Street Fight Daily: Google Launches Website Builder for SMBs, Amazon Go’s Potential Impact on Retail

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Google-my-business

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…

Google Testing Website Builder Within Google My Business (Blumenthals)
Mike Blumenthal: It seems that the day has finally come when Google is going after the many small businesses in both the developing and developed world that don’t yet have a website or at least a good mobile one. No intermediary, no third party, this product is a Google native web builder that looks simple and easy. Blumenthals: A first look at the builder.

Openings and New Hires at Search Influence, Urgent.ly, Kantar Media (Street Fight)
Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. This week’s edition includes moves and new openings at Pandora, Retale and DialogTech.

Amazon Go, Deep Learning, and a Better Retail Experience (Recode)
Ashwini Asokan: Artificial intelligence, sensing, and automation tech will certainly disrupt the retail industry, change the way we shop, create new consumer habits, and possibly even get us back in the store. Maybe we’ll even see premium stores with luxury brands and AI-led experiences; maybe we’ll see discount stores with the ability to sell and buy seamlessly in the same space.

Raise Report: New Funding for ezCater, Gravy Analytics, CloudCar (Street Fight)
Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This edition includes funding for Flytrex, CloudCraze, NG Data, and Choozle.

Toyota Leverages Mobile Location Firm NinthDecimal’s Data to Establish Attribution for Dealer Visits (AdAge)
Not only did Toyota target these households specifically based on data showing they were in-market car shoppers, the regional Toyota office measured whether the addressable ads led to an increase in foot traffic to dealerships by directly tracking when anonymized mobile devices associated with the targeted households showed up in stores.

Amazon Just Poached One of Target’s Rising Stars to Run Prime in Important New Markets (Recode)
Amazon has hired Jamil Ghani, Target’s SVP of strategy and innovation, to run the Amazon Prime membership business in international markets, according to a person briefed on the move.

How Social Media Channels Are Appealing to SMBs (MediaPost)
Though social media may be an excellent place for mom-and-pop shops to reach customers, it hasn’t always been so easy to do so. Here’s how the big social sites are making a concerted effort to be more SMB-friendly.

The Mobile App Gold Rush May Be Over (TechCrunch)
Apps have maxed out on the finite resource that is users’ time. Drawing attention to a new app will mean having to shift users away from others. This could be a problem for new app businesses — especially those that mean to take on the incumbents like 2016’s most used apps.

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Joe Zappa is the Managing Editor of Street Fight. He has spearheaded the newsroom's editorial operations since 2018. Joe is an ad/martech veteran who has covered the space since 2015. You can contact him at [email protected]