Street Fight Daily: Yahoo to Discuss Selling Internet Business, Google’s New Pinterest-Like Feature
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
Yahoo Board to Weigh Sale of Internet Business (Wall Street Journal)
Yahoo’s board is planning a series of meetings this week to consider selling off the company’s flagging Internet businesses and how to make the most of its valuable stake in Chinese ecommerce powerhouse Alibaba. Directors are likely to discuss whether to proceed with a plan to spin off its investment in Alibaba, currently worth more than $30 billion, find a buyer for Yahoo’s gaggle of web properties, or both. (Subscription required)
Mobile-mentum Continues into Cyber Monday (Street Fight)
Cyber Monday was one for the record books. U.S. shoppers spent nearly $3 billion through digital channels, making it the single largest online sales day in history, and continuing a string of firsts this holiday season. Mobile continued to display strong momentum from the holiday weekend in driving website traffic and sales.
Google Turns Image Search into Pinterest with New ‘Collections’ Feature (TechCrunch)
Google has rolled out a new feature on its search engine that offers users an easy way to save images they find to collections they can reference later. The search giant suggests using the feature for things like hairstyle examples or snowman ideas to have some winter fun — the same sort of “inspirational” content that Pinterest users often collect.
How Multi-location Brands Can Keep Up with the Push for On-Demand (Street Fight)
Mark Lerner: In the era of UberRUSH, Postmates, DoorDash, and others, every business with an in-house delivery fleet is feeling the pressure to provide the same kind of on-demand delivery experience. The driving force behind the demand for on-demand is time, or the perceived lack thereof. Consumers have shown they will pay a premium to save it.
Uber Teams with Enterprise to Let Drivers Rent Cars for Ride-Sharing (Denver Business Journal)
Uber is using Denver as a test market for a program with Enterprise’s car rental service that lets Uber drivers rent cars to use when picking up ride-sharing passengers. “Our hope is that this program will become an integral part of Denver’s local transportation infrastructure and even expand into other cities in the near future,” said Ryan Johnson, vice president for Enterprise’s car-share and ride-share programs.
Optimizing for Mobile Search in 2016: A Continuous Process (Search Engine Land)
Jim Yu: Behavior differs between desktop and mobile devices, and it’s worth exploring these differences to better provide for consumers. Mobile optimization means more than taking a desktop-optimized site and strategy and making it fit onto a mobile screen.
Moms Want More Apps Like Uber, TaskRabbit, Rent the Runway, Study Shows (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Businesses that specialize in providing people with smartphone-based, on-demand services may be missing out on a massive chunk of their potential audience: moms. Pregnant women and mothers of young children are intensely interested in smartphone applications that provide services in the “shared economy,” but many are unfamiliar with the wide range of apps out there.
NYC Ad-Tech Company Undertone Has Been Acquired by Israel-Based Perion for $180 Million (Business Insider)
The acquisition of Undertone, which specializes in “high-impact ads,” by marketing software company Perion marks the latest chapter in the ongoing consolidation of the ad-tech market. Industry observers suggest there will be plenty more acquisitions and mergers in 2016 to match the kind of activity seen this year, as giants like Google and Facebook bid to build out their ad-tech stacks and non-traditional players like enterprise software firms and telcos begin to get into the game.
Uber Snags Another Google Mapping Exec to Lead Product Team (Recode)
Manik Gupta, a director of product management for Google Maps, has jumped to Uber to lead its mapping product. “I am very excited by Uber’s vision. There are few companies that create such rapid and sustained change in consumer behavior,” Gupta said.
Shyp’s Partnership with eBay Takes Care of Logistics for Sellers (The Next Web)
Earlier this year, Shyp made it possible for its users to send to anyone without the hassle of knowing the address. Turns out, this kind of method is a boon for eBay’s buyers and sellers, who want to move their products with the extra value of privacy and security.
Google, Battling Amazon, Sees Some Bright Spots in Holiday Shopping Data (Recode)
Amazon has been eating into Google’s search dominance for the past few years, as more people start shopping searches on Amazon. But sales data from this holiday weekend finally offers some bright spots for Google in this uphill battle.
What Online Retailers Will Do to Get You to Click ‘Buy’ (Wall Street Journal)
With the annual holiday spending frenzy skewing heavily toward digital shopping, online retailers are getting savvier about closing the deal and getting shoppers to push the button on that pair of shoes or set of towels lingering in their virtual shopping carts. (Subscription required)
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