DigiTales & Other Stories

Last week the Evening Standard reported that local retailers in London were getting visibility through a local review site called We Love Local – The report suggested that the site was inspired by The Standard’s “Save Our Small Shops” campaign…

Actually, welovelocal.com is one of a number of websites trying to capitalise on the trend for local search providers cropping up and being a resource of local services, recommended or reviewed by other users. A kind of Tripadvisor.com for you local area if you like.

Tipped and Qype are others trying to tap into this market – it’s a nice idea but needs some critical mass of reviewers and reviews before they really get going.

It’ll be just a matter of time before they get snapped up by a bigger search provider though.

It’s interesting that The Standard’s angle comes at the same time that Microsoft released research into SMB’s advertising online – or rather investing in websites that never get seen.

I remember in 2001 a high profile CEO of a European DotCom based in London, left to join a company whose business model was to knock on doors in the high street offering to set up and maintain websites for small shops, hairdressers and independent traders.

We laughed at the time….but it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea now…

SMX London post coming soon…but enjoy the below from the guys at Site Visibility - Cheeky beggars!

I read earlier this week with great joy, that a company called MyQBuster is set make stressful nights out in busy British hostelries a thing of the past.

The technology is mobile-based and very easy to use. You simply text your drinks order to the bar from where ever you’re sitting, a pin code authorises payment from you pre-registered mobile phone, and for a 10% tip, the drinks are swiftly delivered to your table.

Sound good? I’d like to take it a few steps further…

Getting off the tube at Piccadilly to meet some friends in Soho:

• I want to search for a pub or a bar within a ½ mile distance using GPS so my device knows where I am.
• Because the service I am using is connected to the EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) or cash registers of bars in the area, I can further refine my search to a bar that’s not too busy because the system can tell that at that moment there’s not much business going through the register. 
• I’d like the place to be a little upmarket, taken from average price of drinks served at bars/pubs participating in the initiative.
• I’d like there to be a 70/30 female/male split, again assessed from the types of drinks being served.
• I want to be offered an incentive to go into any of the shortlisted bars or pubs. 1st round free!?
• And I’d like to have a table ready for me and my friends, after our devices lead us there with directions spoken through stereo speakers, in the voice of Austin Powers.

We can then order drinks through our phones, leaving less time waiting at the bar, and more time to flip open our laptops and talk to each other via Facebook!

Some good ideas? Or are they totally legless?