Street Fight Daily: Samsung Teams With PayPal, Amazon Loses Local Commerce Exec
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology
Samsung is Teaming With Paypal for Mobile Payments on a Watch (GigaOm)
In the wake of Apple Pay coming to the Apple Watch early next year, Samsung is working on its own mobile payment strategy. And instead of going it alone, it has a highly motivated partner: The company is working with PayPal to bring secure mobile payments to the wrist.
Report: Online and Digital Ads to Reach 25% of Local Media Revenues in 2015 (Street Fight)
Total local media revenues are expected to reach $139.3 billion next year, up from $137 billion this year, for a 1.6% growth rate, with digital and online advertising surpassing the one-quarter mark for the first time, according to BIA/Kelsey’s 2015 U.S. Local Media Forecast. “Mobile and social are growing faster than imagined,” said Mark Fratrik, the company’s chief economist.
Ecommerce Companies Finding Success in Brick-and-Mortar (Street Fight)
The move into physical retail has become a fashionable choice within New York’s growing ecommerce industry. What’s more, the founders of these firms now suggest that industry watchers may have overstated the economic advantages of an online-only sales model particularly as new technologies allow retailers to reduce the footprint needed to generate sufficient revenue.
Amazon Loses Key Payments Product Leader to Microsoft (Recode)
Iain Kennedy, a six-year veteran of Amazon who ran product management for the company’s local commerce efforts, has left for a new gig at Microsoft. Kennedy most recently oversaw the product management team that was working on a new set of payments-related products for consumers.
More Than Half of US Consumers Don’t Want to Friend a Brand Online (Wall Street Journal)
According to new shopper marketing research from WPP, 40% of Internet users across the world don’t see any point in “friending” a brand online. In the U.S. and the U.K., that figure rises to 55% and 63%, respectively. In emerging markets, consumers were more open to it. In India, by contrast, that figure is 31%.
Handy Acquires London-Based Home Services Startup Mopp to Quickly Grow Its UK Business (TechCrunch)
A few months ago, on-demand home services startup Handy opened up its first international office and launched services in London. In an effort to quickly grow its business there, today the company is announcing it’s acquired local competitor Mopp, which also provides home cleaning services in select U.K. markets.
Behind The Scenes Of Uber’s Biggest Driver Strike (BuzzFeed)
A group of more than 1,000 Uber driver have spent the past two weeks fighting the car-on-demand mammoth. These drivers have cycled through protests, work strikes, and organizational meetings, all in an attempt to return to the pay rate and policies that once made being an Uber driver as “the best economic opportunity” for employees of the car service industry.
Crazy, or Crazy Brilliant? Change Lane Looks to Uber-ify Oil Changes (Pando)
How about this for a crazy idea: take the automotive maintenance industry, pack it into a series of Optimus Prime-looking trailers, and make it entirely mobile, offering on-demand service at homes and offices around the country. That’s exactly the vision laid out by Minneapolis’ Change Lane, which earlier this week debuted its first prototype.
The Demons Of On-Demand (TechCrunch)
Sarah Perez: Are today’s on-demand and local services really about catering to the lazy rich, as claimed, or are they about a new way to book services from local providers by satisfying demand more efficiently through the use of geolocation and advanced software that can map out where customers are, what they need and when?
SMB Marketing Organizations Need to Add ‘Business Services’ (Screenwerk)
Greg Sterling: One of the points I’ve tried to make is that directory publishers and others offering marketing services to small business owners should diversify into transactions and business processes. So far that hasn’t really happened in the U.S. But it’s starting to happen in Europe.
Why This Tiny Italian Restaurant Gives a Discount For Bad Yelp Reviews (Ars Technica)
Of all the places that have come up with a clever way to protest Yelp’s alleged aggressive advertising tactics, a small plucky Italian restaurant in a strip mall just northeast of San Francisco, is as unlikely as they come. For a few weeks now, Botto Bistro is actively trying to become the worst-reviewed restaurant on Yelp as a way to stick it to the venerated review site.
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