Street Fight Daily: FoodPanda Raises $20M, TripAdvisor Schemes for More Reviews
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.
Rocket Internet-Backed FoodPanda Raises $20M+ As It Prepares For The Next Course In Its Food Delivery Ambitions (TechCrunch)
Foodpanda, the Rocket Internet-incubated startup that offers a one-stop service to order food from a selection of restaurants and take-out joints to be brought to your door and now working with some 15,000 restaurants globally, is today announcing that it has picked up over $20 million in funding. Foodpanda’s funding follows a number of other big rounds for other startups offering food delivery services including Just-Eat and Delivery Hero.
5 Platforms Local Retailers Can Use to Connect With Online Shoppers (Street Fight)
Merchants with physical outposts are increasingly relying on hyperlocal solutions as a way to connect with consumers who prefer shopping online. These platforms give retailers a way to put their products in front of local shoppers, without actually requiring them to set up an online store or negotiate the logistics of shipping and delivery. Here are five platforms that merchants can use to get the job done
TripAdvisor’s Plan to Get Another 100 Million Reviews: Have Hotels Do the Work (Skift)
The hotel review giant, which hosts more than 100 million reviews and opinions on its sites and apps in 30 countries, just figured out a way to stretch out its review lead even further past wannabes such as Google, and online travel agency sites. TripAdvisor today officially launches Review Express, a feature that enables registered hotels to bulk email guests in the hotels’ name to prod them after their stays to write a TripAdvisor review about the hotel.
What Will It Take to Make Self-Serve Ad Platforms Work for SMBs? (Street Fight)
Self-serve advertising platforms have been seen as a potential lynchpin for creating successful hyperlocal business models —potentially bringing down the cost of merchant acquisition to the point where serious profit can be made. But self-serve is easier proposed than done. We asked a few different leaders in the local marketing space what they think will be the key to establishing a self-serve model that works.
Local Ad Network Sees Shift to Tighter Mobile Targeting (MediaPost)
The share of national brand campaigns using “geo-precise” techniques such as geo-fencing or targeting based on location-specific consumer behaviors increased to 58% in the first quarter, up from 27% in the year-earlier period, according to the latest report from location-focused mobile ad network xAd. Conversely, the proportion of campaigns relying on geotargeting — including zip codes, cities and DMAs—fell from 64% to 40%.
Trend Watch: Digital Marketing Services (Editor & Publisher)
Over the past year, a number of major local publishers have launched local marketing solutions to compensate for plummeting print revenue. The process of diversification and of introducing new products to staff and clients, however, doesn’t happen overnight.
Does the American Shopping Mall Have a Second Life? (AdWeek)
Offline stores are scrambling for “progressively smaller pieces of the retail pie as e-commerce relentlessly gains share in many categories,” says Jeff Jordan, general partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. “The mall and shopping center stalwarts are closing stores by the thousands, and there are few large physical chains opening stores to take their place.”
Paper, Bricks & Cash Will Die: The Inevitable Evolution Of Local Commerce (ReadWriteWeb)
Landy Ung: There will eventually be an Uber for everything local. Consumers will be able to Uber a plumber, Uber a place to live (Airbnb or Zillow style), Uber a ZocDoc, Uber a hairdresser, the list goes on. But all that’s only the beginning. Here are four more inevitabilities brought to you by local commerce.
BLiNQ-ShopLocal Facebook Campaign Delivers Big Offline Sales Uplift (Screenwerk)
In 2012, Gannett acquired BLiNQ Media, which is essentially a Facebook Ads tools/services provider. Gannett also owns ShopLocal, which has itself transitioned into a digital, multi-channel advertising services company for retailers. Late last year the two divisions of Gannett collaborated on a campaign involving a national office supply retailer to drive in-store visits.
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