Street Fight Daily: Groupon Surges, Square Avoids Sales Hires

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.

Groupon-LogoGroupon Stock Surges on Expected E-Commerce Expansion (Bloomberg)
Groupon rose the most in two months amid optimism that its new e-commerce service may expand to more cities, bolstering sales. A local e-commerce marketplace Groupon began a few months ago in Chicago and New York will boost revenue as it expands nationwide over the coming quarters, according to Arvind Bhatia, an analyst at Sterne Agee & Leach Inc.

Mapping Apps Making an Impact on Mobile Purchase Intent (Street Fight)
Annisa Farese: Apps like Mapquest and Waze are used with a direct intention as part of “lower funnel” purchase considerations. But map users also demonstrate high engagement with visible advertisers served to them as a complement to their core navigation needs.

Square Is Avoiding Hiring Salespeople (Business Insider)
Square is expanding at breakneck speed, doubling its workforce to 1,000 this year as it moves into a new headquarters. But CFO Sarah Friar says she wants nothing to do with hiring sales personnel.

Mom-and-Pops That Don’t Invest in Social Will Miss Out (Street Fight)
David Kreitzer: According to an article by published last week on Street Fight, demand for social media management among small business owners has “dropped off a cliff.” But social media is about taking word-of-mouth online, and now that the prominent social media websites are making it easier than ever to capitalize on these moments, local businesses have everything to gain.

QuickBooks Online For iPad Isn’t A Boring Accounting App – It’s A Simple CRM (TechCrunch)
Over a decade after porting its QuickBooks desktop software to the web, Intuit is finally addressing the needs of its small business owner user base with the launch of a version of the QuickBooks application for iPad. With the iPad launch, QuickBooks is becoming a CRM solution for small businesses.

Can Nextdoor Turn Your Neighbors Into A Billion-Dollar Social Network? (Fast Company)
Neighborhoods are the original social network. And, says Nextdoor CEO Nirav Tolia, they have “the highest utility in terms of connecting to people where you live.”

Apple’s Siri added to the Chevrolet Sonic and Spark through MyLink integration (The Next Web)
Chevrolet has revealed that the 2013 versions of its Sonic and Spark vehicles have been updated today to support Apple’s Siri personal assistant through its exclusive MyLink software. Provided they’re running iOS 6, car owners will be able to make voice-activated, hands-free calls to contacts listed on their iPhone, as well as access their calendar and add appointments.

The Miserable State of (Local) Mobile Ad Creative (Internet2Go)
Greg Sterling: While local-mobile advertising holds enormous promise, most mobile display revenue forecasts associated with the segment are overblown for many reasons. In addition to local “infrastructure” challenges and the difficulty of proving ROI from mostly offline conversions, weak mobile creative is a problem with mobile advertising in general but it’s especially true in the local space.

eHarmony in Location-based Trial to Broadcast Romance (Marketing Week)
EHarmony is taking part in a location-based trial that will let lovers stream romantic messages to one another via London’s black cabs this Valentine’s Day. Those taking part in the trial can target loved ones by specifying their message is displayed in the vicinity of a specific address such as their significant other’s office or where they plan to spend the day together.

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