece:

Jimmy Wales is hoping the formula that made Wikipedia popular will have the same effect for battling fake news stories online.

The Wikipedia co-founder is launching "Wikitribune," an open collaboration featuring professional and community journalists as well as other contributors creating fact-checked stories for the web.

The new site seemingly is going to be different than WikiNews, the Wikimedia Foundation's free longtime crowdsourced news site. A crowdfunding campaign on Wikitribune's page Monday said enough money has already been raised to hire at least five journalists.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

**UPDATE** Google is updating its search engine to demote fake news:
https://www.recode.net/2017/4/25/15415428/google-updating-search-flagging-fake-news

United Airlines the Most Engaged Post on Facebook Last Week

In the realm of how not to do things we present ... United.

http://adage.com/article/digital/marketer-mvps-social-media/308648/

That headline pretty much tells you all you need to know, however, it is worth reviewing a few points.

After the "incident" on the plane where the 69 year old doctor was forcefully removed from the flight to make room for United employees, the CEO came out multiple times to defend the action and his employees.

Then the stock dropped nearly $500 Million dollars before recovering to only a $255 Million loss and suddenly the CEO changed his tune.

Hmmm.

So United could have offered every person on that plane an 8 figure option and they would have made out about the same as they did. I think there is a lesson in there for brands, somewhere, but I'm just not sure.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant