The newspaper consortium-owned Wanderful Media is rolling out a retooled version of Find & Save, a shopping info site that it hopes will reinforce ties between the newspapers and the national retailers and brands that have traditionally driven their (estimated) $4 billion circular/insert business.
The new version is a localized shopping platform that boasts standard features …

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 inventory services (StepUp and Milo) and have integrated their capabilities into their other local services. …

Retailers own the local experience with customers. But the brands they sell have a stake in local targeting, too, typically supporting it via coop advertising. Other methods to get in front of local customers are less dependent on their retailers.
Brands can work with sales-related promotional media that rely in part on feeds, such as ShopLocal; …

A big milestone was reached last week when Bank of America launched its BankAmericaDeals loyalty and rewards product to many of its 59 million customers. The launch of the product, a partnership with Cardlytics, suggests a coming of age for the new card-linked loyalty space. Indeed, more than 20 card-linked companies are vying …

When eBay purchased Jack Abraham’s Milo.com in December 2010, it caused some head scratching. While retail Inventory is helpful to track goods availability and has some value in developing location-based promotions, it seemed an unlikely anchor for eBay’s SMB and local ecommerce services.
Abraham’s upgrade of his title to head of EBay Local last year, however, …

American Eagle Outfitters becomes the latest partner to launch Shopkick nationwide, including its Aerie locations, starting today. The announcement comes on the heels of Target’s national rollout that we reported here. American Eagle Outfitters and Aerie shoppers will earn “kicks” or points just for walking in, and receive exclusive offers throughout the store.
American Eagle Outfitters …

Target, one of the largest discount retailers in the U.S., announced today that it will now offer its guests the Shopkick app for their smartphones. When customers walk into their local Target store, they receive points known as “kicks.” As they shop, customers can also scan products for additional kicks. Kicks can be redeemed for …

Long before daily deals surged, and now after they’ve peaked and pivoted, loyalty and rewards programs stand as beachheads in the evolving online promotions/commerce ecosystem. At ILM East 2012, three leaders in loyalty discussed how advertising and commerce are quickly colliding, and how “big data” is shaping the new merchant/consumer relationship.
Next Jump CEO Charlie Kim …

Inventory hasn’t yet emerged as a “must have” for merchants, but the strategic importance of tracking store inventory remains undiminished. Merchants will potentially use inventory levels to drive users to specific locations, build promotions to get rid of overage (or remove promotions when supplies are running low).
While far from universal, many national retailers are beginning …

The ability to marry store inventory with search and promotions is an intriguing one for interactive local media. But what closes the loop on this vision?
Sherry Thomas-Zon, VP, local shopping, Local Corp. — the new name for Local.com — suggested this week at ILM West in San Francisco that inventory can serve as an …

A big chunk of the newspaper industry has banded together to adopt Find n Save, a shopping platform featuring a single place to review deals, product inventory, weekly specials, “cents off” grocery deals and local ads.
Participating newspaper companies include many of the companies participating in the Yahoo search and national advertising consortium and the Zillow …

The Deals space is so hot, yet there are many unanswered questions about it. We know it will be big, but who really knows what it is going to look like 18 months from now?
With that in mind, we have developed a brand-new addition to our regular conference schedule: Deals 3D, a day-and-a-half event taking …

The purchase funnel that takes consumers from awareness to transaction and retention has been an article of faith among marketers for many years. TV advertising, for instance, is “upper funnel.” Yellow Pages, at the point of sales consideration, has been “lower funnel.”
Google has other ideas. Any purchase consideration must now consider the impact of search …

Auctions have influenced a more dynamic shopping environment, but aren’t very important and have ended up as just a niche shopping format, argues James Surowiecki in the June Wired (article not posted). Even on eBay, they just make up 31 percent of all sales.
It’s a far cry from 10 years ago, when Priceline founder Jay …

Finally, we have the long awaited merger of a directory with a retail solution. Today, prior to its earnings call, Local.com announced it would integrate product and store availability into its growing suite of women-oriented services by acquiring Krillion.com. The sale price was $3.5 million.
When it was launched in 2006, Krillion was a real …

Facebook today launched its Deals product as an “alpha” in five markets: San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, Austin and Atlanta. The effort plays up Facebook’s social connectivity, making it simple to “like” and share deals, and promote throughout the site. The launch comes at a time of rapid expansion in the deals space. Google Offers …

Chicago Magazine will partner with Next Jump April 28 for “Intersections of Style,” a “VIP Shopping Night” that will bring thousands of Chicagoans to select stores offering exclusive discounts and perks (i.e., “champagne check-in”). The event is being promoted by Chicago Shopping, a new shopping portal by the Chicago Tribune, which partners with Next …

When hyperlocal zeroes in on local marketplaces, it makes a lot more sense to me. Witness ShopBuffalo, an attractive new marketplace from The Buffalo News launched as a companion to Buffalo.com. The site has partnered with ShopCity and Hero, a local design firm.
Launched March 31 as part of a broader redesign, ShopBuffalo provides free …

Retail inventory has been revving up as a new, highly mobile-oriented tool for retailers to highlight stock on hand and steer consumers to store locations. It is an important lead-generating feature on new shopping portals, such as FindnSave. Research by JiWire shows that 62 percent of consumers seek product availability when researching goods online. The …

What do you do to keep your customer after your deal of the day runs? That’s a big question for tens of thousands of SMBs — many of which have used deal a day as a loss leader and have an investment in making it work.
Companies such as Closely and WildFire Interactive have a number …