Street Fight Daily: 12.02.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.
Zaarly App Aims to Deliver Customers to Small Businesses (Mashable)
What started as a local market for odd jobs is also becoming a way for small businesses to find leads — for free. Peer-to-peer mobile marketplace Zaarly has signed up 1,250 businesses in New York City to fill requests from its users, and it is launching a feature that will let others follow suit regardless of location.
Groupon’s Exaggerated Deals Will Be Probed By UK Government (PaidContent)
Back in June, the UK’s advertising regulator started reprimanding Groupon after a growing number of complaints about its daily deals. Now, after ongoing complaints, the Advertising Standards Authority is referring the issue up for a full and more serious review by the UK’s business regulator.
Mobile Commerce To Hit $6.7B In 2011 (MediaPost)
According to a new eMarketer forecast, mobile commerce will nearly double to $6.7 billion this year — fueled by rising smartphone adoption and growing mobile Web use. The market research firm estimates m-commerce sales will leap another 73% in 2012 to $11.6 billion.
Group-Buying Site Dealify Folds (Memeburn)
After a whirlwind gold-rush to emulate the incredible success of Groupon, there hasn’t been much good news for all the group-buying clones out there. Emerging markets media and internet giant Naspers is going to shut down Dealify, its late entry into the group-buying space, after just a few months in existence.
Snapdeal Is India’s Amazon And Groupon All Rolled Into One (BusinessInsider)
Snapdeal is India’s highest trafficked e-commerce site. The company is trying to be an Amazon/Groupon hybrid – offering daily deals to drive traffic that will lead consumers to buy products. They’ve grown to 10 million members in 18 months, and are currently growing at 1.5 million per month.
LivingSocial to Run National Meal Deal with McDonald’s (Reuters)
LivingSocial Inc is running a national discount offer with McDonald’s Corp, selling a booklet of individual vouchers for five Big Macs and five french fries — a $26 value — for $13. The deal will be capped at 1 million voucher booklets.
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