If some rumours doing round the market are to be believed, Amazon.com Inc is all set to launch a marketplace this year for local services. The marketplace would provide local services like babysitters, handymen etc.
Amazon will ape its grocery delivery service, Amazon Fresh model by gauging demands and testing logistics before launching it nationwide. Amazon Fresh before expanding its horizons to San Francisco and Los Angles was tested for one year in Seattle.
This move taken by Amazon can be seen as a direct target at various consumer review sites like Angie’s List Inc and Yelp Inc etc as well as Lowe’s Companies Inc and United States home improvement chains home Depot Inc. All these forums have invested in methods to connect people with local painters, plumbers, and other service providers.
Amazon for the very first time will venture into the services frontier. All this while, it has mainly concentrated on selling products and expanding from books and novels to consumer goods, media and groceries. Local services are a big and growing market but it has been difficult for the marketplace companies to earn profits since each offering has to be tailored made for each region and city.
Rumours also suggest that Amazon has contacted a lot of service companies directly and many startups in San Francisco and Seattle that already link customers to various service providers through their own mobile Apps and websites, in the recent months.
A marketplace for local services will extend Amazon’s role as a middlemen for third party vendors, which would make for 40 % of Amazon’s sales. The quality of the services sold by Amazon will be backed by its “A-to-z Guarantee”. The same guarantee is being currently used by the company on its website to certify the products being sold by third party vendors.
Venturing into the local services has been an aim of Jeff Bezos, Chief Executive for many years. In fact, he had himself invested in Pro.com which helps its customers in searching contractors and then estimating the total costs of home repair and improvement projects. Pro.com was a Seattle based startup founded by Matt Williams, former Amazon Executive.
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