News and Analysis
Happy Returns Expands Into College Market
Startup Happy Returns, based in Santa Monica and founded by alums from HauteLook and NordstromRack.com, offers a way for shoppers to return e-commerce purchases at real-world kiosks. Beginning this fall, Happy Returns will be setting up kiosks—which it calls “Return Bars”—at five campuses around the country to capitalize on the returns generated by back-to-college online shopping.
Commentary
Can Traditional Retailers Nail Digital Before Amazon Figures Out Brick-and-Mortar?
It was never a question of if, but when. Anyone tracking the retail industry knew the day would come for Amazon to open… ahem… a brick-and-mortar storefront. Now Amazon’s familiar slanted smile logo will hang from a shingle in Manhattan right down the street from Macy’s flagship Herald Square store, just in time for the […]
Apple Pay Doesn’t Have to Kill the Wallet to Be Worth SMBs’ Adoption
More and more, software is influencing the way consumers evaluate the places where the shop in the real-world. As the small business technology ecosystem grows, it is crucial for small businesses to break down any potential barriers surrounding purchase, especially when consumers are offered numerous alternatives including national chains and ecommerce giants.
Latest Posts
Groupon Plans to Start Selling Beacons to Merchants
The deals company announced solid fourth quarter earnings Thursday evening, finishing the year with gains in both revenue and gross billings. During the earnings call, CEO Eric Lefkofsky announced its latest project: a redemption system that uses beacons to allow merchants to track and communicate with Groupon customers in their stores…
Street Fight Daily: Google’s New Payment Project, Real Estate’s Digital Decline
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…… Google Said To Be Testing A Point-of-sale System Called Plaso (GigaOm)… Borrell: Real Estate To Scale Back On Digital (NetNewCheck)… An Attribution Standard? IPG, Horizon, Digitas and Others Agree to Use One Firm (AdAge)…
Uber and Foursquare Co-Founders Lead $15M Investment in Dining App Reserve
Expa, the startup accelerator founded by Uber co-founder Garrett Camp and Foursquare co-founder Naveen Selvadurai, has led a $15 million venture investment in Reserve. The round included a number of celebrity investors including actors Jon Favreau and Jared Leto as well as rapper Will.i.am…
Street Fight Daily: Yelp Buys GrubHub Competitor, Facebook Eyes Craigslist
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Yelp Acquires Eat24, Bringing the Battle to GrubHub (Street Fight)… Facebook Update Looks a Lot Like Craigslist (Recode)… SMBs Divided On The Effectiveness Of Google My Business (Search Engine Land)…
Why TV Remains the Heartbeat of Local Connection