Street Fight Daily: Yodle Files for IPO, RetailNext Raises $30M
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology
Marketing Software Company Yodle Files for IPO (Reuters)
Marketing software company Yodle filed with U.S. regulators on Tuesday to raise about $75 million in an initial public offering of common stock. The company reported a 30 percent jump in revenue to $45.7 million for the three months ended March 31. The company swung to a loss of $5.9 million, after earning $2.2 million a year earlier.
Unmanaged Local Listings Hurt Consumers and Businesses Alike (Street Fight)
Damian Rollison: Google Maps and its competitors have become the most important pathways to brick and mortar businesses outside foot traffic and word of mouth. As one recent case indicates, an accurate Google Maps listing can be a matter of life or death for a local business. The company needs a stronger and more concerted effort to enlist the help of business owners to address this problem.
RetailNext Raises Another $30 Million To Track In-Store Data (TechCrunch)
In the world of brick-and-mortar retailing, few companies have been as successful at marketing analytics services to customers as RetailNext, which is expected to announce a new $30 million in financing today. RetailNext will take its data-crunching services on the road, expanding into Asia, Europe, and Latin America, as well as other “emerging markets,” according to a statement from the company.
6 Ways to Personalize Mobile Ads Without Violating User Privacy (Street Fight)
Global mobile ad spending increased to $17.96 billion last year, and it’s on pace to rise another 75.1% in 2014. But in order for mobile advertising to continue growing at such a rapid rate, one issue has to be addressed — privacy. Here are six strategies for personalizing mobile ads without violating user privacy.
Lyft Expands Its Car Hailing Service to New York (New York Times)
The colorful facial hair is not the latest Williamsburg trend. It is the logo of Lyft, the car-summoning start-up, which plans to introduce its service in New York on Friday evening. The company’s initial target is those in boroughs outside Manhattan, namely Brooklyn and Queens, who commute there.
To Lure New Takers For Deals, LivingSocial Adds Personalized Emails, “Daily Gem” Specials (TechCrunch)
LivingSocial is today announcing some services that it hopes will help bring old users back into the fold, and to maybe bring in some new interest in the process. The daily deals site has raised nearly $1 billion but has been hit with claims of waning interest in its business model based around offering consumers discounts on local goods and services.
Survey Says Yelp ‘Best Quality,’ ‘Most Trustworthy’ Local Review Site (Screenwerk)
Late last night Yelp released the results of a Nielsen survey of approximately 1,000 “local review site users.” The survey, which was commissioned by Yelp, found that 85% of Yelp users report making a purchase within a week of using the site and a substantial minority do so within a day.
How Google Map Hackers Can Destroy a Business at Will (Wired)
Washington DC-area residents with a hankering for lion meat lost a valuable source of the delicacy last year when a restaurant called the Serbian Crown closed its doors after nearly 40 years in the same location. The cause was a mistake in the company’s listing on Google Maps.
Yelp Piles Into Google EU Antitrust Case With Formal Complaint About Local Search (GigaOm)
Competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia was already facing resistance in his quest to wrap up the long-running Google antitrust case, but Yelp’s new front-and-center involvement will almost certainly see the case continue.
Shortchanged: Why Consumers Are Snubbing Mobile Payments (CNBC)
Rita Gunther McGrath: Disruption is all very well, but it’s risky to depend on people to change their behavior to support your business model without a corresponding major benefit to them. It’s interesting, therefore, to consider what is going on in the global payments space. With payments being made on mobile devices, many consider it an industry that is ripe for disruption.
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