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25% of hotels still ignoring social media: report

Written on June 14, 2011 – 2:41 am | by Ashley Johnson

Of the industries impacted by the internet, the travel and hospitality industries are amongst those impacted greatest. While companies within these industries have faced numerous digital challenges, there can be little doubt that the web has benefitted forward thinking players immensely.

When it comes to hotels, however, a survey conducted by TravelClick found that a full quarter were still ignoring social media for purposes of “[increasing] occupancy and revenue per available room.“

In the hotelier’s social media marketing mix, Facebook is, not surprisingly, the most popular social media hub. Of hotels using social media, 65% are active on Facebook. That number drops to 20% for Twitter, 10% for Groupon and just 8% for Foursquare.

According to TravelClick, 57% of the respondents to its survey are increasing their spend on display ads and 20% are increasing their spend on paid search.

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Wall Street Small Businesses Finding Loans from BDCs

Written on June 13, 2011 – 12:28 pm | by Ashley Johnson

Wall-street is seeing a comeback in terms of lending to small businesses. The reason for this is 12 investment firms are arranging $1.38 billion of initial stock offerings, in-order, to pump in cash to nation’s biggest job creators.

Business development corporations (BDCs) are formed by leading corporations that typically lend to small businesses having annual revenue less than $500 million. This is in accordance to filings with US Securities & Exchange commission. The ongoing BDCs wave is the greatest in at-least seven years now.

Trillions of dollars are being flooded into the financial system by the Federal Reserve in the span of last three years. But, obtaining credit still remains a challenge for borrowers who do not have a direct access to capital markets. Unemployment is hovering above 9 percent, so in any event if credit continues to filter down, then the recovery of labor market would be slow.

Tags: Businesses, Small Businesses

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Walmart execs mull plans for Massmart

Written on June 2, 2011 – 1:27 pm | by Ashley Johnson

As Walmart expands its international business, the company wants to bring ideas from South Africa’s Massmart to other markets, company executives said Thursday.

Walmart’s hotly debated $2.4-billion purchase of a majority interest in Massmart will put Walmart in the building supply business, one of a variety of Massmart store formats. The company expects the acquisition to close in June.

Almost all of Massmart’s stores — 263 of them — are in South Africa. But JP Suarez, senior vice-president of international business development, said the world’s largest retailer intends to expand Massmart’s footprint in Southern Africa, where the chain operates in more than a dozen countries as far north as Ghana and Nigeria.

One priority is to offer more refrigerated food, a category lacking among Massmart and its competitors, Suarez said.

“It’s going to be a real win for the customer. Read more…

Tags: Massmart

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FTC seeks input on Dot Com Disclosures revision

Written on May 31, 2011 – 7:18 am | by Ashley Johnson

In May 2000, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a number of guidelines designed to help companies stay in compliance with numerous consumer protection laws as they increased their presence on the then-nascent commercial internet.

The FTC’s Dot Com Disclosures (PDF) document largely explained how existing laws around advertising and disclosure applied in the context of the internet, and provided some specific examples.

A lot has changed in the past ten years. Thanks to the rapid evolution of technology, and the rise of social media and mobile in particular, new concerns about privacy and advertising are emerging all the time.

Matters that seem simple, like disclosure, take on new complexity today. How, for instance, is meaningful disclosure possible in a 140-character tweet?

In an effort to keep up the times, the FTC is looking to revise Dot Com Disclosures and is seeking public comment.

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Tags: Com, Com Disclosures

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Small Business Lending Increases in New York and Other US States

Written on May 31, 2011 – 1:29 am | by Ashley Johnson

In New York and in other parts of the nation, lending for small businesses has seen a clear rise. This is because the economy has improved and there is confidence among businesses though the activity is well below pre-recession levels.

The SBA’s 7(a) program has been used by 28 lenders to make 507 loans for $88.55 million in Buffalo District. That is an increase of 8.3 percent in loan volume and 13.8 percent in dollars. A 57 percent increase in loans took place inclusive of all programs of the SBA after the financial crisis of 2009.

Loan demand is returning and the incentives found as part of small business jobs act also has helped. Small business lending has been a key objective for the Obama administration and the Congress. Keeping this into consideration, small businesses representing vast majority of employers are paying part of nation’s private payroll, generating bulk of the country’s economic output and creating new jobs.

SBA does not play the role of disbursing loans, but it actually insures them. The f

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Tags: New York, Small Business, York

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