Street Fight Daily: Walmart Ups Delivery Game, Small Businesses Rely on Antiquated Tech

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…

Walmart Launches Free 2-Day Shipping on Purchases of $35 or More (TechCrunch)
Walmart has just issued its strongest response to the growing Amazon threat, since its acquisition of e-commerce newcomer Jet.com last summer. Starting today, Walmart will begin offering free, two-day shipping on over 2 million items, with no need for a membership fee.

6 Platforms Merchants Can Use to Capture After-Hours Leads (Street Fight)
More and more consumers expect the small businesses in their own communities to be open when they’re ready to book appointments or ask questions, regardless of the time of day. Here are six examples of platforms local merchants can use to increase conversion rates outside of traditional business hours.

Survey: Small Businesses Have a Long Way to Go on Digital Strategies (MediaPost)
According to the Salesforce Research “2016 Connected Small Business Report,” with more than 300 small business owners in the nationwide survey, most small business owners still rely on manual, outdated processes, such as email and spreadsheets, to store and track their customer information.

Should Local News Open Its Heart to Emojis? (Street Fight)
Tom Grubisich: Six billion emojis are shared every day, but few of them appear on local news sites. Dana Loberg, founder and CEO of MojiLaLa, thinks emojis could help local news sites not only make better connections with their present users but also attract new and younger audiences.

Marketers’ Data Priorities Shift from ‘Collection’ to ‘Value’ (AdExchanger)
Respondents said their biggest data investment in 2016 was around “general audience analytics” (i.e. data collection). This year, “cross-channel measurement and attribution” shot to the top of the list.

Starbucks Unveils Voice Ordering for iPhone App and Amazon’s Alexa (WSJ)
The voice-interface craze reached a new height when Starbucks Corp. announced two forms of voice ordering on Monday, on iPhones and on the talking speakers featuring Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa assistant.

U.S. Consumers Use Apps and Mobile Web About Equally for Smartphone-Enabled Purchases (eMarketer)
When asked whether they make most purchases through mobile apps or mobile websites, respondents’ preferences were almost equally divided: 49% said they primarily used mobile websites, while 51% favored mobile apps.

What Brands Can Learn from the Three-Day #DeleteUber Outrage Cycle (Digiday)
Tanya Dua: “Today’s social media landscape encourages immediacy and knee-jerk reactions from brands. They know how to react quickly, but they should learn how to think first,” said Robert Passikoff, founder and president of brand and research consultancy Brand Keys. 

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Joe Zappa is the Managing Editor of Street Fight. He has spearheaded the newsroom's editorial operations since 2018. Joe is an ad/martech veteran who has covered the space since 2015. You can contact him at [email protected]