Alexa Learns How To Order Grocery | Walmart's $316M Brazil Buy-In | Amazon Goes To The Dogs

Not all clicks are created equal. Sometimes the clicks and impressions generated by ad campaigns aren’t coming from people, but from bots — and since bots don’t buy, that’s a huge waste of money for advertisers. Brands lost more than $7 billion globally in ad fraud in 2016. Tom Alexander, CEO of PK4 Media, has this advice for advertisers: Do it the hard way. Automated programmatic ads may seem like a great idea, but in his experience, that’s where the problem starts. Read More...

Instagram could be more influential in the fashion world than people think. Although most Americans assume social media sites have an impact on fashion purchases, the weight of that impact may surprise even the most digitally-savvy consumers. A new report reveals 72 percent of Instagram users have made a fashion purchase after seeing an item on Instagram. Here’s what else we’ve learned. Read More...

Grocery may be a whole new world for Amazon, what with its Seattle “Go” convenience store still in the alpha phase and the ink barely dry on its deal with Whole Foods. But the same is not the case for Alibaba, which has cut its teeth on a hybrid online/offline grocery model at its 13 Hema supermarkets. Could Jack Ma’s ongoing experiment provide insight into Jeff Bezos’s next move in grocery? Read More...