Street Fight Daily: Yahoo Acquires Polyvore, Microsoft Invests $100 Million in Uber
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
Yahoo Snags Social Commerce Site Polyvore (Wired)
Yahoo has announced its acquisition of Polyvore, a community-powered social shopping website. The two companies will work on native shopping ads to drive traffic and sales to retailers, and, more broadly, Polyvore will help boost Yahoo’s growth strategy in mobile and social.
Microsoft to Invest $100 Million in Uber (Seattle Times)
Uber bought a portion of Microsoft’s Bing mapping unit in June, and now the companies are now even more closely tied: Microsoft has agreed to invest about $100 million in Uber at a valuation of approximately $50 billion.
As McClatchy Goes All In on Digital, Stock Price Sags Further (Street Fight)
Tom Grubisich: In the past several weeks, McClatchy stock has hit record lows — falling from about $5 a year ago to around 80 cents per share now. Why is there such a mismatch between the smart steps the company is taking in digital and its financial performance?
Attention, Shoppers: Shopping With a Store App Means You’ll Visit More and Stay Longer (Venture Beat)
On average, a shopper with a retailer’s smartphone app will visit that brand’s store one extra time each month, compared to shoppers who are bereft of that app. That dozen more annual visits represent a significant amount of additional foot traffic.
5 Name-Your-Price Platforms for Local Merchants (Street Fight)
Rather than running storewide sales and discounting more products than necessary, some businesses are taking advantage of name-your-price platforms to sell their goods at whatever price customers are willing to pay.
Why German Carmakers Are Buying Nokia’s Here Mapping Unit (New York Times)
The purchase of Nokia’s Here by Audi, BMW, and Daimler was all but confirmed a few weeks ago, and Nokia has made the official announcement today: its digital mapping unit, a Google Maps rival, has been sold for $3 billion.
Are Yelp, GrubHub, and Uber Creating Any Lasting Value? (Barron’s)
Yelp and others have tried to basically reinvent the Yellow Pages on the Internet, bringing more customers in the door. Now these innovators face a new round of startups that have newer, more exciting business models, with lower cost of capital. (Subscription required.)
The Postmates Problem: Why Some Restaurants Are Forced to Fight the Delivery App (Eater)
Postmates links consumers with restaurant listings through Foursquare, takes orders, then calls them in and sends couriers to pick them up, all without asking restaurants for permission. Restaurants are understandably wary of that arrangement, and some in Seattle and San Francisco are starting to speak out — including to lawyers.
Report Pegs “Click-To-Call Commerce” at More Than $1 Trillion Annually (Marketing Land)
Calls often stand between online research (increasingly mobile lookups) and offline transactions. This is where click-to-call comes in and where a recent report seeks to illuminate the huge impact of smartphone-driven calls on real-world commerce.
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