Here is today’s roundup of news related to local marketing and advertising, local media, technology, local commerce, consumer behavior and more.

Survey: 31% of SMBs Still Using ‘Paper’ to Manage Customer Info. (September 26, 2018)
LSA Insider: “This week Salesforce is holding its massive developer and partner conference Dreamforce in San Francisco. In conjunction with the event, the company has released a survey (reg. required) of 490 small and medium size business owners (SMBs). It explores technology adoption and other issues.”

Google Allowing You to Reserve, Book Unique Experiences in SERPs (September 26, 2018)
LSA Insider: “Search results on Google have come a long way from a list of links. Today the SERPs enable all kinds of commerce activities like restaurant reservations, scheduling haircuts, click to call, shopping, and more. Earlier this week the company announced yet another action: reserving/booking unique experiences.”

Study: 82% of Consumers Haven’t Made a Direct Purchase Through Social Media (September 26, 2018)
LSA Insider: “By now, all businesses are aware of the influence digital media has made on the path to purchase. Specifically, social media is now a prominent channel for engaging, targeting, educating and influencing consumers. However, many consumers are reluctant to purchase from them directly.”

Amazon’s Alexa finds its business model: in-skill purchases (September 26, 2018)
Marketing Land: “Last year, there was an early flirtation with audio advertising on Alexa devices. However, it was shut down quickly. Earlier this year, there was a rumor that Amazon was testing ads for brands on Alexa, but the company also shut that down, saying there were no plans to introduce advertising.”

How Placed And Adobe Are Closing The Loop Around Attributing “Linear” TV Ads To Offline Store Visits (September 26, 2018)
GeoMarketing: “Placed is expanding its connection of location-based audience measurement to TV advertising in a partnership with Adobe Advertising Cloud.”

Google now builds its own AMP stories for search (September 26, 2018)
Search Engine Land: “So far, these stories only seem to work consistently in the Google search app, and not in mobile Chrome or Safari mobile browsers.”

Could Amazon Go Head-to-Head with Convenience Stores and QSRs? (September 25, 2018)
eMarketer: “What once sounded fantastical—stores where shoppers could walk out with purchases without waiting in line—is becoming a reality for more than a select few.”