Street Fight Daily: Amazon Kills Its Groupon and Square Competitors, the Rise of Hypertargeted Ads
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
Amazon Kills Two Businesses: Local Daily Deals and Its Square Competitor (Recode)
Amazon has announced the closing of Amazon Local, its four-year-old daily deals service, and Amazon Local Register, a payments processing business targeting SMBs that launched last year.
#SFSNYC VIDEO: Opening Keynote (Street Fight)
Booker CEO Josh McCarter opened this year’s Street Fight Summit with a question that’s on the minds of many small business solutions providers: “How do you take a system that’s designed for one vertical across more categories?” But given the size of what McCarter termed the “local service commerce” opportunity, answering it could be tremendously lucrative.
The $21.8 Billion Reason Ultra-Personal Online Ads Are Coming (Fast Company)
The launch of a new system, Audience Grid, from online audience measurement and real-time ad placement company Quantcast sheds light on the ways advertisers are hoping to outsmart ad blockers and capitalize on user data. Audience Grid can absorb more information from more data sources than ever before, pulling info on what people buy, drive, and watch, among other things.
#SFSNYC VIDEO: Hyperlocal Marketing Without a Location (Street Fight)
In a wide-ranging Street Fight Summit fireside chat, Ajay Kapoor, who oversees global business solutions for Procter & Gamble, covered everything from the wealth of market research sources P&G has at its disposal to on-the-ground local initiatives in emerging markets like India.
Pondering Homejoy’s Failure (Medium)
Hunter Davis: The Homejoy team was exceptionally talented and did amazing things given how punishing the industry is, but we did make mistakes. As a former Homejoy employee, here are some of my takeaways from them.
How the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Uses Quality Journalism to Pay the Bills (Street Fight)
Tom Grubisich: Assuming Gannett’s planned acquisition of Journal Media Group is approved, the publishing giant will own one of the country’s most highly regarded dailies, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Like other dailies, it has taken big hits in advertising and distribution revenue on the print side, but it’s still profitable.
Jet.com Wants to Challenge Amazon in Yet Another Way (Fortune)
Jet plans to enter the on-demand shipping wars by debuting same-day delivery in San Francisco and New York. Its delivery service will place the online retailing upstart squarely in competition with Amazon Prime, but that’s not the only potential threat. Target is also testing same-day delivery of items bought through its ecommerce site, and Google offers same-day delivery of items bought through Google Shopping Express.
QVC: The Unlikely Juggernaut of Mobile Shopping (Washington Post)
The real-time merchandising decisions and attention to data underlying QVC’s 24/7 pageant of panini makers, flameless candles, and anti-aging creams explains why the channel has quietly outmaneuvered other retailers in remaking itself for the digital era. QVC is trailblazing on one of the most vexing challenges in retail today: getting people to buy, not just browse, on their phones and tablets.
O.C. Register Owner Files for Bankruptcy Protection; CEO’s Group Plans Bid (Los Angeles Times)
Freedom Communications, owner of the Orange County Register, filed for bankruptcy protection Sunday, and its CEO said he plans to lead a bid to acquire the troubled newspaper company. The move is the latest episode in the turmoil that has beset the Southern California newspaper market.
Who’s Down, a New Invite-Only Google App, Lets Your Friends Know When You’re Available (Android Police)
Google’s latest app, Who’s Down, is a strangely specific social tool. It’s essentially an all-purpose “available” button: Slide the toggle from on to off, and anyone you’ve connected with can tell that you’re available for…whatever. You can select specific activities you’d like to take part in, see which friends are also “down,” and chat with them in an integrated message service.
Airbnb Is Fighting a Critical War in Its Own Backyard This Week (Business Insider)
Airbnb is on an “inexorable march towards history,” according to Chris Lehane, the company’s head of global policy. The home-sharing site is in all but three countries: Syria, Iran, and North Korea. Cities have welcomed Airbnb with open arms, but it doesn’t get much love from its hometown, San Francisco.
The Financial Times Partners with Google to Guide Readers Through Europe’s ‘Hidden Cities’ (TechCrunch)
The Financial Times just launched a collaboration with Google called Hidden Cities. Brussels is the first city to get the spotlight, in which the FT highlights the city’s “best-kept secrets” with recommendations for bars, restaurants, and other cultural attractions from its correspondents. Noteworthy locals participated, too.
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