Signpost Adds Payment Integration as Small Business CRM Market Grows
Signpost, a New York-based startup that got its start selling deals software to small business, wants to expand deeper into maybe the most important sources of data in the front-office: payments. The company has rolled out a new product that can programmatically pull customer information from a phone call or credit card swipe, and then send text messages or emails to those people with offers or requests for reviews…
Ecommerce Retailer Indochino Ventures into Brick-and-Mortar
Indochino, a Vancouver-based apparel brand that made its name selling custom suits online, opens its first permanent retail showroom in New York today in a move that builds on a series of pop-up shops that the apparel maker has hosted in cities across the country for the past few years. It’s just the latest in a series of ecommerce firms to invest in brick-and-mortar retail…
Street Fight Daily: Mastercard’s Wearable Future, Apple Eyes Path
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… MasterCard CMO Talks Brand Transition From Credit Cards to Wearables (AdAge)… Source: Apple Set to Acquire Path in an Attempt to Bolster iOS Social Cred (Pando)… Mobile Retail Passes the 50% Point, Tops Desktop (MediaPost)…
Pinterest’s Plan to Win Over Small Businesses
Four year-old scrapbooking site Pinterest has managed to succeed where many other social media — from Path to Google — have failed. In an interview with Street Fight, Joel Meek, who heads up the company’s small business efforts, discusses the role be believes the company can play an local discovery engine, and why its uniquely positioned to help small businesses reach users in the earliest stages of the purchase process…
Street Fight Daily: Uber’s ‘Gentler’ Approach, The Return of Directories
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber CEO Thinks It Needs To Be Kinder And Gentler Now That It’s On Top (TechCrunch)… Foursquare Reintroduces Leaderboards in Swarm Update (Mashable)… Post-Pigeon Best Practice: How To Optimize For Internet Yellow Pages & Directories (SearchEngineLand)…
6 Group Dining Programs for Neighbors
Airbnb users are sharing their homes with strangers, Lyft drivers are sharing their cars with strangers, and now a handful of group dining programs have people inviting virtual strangers inside their kitchens. These hyperlocal marketplaces offer a win/win proposition for people who are interested in getting to know their neighbors while making extra money on the side…
Street Fight Daily: Millennials Drive Mobile Growth, Catalina Buys Coupon Company
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Millennials Are The Largest Group Of Smartphone Owners, And Adoption Is Still Growing (TechCrunch)… Catalina Acquires Cellfire To Tie Mobile Offers To In-Store Sales (AdExchanger)… Apple iPhone’s Mobile Payments Expected to Include CVS and Walgreens (Recode)…
LBMA Podcast: Google’s Local Ads, 7Eleven Rolls Out Belly
On the show: Sprooki rolls out beacons in Singapore malls; Philipp Schmitt’s location-based light painting project; Runkeeper partners with KIIP; PitneyBowes’ location start-up incubator in India; QR codes to help Alzheimer sufferers from getting lost. Special guest is Peter Cahill, founder of Life Line Response…
Street Fight Daily: xAd Raises $50 Million, iWatch to Include Payments
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Location Is Everything, As Mobile Ad Startup xAd Raises $50M Led By IVP (TechCrunch)… Apple Watch to Allow Mobile Payments (Wall Street Journal)… Interpublic Invests in Mobile Measurement Company Placed (MediaPost)…
Booker Eyes New Markets, More Capital
Sixteen months ago, Bain Capital’s venture wing made a $27 million bet on Booker. Now, the company says its gearing up to raise another big round in order help propel it into a number of new appointment and class-based verticals and hold off a bevy of increasingly well-capitalized competitors…
7 Ways Loyalty Programs Can Increase Social Media Exposure
More than one-in-three small businesses now has a loyalty program in place, but that doesn’t mean that local merchants are always taking full advantage of the benefits that these hyperlocal marketing platforms can provide. Here are seven ways that businesses can use existing digital loyalty programs to help increase reach on social networks…
Street Fight Daily: Comcast Reviving Everyblock, DeliveryHero Raises $350M
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Comcast Bets on Hyperlocal by Reviving EveryBlock (Washington Post)… Delivery Hero, Hungry For Growth, Orders Up Another $350M In Funding (TechCrunch)… Nokia Plans to Unfurl New Mobile Map App (Wall Street Journal)…
YP Hooks Up With Goodzer to Add Services Data to Search
YP has announced a new partnership with Goodzer that will populate the company’s local search product with information about service provider offerings from the startup. It’s the latest in a series of moves by the yellow pages carve-out to rejuvenate its local search product and draw users away from Yelp and Google, as pressure continues to mount on the listings model…
As IPOs Near, Tech Takes Another Crack at Small Business
A handful of upcoming IPOs will add fuel to an already-competitive small business marketing and technology industry. But the fundamental question is how these companies slow an already rapid rate of commoditization, and “build a moat” around their businesses to hold back the next wave of startups looking to grab market share in their wake…