Google’s AI Can Now Make Appointments & 4 More Small Business News Stories You Need To Know

Welcome to the first week of Merchant Maverick’s essential news briefing for small business owners.

An appointment-making robot and Amazon Prime Day records dominated the small business news cycle over the past seven days. Read on for this week’s top five must-know stories for small business owners.

Google’s AI Assistant Has Begun Booking Appointments For Users

Google recently began rolling out the booking feature of its AI chat assistant Duplex, per a report by VentureBeat. Duplex’s booking abilities enables users to request appointments at a business using the Google Assistant, Search, or Maps apps on their phone. Duplex will then call the business and reserve an appointment on the user’s behalf using “natural language processing.” In all cases, Duplex informs the person on the other end of the call that it is an automated service.

Originally teased by Google in 2018, Duplex’s recent launch supports barbershop, hairstylist, and salon appointments, but the AI bot has also had a limited capability to make restaurant reservations over the phone since at least 2019.

Besides the rollout of Duplex’s booking feature, Google also shared a number of tidbits relevant to small businesses during its Search On conference this week. The company says Duplex has updated 3 million business listings across eight countries since the start of the pandemic. Google also announced that starting in the first half of 2021, everyone can migrate for free from Hangouts to its new communication service Chat — a potential Slack competitor.

Further reading: One year later, restaurants are still confused by Google Duplex, The Verge

Amazon Prime Day Set A Record For Small & Medium Businesses

This year’s Amazon Prime Day, which ran October 13-14, saw third-party sellers rack up $3.5 billion in sales — a 60% increase over last year. While failing to disclose total Prime Day sales, Amazon claims that third-party sales grew more than Amazon’s own retail businesses. Amazon added that “most” of its third-party sellers are small-to-medium-sized businesses, with small businesses in Utah, California, and New Jersey nabbing the biggest sales per capita.

Despite smashing sales records, Amazon faces scrutiny. The company was recently named in a Congressional anti-competition report that looked into how Amazon’s rules may have put smaller sellers at a disadvantage. The site has also struggled to shake the notion that it frequently peddles counterfeit products, an issue that came to a head last year after a Wall Street Journal investigation.

For more on how your small business can make money on Amazon, check out Merchant Maverick’s guide to starting an Amazon store.

PPP Lenders Allegedly Told To Favor Existing Customers

The government’s much-ridiculed Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for small businesses has yet another blotch on its record: A Democratic-led House congressional oversight subcommittee found that the US Treasury Department privately encouraged lenders to prioritize existing customers when issuing PPP loans. The initial instructions for lenders to “go to their existing customer base” allegedly came from the Treasury on March 27, the same day the PPP legislation was penned into law.

The House report did note that the Treasury denied such claims. However, the report cited several high-up industry leaders, including the president of the American Bankers Association and a “senior banker” at JPMorgan Chase & Co., as saying that the Treasury wanted banks to work with existing clients. A spokeswoman for JPMorgan said that the bank “initially focused on existing customers” because of the “time-consuming regulatory requirements to onboard a new client.”

Comcast RISE Launched To Help Diverse Small Business Beat COVID

In an effort to help small businesses survive the recession generated by COVID, media and telecommunications conglomerate Comcast launched Comcast RISE. This new support program will help out small businesses via $10,000 grants, marketing resources, and tech equipment.

Black-owned small businesses are eligible to apply for Comcast RISE’s initial wave right now. The program will open up applications to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)-owned small businesses starting November 28. The grant part of Comcast RISE also hasn’t started yet, either — that will launch November 28, too.

A New Service Can Help Track Competitors’ Google Maps Ratings

Ratings on Google Maps have long been a great way to gauge the public’s perception of a business. However, it’s difficult to monitor a business’ rating over time — and even more difficult to gauge multiple competitors’ ratings over time. Enter Local Monitor, a recently-launched service from Paris-based startup WizVille.

WizVille’s Local Monitor works simply: You enter your business’ name on the site and get a display of nearby places that provide similar products or services to you. You can then choose up five competitors to track and WizVille will email you a monthly report detailing your business and its competitor’s Google Maps ratings over time. Read more about Local Monitor on TechCrunch.

The Latest From Merchant Maverick

Our latest small business spotlight looks at a Texas-based startup called Everyware, a payment gateway that offers text message-based billing solutions for an array of industries. By building its product around text messages, Everyware aims to eliminate the clutter that persists throughout daily life. Take a peek to learn more about Everyware:

• Everyware Uses Text-Based Billing To Help More Businesses Profit From Contactless Payment During COVID

Something Good…

It’s a bleak, bleak world out there, so let’s finish your briefing on a positive note.

In Tampa, Florida, two teenage boys raised $30,000 over the course of six months to help small businesses struggling because of COVID. Gifts of $10,000 will go out to three businesses local to Tampa.

“We could never have expected to raise this much money,” said Robbie Herzig, one of the enterprising teens that kick-started the operation. “We were just looking to help any way that we could and when it took off.”