March 2011 - Zipzoom.com is wide open in North America!
If you own or manage a business or are a salesperson selling any products or services,
register yourself now at no-charge and you too will soon receive personalized requests
24/7 from consumers who are ready-to-buy what you offer. Congratulations Simcoe
County, you will soon be able to ”zipzoom” in your city! We want to welcome our
new consumers and vendors who have registered as a zipzoom member at the Home Show!
Article on Trendwatching - June 2011
http://trendwatching.com/briefing/
Surfacing more and more are intention-based websites, where the traditional purchaser/vendor
relationship is flipped on its head and sellers bid for consumers' business. Have
a look at these recent ‘BIDCONOMY’ initiatives:
Canada based
Zipzoom lets buyers announce what they're in the market
for, giving sellers a chance to bid for the opportunity to serve them. Personalized
quotes are sent directly to the consumer, allowing him or her to pick the best one.
Article in Visionwiz.net - May 9th, 2011
http://visionwiz.net/2011/05/zipzoom-new-way-to-shop-and-bids-for-products-and-services-in-your-area
Zipzoom: New way to shop and bids for products and services in your area
Zipzoom wants what you’re looking for, to find you. No more scanning through endless
search page results. No more ruffling through weekly flyers. No more driving all
over town hunting for the best deals. With zipzoom, your search is over.
It’s a complete new thinking in searching technology.
Think of zipzoom as your own
personal shopper. zipzoom works for you 24/7 by finding you ready-to-buy
customers in your area looking for exactly what you have to offer. You’ll have greater
traffic, higher sales volume and reduced operating costs—not to mention an important
edge over your competitors. With zipzoom, your search is over. Because your customers
magically find you!
Zipzoom is new way to shop and bids for products and services. Its technology allows
you to
anonymously request a personalized quote from local businesses registered
with zipzoom who sell the product or service you’re looking for. Zipzoom
would increase your buying power by gathering all the bids from vendors wanting
your business. Their personalized quotes are then sent directly to your inbox or
to your cellular phone leaving you the choice to decide which deal is best for you.
Just type in the service or product you’re looking for in their search box. Then
write a personalized message in the comments box with any details or requests you
may have. And now click the “zipzoom it” button and you’re done!
Zipzoom zips out your request to all the vendors who meet your exact search criteria.
Vendors’ responses are sent right to your zipzoom Inbox or cell phone where you can
see a list of all the vendors who meet your request. Then you can sort,
compare and select the vendors who interest you. Not only that you can also text
or email back and forth about pricing, services, availability … whatever you want.
Even you can communicate anonymously until you decide to provide your personal information.
Visionwiz’s Views:
This site is scoring on two things. First, it can anonymously send a request (a
personalized quote) from local businesses. Second thing is: its personalized shopping.
It means that you will get only those shopping or bids info which is suitable to
your needs. I guess, it should work.
Article on Springwise.com - May 6th, 2011
http://www.springwise.com/marketing_advertising/zipzoom/
We’ve seen examples of the Intention Economy in the past, and regular readers may
remember services such as uShip, which enabled shipping companies to bid on cargoes
in need of transportation. Aiming to take the concept to the mainstream, we recently
came across Canadian Zipzoom, a site that lets buyers announce what they’re in the
market for, giving sellers a chance to bid for the opportunity to serve them.
Now in beta, Zipzoom lets US and Canadian buyers register with the site for free
and then anonymously request quotes for a particular product or service. Zipzoom
then gathers all bids from participating vendors and sends their personalized quotes
directly to the consumer, allowing him or her to pick the best one. The site explains:
“No more scanning through endless search page results. No more ruffling through
weekly flyers. No more driving all over town hunting for the best deals. With Zipzoom,
your search is over.”
Vendors, meanwhile, can receive and read customer requests for free. Only when they
respond do they pay a fee of 50 cents per request. In exchange, of course, they
get direct access to consumers who have said that they’re ready and willing to make
a purchase. How many marketing expenditures can you say that about?
Mashable - Mon March 28, 2011
Mashable is the top source for news in social and digital media, technology and
web culture. With more than 40 million monthly page views, Mashable is the most
prolific news site reporting breaking web news, providing analysis of trends, reviewing
new websites and services, and offering social media resources and guides.
http://mashable.com/2011/03/28/craigslist-missing-features
Our CEO Reg DesRosiers gives his take on the future of online classifieds on Mashable
The Future of Online Classifieds: 5 Ways to Beat Craiglist
Let me be clear: I don’t think Craigslist is going anywhere any time soon. Craig
Newmark’s ad-listing service operates in over 700 locales and generates roughly
20 billion page views every month, according to the company fact sheet. Obviously,
Craig and his list are doing alright for themselves.
But in comparison to the rest of the web’s social heavyweights, Craigslist hasn’t
aged all that well, both in terms of aesthetics and usability. Wired hit on the
problem in an August 2009 article that compares the site to other popular job boards:
“[A]nother wasteland of hypertext links, one line after another, without recommendations
or networking features or even protection against duplicate postings. Subject to
a highly unpredictable filtering system that produces daily outrage among people
whose help-wanted ads have been removed without explanation, this site not only
beats its competitors — Monster, CareerBuilder, Yahoo’s HotJobs — but garners more
traffic than all of them combined. Are our standards really so low?”
I wouldn’t go that far, but obviously what we think of as the “Internet” has changed
a lot in the last 16 years since Craigslist was first launched. Even if a site looks
straight out of 1995, it should incorporate the web values of 2011. Here are the
five characteristics that the next ecommerce powerhouse should offer the modern
web user
1. It Should Be Personalized
All you need to create an account on many classified ad sites is a working email
address. Often, there are no additional information requirements. The result? Many
users are anonymous.
There are times when anonymity is beneficial, but looking through online classified
ad sites can feel very impersonal, and there is little accountability for the business-customer
relationship. This can be a great disadvantage in today’s market.
Users should have the ability to personalize their activities to maximize efficiency.
Customizable search options, profile listings based on services or products, and
other tools can help make a website feel tailored to personal needs. This not only
makes a website more useful, but will also ensure your users return time and time
again.
2. It Should Integrate Social Recommendations
What was once used simply for personal communication, social media has become essential
for the success of businesses. Those that know how to employ social media to respond
to customers in real time, as well as generate new leads, are the ones best equipped
to both build and maintain a brand in this new world of ecommerce.
Aside from the use of Twitter and Facebook Fan Pages, an important feature of many
user-generated sites is community reviews or rankings. These help people find the
most desirable services and encourages businesses to adopt good practices. This
also might reduce the risk of scams, schemes, and otherwise unlawful activities
which can reflect negatively on the site.
3. Search and Organization Should Be Smarter
Some of today’s largest online classified ad sites’ search abilities are very simple.
But with simplicity comes limitations. Searching from Craiglists’ homepage or clicking
on any of the categories will yield long lists of every relevant post, starting
with the most recent. Then begins the grueling process of looking through hundreds
of little blue links to find what you’re actually looking for.
Investing time in developing more subcategories is almost always a good starting
point, but I’d also recommend allowing your user to search multiple categories.
A cleaner layout would also inevitably lead to better mobile usability.
Businesses working in the ecommerce space must develop forward-thinking search models
if they want to be successful in the coming years. For instance, a company might
utilize a system that integrates the search process with the contact process. In
this way, customers can search for things they need and contact businesses simultaneously.
Improving search is the next big obstacle for many online classified ad sites, and
it’s only through considerations of such shortcomings that we’ll be able to implement
creative and practical solutions.
4. Your Ad Should Not Be a Message in a Bottle
In the Craigslist model, you simply post a listing for a service and hope that someone
sees it. You might as well just put a message in a bottle and throw it into the
ocean.
That message can become disconnected from the company that posts it, as well as
any users who might seek to reply. Sure, you can make and maintain a connection
via email, but there are no accountability systems in place within Craigslist to
ensure that customer service needs are met. That might be OK for selling an old
futon, but when it comes to offering goods or services, or hiring on a regular basis,
businesses and consumers are going to need a better infrastructure to ensure their
needs are met on both sides of a listing.
5. Filter the Chaos
In its infancy, Craigslist’s fire hose of raw information was manageable. Today’s
web is so noisy that many online businesses exist simply to clean up the clutter.
Users need filters to separate the wheat from the chaff. Google’s recent clampdown
on content farms is just one example of this. The next ecommerce leader will have
to “reverse engineer” the noise of the Internet to deliver the best service possible
to both consumers and the businesses that serve them.
zipzoom Marketwire Press Release
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/zipzoomcom-Worlwide-Introduction-Barrie-Ontario-Simcoe-County-Residents-Now-Directly-1405273.htm
Mar 03, 2011 07:00 ET
zipzoom.com Worldwide Introduction in Barrie, Ontario; Simcoe County Residents Now
Directly Connected With Relevant Businesses, Service Providers, Salespeople
Weekly Giveaways Also Featured on zipzoom's Social Media Networks
TORONTO--(Marketwire - March 3, 2011) - zipzoom (www.zipzoom.com), a brand new patent-pending
anonymous communication technology (created in Canada) changing the way consumers
and businesses find each other, announced its launch today in Simcoe County. zipzoom
chose Barrie, Ontario because it is one of the fastest growing cities in North America.
"A dynamic, friendly and booming community like Barrie is the perfect place to launch
this revolutionary service," said Reg DesRosiers, the founder of zipzoom.com. "We
offer residents the ability to make quick, informed decisions about any products
or services they need, while also providing new streams of customers to Barrie's
local businesses and salespeople."
zipzoom.com recently launched a beta version of its site, which acts like a personal
shopper for overwhelmed consumers. zipzoom.com-registered consumers just make an
anonymous personal inquiry and zipzoom immediately, through its exclusive communication
platform, sends the inquiry to all relevant contacts and businesses using a brilliantly
designed product keyword search association, saving time, money and effort. Businesses
and salespeople also benefit by having direct access to "ready-to-buy" customers
24/7 without increasing their advertising costs. zipzoom is free of charge to register
for consumers, businesses, service providers and salespeople. zipzoom finally answers
the question consumers ask themselves every day: "How can I find the best deal,
person or business to work with?" On the vendor side: "How do I consistently find
'ready-to-buy' customers?"
In addition, zipzoom is offering weekly giveaways via their social media networks
on Twitter and Facebook, where randomly chosen registered vendors will receive a
no-charge lifetime membership subscription.
• Twitter: zipzoom
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/zipzoom
For more information, please visit www.zipzoom.com
About zipzoom
zipzoom was created in 2007 by Mississauga resident Reg DesRosiers as a way to eliminate
the cumbersome search process when buying products or service. After registering
on the site at no charge, zipzoom users can submit a single anonymous query regarding
a desired product or service (like a nanny, plumber, home theater or a realtor,
etc.), and will receive bids or responses from interested businesses and salespeople
through zipzoom's innovative communication platform. zipzoom is a privately held
company and is headquartered in Ontario, Canada.