Peer-to-peer mobile marketplace Zaarly has signed up 1,250 businesses in New York City to fill requests from its users, and it is launching a feature that will let others follow suit regardless of location.
"Every small business's first question [when we tell them about the platform] is, 'Is this like Groupon?' No, it's not," says Zaarly CEO Bo Fishback.
The startup, which recently welcomed Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman to its board, launched in May with an app that lets users request anything from a Michael Jackson dog costume (true example) to swimming lessons and to name whatever price they are willing to pay. Other users near them can fill those requests to earn some extra cash.
Before long, small businesses such as maid services, catering companies and freelance designers began using Zaarly to find customers. The platform responded to its unexpected small business user base with a trial program in New York City that alerts participating companies when someone in their proximity, category, price point and who used a keyword relevant to them posts a request.
Within the next couple of days, Zaarly will launch a self-serve version of the program that allows any business or individual to set up alerts for requests that they may be interested in completing.
It's similar to a service that a location-based Q&A platform called Crowdbeacon provides small businesses. Crowdbeacon alerts small businesses when its users ask questions that might be solved with a trip to their storefront. "Are there any good restaurants in the area?," for instance, might incite a reply from a burger joint that includes a discount offer.
The difference with Zaarly is that there's no discounting or customer courting required. The app provides a lead that has already stated what he or she is willing to pay. Unlike Groupon's deal for small business customer acquisition, the leads are free. Zaarly makes money by taking a percentage of credit card transactions completed on the app, not by charging the individuals or businesses who fulfill requests.
Zaarly's model has made finding work for its still relatively small user base easier, and now Fishback hopes it will do the same for businesses.
"We let an individual compete with a small business and a small business compete with a large business," he says.
