Street Fight Daily: Can Walmart Compete with Amazon?, Uber Slapped with Federal Inquiry

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

Can Walmart’s Expensive New E-Commerce Operation Compete with Amazon? (Bloomberg)
A recent acquisition spree including Jet.com gives Walmart much-needed digital chops. But can the decades-old retailer compete with Jeff Bezos’ dominant e-commerce operation?

Uber Faces Federal Inquiry Over Use of Greyball Tool to Avoid Authorities (NYT)
Uber is the subject of a United States Department of Justice inquiry over a program that it used to deceive regulators who were trying to shut down its ride-hailing service.  The inquiry concerns Uber’s use of a software tool called Greyball, which the company developed in part to aid entrance into new markets where its service was not permitted.

Openings and New Hires at Buzzboard, inMarket, and SITO Mobile (Street Fight)
Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry.  This week’s edition includes moves and new openings at Ninth Decimal, Netsertive, and Instacart.

Mark Zuckerberg Is Still in No Hurry to Monetize Facebook Messenger (AdWeek)
“The top priority right now is just building out the base of organic interaction between people and businesses that they want to interact with,” Zuckerberg said. “And once we get that to a big base, then there are going to be a lot of opportunities to build a business.”

Raise Report: Sense360, Yieldify, Heap Secure New Funding (Street Fight)
Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes funding for LoveCrafts, Orbital Insight, Bonsai, and Farmdrop.

Paid Search and Social Ad Spend Continues Y-O-Y Double Digit Growth (MediaPost)
According to a new infographic report highlighting the impact that mobile, product-focused and video ad types deliver for social and search advertisers, social ad spending increased 41% year-over-year supported by substantial (153%) growth in video ads, and Dynamic Product Ad (202%) spending. 

With New Ad Tools, Snapchat Follows Facebook for a Change (eMarketer)
While Facebook and Instagram have been borrowing key features from Snapchat and integrating them into their apps, now Snapchat is mirroring Facebook, by offering a new suite of self-service ad tools. The goal is to better compete for a bigger share of advertisers’ ad budgets.

AdTech Advances Mean Saying Farewell to the Audience and Hello to the Individual (AdExchanger)
Dillon Roulet: Just like our fingerprints, no two personalities are identical. As we head into the twilight of old-school display, the only solution moving forward is to focus on the individual – not the audience.

With Its Redesign, Vice Doubled the Time People See Ads on Its Site (Digiday)
Since getting rid of intrusive ads and making other changes last year, Vice said people are spending twice as long viewing its ads as before.

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