Street Fight Daily: Foursquare Splits App, Groupon Goes After Costco
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology
Meet Swarm: Foursquare’s Ambitious Plan to Split Its App in Two (Verge)
Foursquare is splitting itself into two separate apps, one bearing the Foursquare name that is aimed at discovering new venues and one called Swarm that carries on the company’s original mission of “checking into” locations. By separating the Foursquare app’s core functions, people who just want to keep up with friends will be able to do it more quickly.
In Foursquare’s ‘Unbundling,’ Does the Tail Wag the Dog? (Street Fight)
Steven Jacobs: Foursquare announced plans Thursday to spin off the company’s trademark social networking service into a separate app and focus its branded application entirely on local search and discovery. The move — what the company has called ‘the unbundling’ — represents a pivotal adjustment by Foursquare to the sensitivities of a mainstream consumer in an increasingly connected real-world experience.
Groupon Goes After Costco And Sam’s Club With Groupon Basics, A Portal For Home Goods (TechCrunch)
Last year, Groupon’s CEO Eric Lefkovsky said that his ambition was to make the e-commerce company’s Goods business more like Costco, not Amazon. Today, the company is launching a new business called Groupon Basics — offering discounts on home goods to compete with warehouse-based bulk-buying clubs — that will bring it one step closer to that idea.
How Hyperlocal Publishers Can Take Advantage of the Data Gold Rush (Street Fight)
Damian Radcliffe: The sources of the explosion of big data, retail benefits and opportunities for journalism are well known. Perhaps less so are the benefits for hyperlocal publishers of embracing this trend. Here are five things to consider when exploring how to reap the benefits of the data explosion.
Uber Gears up to Launch ‘Uber Family’ Service & Eyes a New Batch of Cities (VentureBeat)
A source tells us that Uber will soon launch “Uber Family,” a new service that caters to passengers with children. Only the highest rated Uber drivers will be selected for the new program in New York. Drivers selected for the Uber Family service will be supplied with a child car seat, and will be required to prep the car seat for passengers before traveling to pick them up.
Brands Beginning to Find Value in Local Data (Street Fight)
“If we can understand a person’s location and what’s going on around them, we have a much better view as to who they are and how we might be able to communicate with them,” Brett Leary, VP/Group Director of Digitas Lbi, said during a webinar Thursday. “Life is really context, and it reflects real-life behavior. We can start to connect the dots.”
Indoor Positioning Startup Wifarer Not Acquired By Apple, But Its Founder Now Works There (TechCrunch)
Wifarer, a startup which offers tools to help consumers navigate malls, museums and other venues, was not acquired by Apple, we learned, while following up on some tips pointing in that direction. However, its CEO and founder Philip Stanger now works there in a “leadership role.”
OpenTable Posts First Loss in Five Years as Customers Dwindle (Reuters)
OpenTable posted its first quarterly loss in five years due to higher marketing costs aimed at stemming the slide in the number of restaurants signing up for its services. OpenTable’s shares slumped as much as 10 percent in extended trading after the San Francisco-based company’s revenue rose less than expected in the first quarter as it lost more customer than it added in international markets.
Amazon Widens Same-Day Delivery Service (Wall Streeet Journal)
The e-commerce giant is set to broaden its same-day shipping service starting Thursday by allowing later ordering times in some places and adding Dallas and San Francisco to the dozen cities where it’s available. For Amazon and other e-commerce companies, same-day delivery has long been viewed as a key obstacle in their effort to tackle brick-and-mortar retailers.
MyCheck Now Lets You Pay At Table, Split Bills And Tip Right From PayPal App (TechCrunch)
Thanks to a collaboration with Tel Aviv-headquartered checkout technology provider MyCheck, PayPal users will be able to pay for select restaurant bills and bar tabs, split their bill, tip their servers, redeem offers and more.
LBMA Podcast: Pulsate’s Beacon-Based Marketing, Presence Orb (Street Fight)
Top stories of the week include Facebook & Moves, Google’s contact lens camera, Storefront, Baidu’s mobile wallet launch in China, Bleamcard, Xaxis, and Verizon’s Relevant Mobile Advertising platform. And the feature of the week is Grand St. — a marketplace for creative technology.
Get Street Fight Daily in your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletter.
