Street Fight Daily: Amazon Slays Brands, Marketers Lose Track of Social Campaign Data

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

Amazon Ruthlessly Undercuts Brands With Its Low, Private Label Prices (NYT)
The company now has roughly 100 private label brands for sale on its huge online marketplace, of which more than five dozen have been introduced in the past year alone.

Survey: Social Advertisers Missing Critical Components in Data Ownership (Street Fight)
Unified’s report found significant confusion on the topic of social advertising data ownership, with most marketers not knowing what happens to their data if they switch agencies or whether there is a way to independently verify the information in their wrap-up reports.

Ad Tech Execs and App Marketers Doubt Apple Can Sell Ads Without Data Collection (AdWeek)
Marketers say the Cupertino giant’s insistence on meticulous control over its walled-garden platform and hardline stance on user privacy make it hard for the company to make an attractive offer to advertisers.

Uberall Upgrades Location Services to Account for Booming Mobile Search (Street Fight)
The update aims to boost search engine optimization for Uberall’s multi-location consumer-facing clients in order to drive in-store foot traffic. It comes at a time when mobile “near me” searches hit unprecedented heights and continue to grow.

NYT Continues Cutting Vendors Post-GDPR (Digiday)
“The idea that there are many companies that took a tax in between the two organizations trying to exchange value—the marketers and publishers—we’re seeing a dramatic reduction in that,” said Meredith Kopit Levien.

Fast Food Restaurants Turn to Robots (WSJ)
John Miller, chief executive and founder of CaliBurger LLC, finds it harder to find employees these days. His solution is Flippy, a robot that turns the burgers and cleans the hot, greasy grill.

Americans Like Uber & Lyft. It’s Hard to Know Exactly How Many Use Them (Recode)
How mainstream are these ride-hailing apps? We looked at some estimates from a number of data sources to try and figure that out. Results vary by methodology (explained below).

Cellphone Location Data Is Now the Last Vestige of User Privacy (Quartz)
The United States’ highest court just ruled that cellphone location data is protected by the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution.