Street Fight Daily: Amazon Launches Home Services, Angie’s List Freezes Indiana Expansion
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
Amazon Launches Home Services To Sell Everything From an Oil Change to Piano Lessons (Verge)
Amazon started out as an online bookstore, but has since expanded into selling almost any physical goods you can think of. Today, the company is launching a new section in the US, Home Services, with 700 different services, from the ordinary to the esoteric, everything from installing a garbage disposal to finding your goat a good place to graze.
ZenithOptimedia, NinthDecimal Take a Crack at Offline Attribution (Street Fight)
A partnership announced this morning between ZenithOptimedia and NinthDecimal plans to bring a new standard of omni-channel measurement and audience insights to ZenithOptimedia clients. By going beyond traditional metrics, the partnership looks to enable marketers to understand actual conversions at the point of purchase — such as incremental lift in store visits.
Angie’s List Freezes $40 Million Indiana Expansion, Citing Anti-Gay Law (Mashable)
Angie’s List, the website that publishes reviews of local businesses and service workers, announced on Saturday it had suspended plans to expand its Indianapolis headquarters following the passage of the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The new law makes it legal for businesses in the state to turn away gays and lesbians for religious reasons.
Conference Notebook: Brands Refining Their Local Approach (Street Fight)
Multi-location brands that want to connect with local consumers have long been faced with the conundrum of how much marketing to trust to their local outlets. Giving freer rein to franchisees on the ground can help to build stronger ties with local communities — but it increases the risk of losing broader messages that corporate wants to get across.
Ten Red Flags on the GoDaddy IPO (Pando)
Even if GoDaddy isn’t expected to be the hottest tech IPO this year, it’s still notable because of the high number of red flags that surround its offering – from annual losses to a dying market to a corporate structure that favors old investors over the new. Here are ten red flags we spotted.
This Vodka Brand’s App Uses Beacons to Light Up Bottles With Custom Messages (AdWeek)
Beacons have been a buzzy topic for digital marketers in the past year, but mostly, brands have just used them to push out offers and coupons. Now, Medea — a maker of techy vodka bottles — has an interesting use case on how to use the small location-based markers.
Hotels Reserve Spending for Online Reputation Management (eMarketer)
For travelers, reputation is (almost) everything when it comes time to book accommodations. While price ranked as the most important factor in accommodation booking decisions, cited by 96% of travelers worldwide, accommodation ratings on review sites and online reviews and posts on TripAdvisor came in second and third.
Can Apple Pay Work at Sit-Down Restaurants? Cover, an Uber-Like Payments App, Says Yes. (Recode)
Shoppers can use Apple Pay to tap and pay with their phones at brick-and-mortar stores. But what about using Apple Pay in an app to pay at a brick-and-mortar location? That’s what a few hundred restaurants are starting to do in partnership with some apps, including OpenTable and Cover.
Report: Mobile Search Queries 29 Percent Of Total But Growth Modest (Search Engine Land)
Greg Sterling: According to comScore, mobile search queries (smartphones and tablets) were roughly 29 percent of total search volume.But the comparatively modest year over year growth of smartphone search must be of concern to Google, unless the company is seeing something quite different internally.
Google Faces Threats From Amazon, Yelp, Retailers As Search Goes Mobile (International Business Times)
The search wars are back on, but this time it’s different. In this edition of the search wars, however, Google also faces the challenge of competing against Amazon, Yelp and many other services that threaten to eat into its market with specialized or vertical search engines.
Order Any Service With A Simple Text, Just Like Magic (PYMNTS)
On-demand delivery has become big business as consumers express a growing willingness to shell out cash for convenience. One startup, Magic, is taking that convenience to new levels through its SMS-based service, and reports say venture capitalist Sequoia is betting big on its business model.
Google My Business Improves Contextual Help – Tests Integration Of Call Back (Blumenthals)
Mike Blumenthal: It appears that Google is improving access to their Help files from within Google My Business and is apparently testing moving access to phone support directly into the GMB dashboard. Google’s integration of help and support into the business center had long been a cobbled affair, often requiring long circuitous routes for the SMB to get support.
Get Street Fight Daily in your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletter.
