Street Fight Daily: AmazonFresh to See Major Expansion, Tribune Rejects Second Gannett Offer
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
Amazon to Launch Fresh Grocery Delivery Service in New Markets Including U.K. and Boston (Recode)
Amazon plans to expand its Fresh grocery delivery service this year to new markets including Boston and the United Kingdom, according to multiple sources, after what has been an 18-month hiatus from launches in new cities. The AmazonFresh service lets Amazon customers order groceries, including perishable items like dairy, meat and fish, for delivery within 24 hours.
Tribune Gets $70.5 Million Investment, Rejects Gannett Offer (Reuters)
Tribune Publishing Co said Los Angeles billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong has invested $70.5 million in the company, becoming its second largest shareholder. Tribune also rejected Gannett Co Inc’s latest takeover offer of $15 per share.
As Google Doubles Down on Mobile, How Can SMBs Keep Pace? (Street Fight)
Matt Matergia: Google has been refocusing its efforts to create a “better web” by not only increasing the importance of mobile-friendly websites and better mobile browsing experiences but by fundamentally redefining what the mobile web experience is altogether.
Why Buy Buttons on Pinterest and Instagram Still Haven’t Taken Off for Retailers (Digiday)
When Pinterest and Instagram introduced click-to-buy features last summer, the hope was that they’d help brands turning mobile browsers into shoppers. But these buy buttons haven’t quite taken off as hoped. They generate very low sales volume to retailers and are negligible for most large brands, according to Sucharita Mulpuru, principal analyst for Forrester.
Sponsored: 8 Awesome Content Marketing Ideas That Deliver Local Marketing Results (Street Fight)
Sometimes making a small adjustment and re-posting a piece can help you extend your reach to a new audience, build a loyal following and even have a direct impact on converting viewers into customers. Seize the opportunity to repurpose, reuse and recycle already-created content in a new way.
Facebook Ditches Bing, 800 Million Users Now See Its Own AI Text Translations (TechCrunch)
In 2011 Facebook started working with Microsoft Bing to power translations, but has since been working to transition to its own system. In December 2015, Facebook finally completed the shift, and now exclusively uses its own translation tech, Facebook’s director of engineering for language technology revealed yesterday.
Case Study: Hardware Store Shifts Marketing Mix, Joins the ‘Buy Local’ Movement (Street Fight)
Taylor’s Do it Center is never going to be able to compete with corporate heavyweights like Home Depot and Lowe’s. But the company is hoping to turn its locally owned status into an asset, rather than a liability, by partnering with other small businesses and educating consumers on the benefits of buying local.
NuTonomy Raises $16 Million to Make Self-Driving Taxis a Reality By 2018 (TechCrunch)
Cambridge, MA-based NuTonomy is pioneering self-driving technology for cars — yes, the very kind of vehicle that Uber, Google, BMW, GM/Lyft, China’s Baidu, and others are currently developing. Unlike the aforementioned big names, NuTonomy retrofits existing cars with the technology to make them driverless.
Mobile Shoppers Want to Be Able to See Products (EMarketer)
Being able to see product pictures via a smartphone or tablet device is the most important mcommerce-related capability, according to US shoppers responding to a Nielsen survey in Q4 2015. Almost half (48%) of smartphone shoppers said that using the mobile-friendly version of a website was important for mcommerce.
Lyft Tests Letting Users Schedule Rides Up to 24 Hours Ahead of Time (Mashable)
Lyft, one of the leading ride-hailing services in the U.S., announced Monday that it is testing a new option to let customers pre-order rides up to 24 hours ahead of time. The test is currently under way in San Francisco.
Get Street Fight Daily in your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletter.