Street Fight Daily: Yahoo Files for Alibaba Spinoff, Google Scoops Up Homejoy Staff
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
Yahoo Files for Alibaba Spinoff, Though Tax Issues Linger (New York Times)
Yahoo has filed formal documents to spin off its 15 percent stake in Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant. Key to the plan is Yahoo’s intention to include its small-business services division in the spinoff, which will be called Aabaco Holdings.
Google Is Getting Into the Home Services Market With Hire of Homejoy Staff (The Next Web)
About 20 members from the product team of Homejoy, a startup for hiring professional cleaners, will move on to Google as the service prepares to shut down amid lawsuits about whether its workers were contractors or employees.
8 Things SMBs Should Consider Before Adopting Mobile Payments (Street Fight)
With 22.6 million people in the U.S. expected to make at least one mobile payment in 2015, merchants of all sizes are feeling the push to start accepting mobile payments. But whether every local business should jump on board is still a matter of debate within the hyperlocal community.
TripAdvisor Taking on Airbnb? (Travel Trends)
Trip Advisor appears to be gearing up to take on fast-growing accommodation rental site Airbnb, sending an email out to key stakeholders over the weekend headlined: Rent out your space on TripAdvisor.
Charlotte Agenda Carves Out Role as Brand Builder, Market Developer (Street Fight)
In April, online city guide Charlotte Agenda arrived onto a shifting Charlotte, N.C. digital scene. The site’s eclectic mix of five-to-ten quick-read, mobile-friendly stories and a distinctive conversational style of commentary is standing out among local media players eager to reach a young audience, but will it prove sustainable?
Want To Be The Next Amazon? Go Cross-Border From Day One (TechCrunch)
Any e-commerce startup today with multi-billion-dollar ambitions must be cross-border from day one, because local markets are already locked up by entrenched homegrown giants.
TimeOut Gives New Restaurant Order App $10.7 Million (PYMNTS.com)
The media conglomerate TimeOut led series A investment in Flypay, which debuted last year via a “pay-at-the-table” app and has since expanded into other areas ranging from ordering apps to customer loyalty. The startup will continue to focus on helping eateries with customer service.
Why Retailers Must Optimize Mobile Sites (eMarketer)
Among U.S. digital retailers that had a mobile-optimized website, m-commerce accounted for 31 percent of e-commerce transactions during Q2 2015. In comparison, mobile drove just 22 percent of e-commerce transactions for retailers that hadn’t optimized.
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