Today, one of the most challenging things as a buyer of services, is to find qualified providers that meet specific insurance levels, coverage area, certifications, and services to meet customer needs. Jim Cramer at CNBC talked about Porch.com on Friday. Are contractors using this Porch.com to advertise their business services? Are homeowners using Porch.com to find contractors?
Publicly traded Angie’s List has never reported an annual profit. Angie’s List stock has lost over 30% of its value since late October, following a slowdown in paid memberships and missed profit expectations. The company says heavy spending on advertising will pay off as Angie’s List becomes the go-to source for vetting and hiring home-repair contractors.
More competition is piling into this service advertising area. Amazon Services and Yelp are also competitors. All services sold through Amazon are backed by Amazon’s “Happiness Guarantee,” which promises a full refund if customers are unsatisfied with their service purchase. While Services appears to be currently limited to installations, the Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon hopes to expand their product to cover fitness instructors, music teachers, and a wide variety of other service providers. Amazon gets 20% of services priced more than $1,000, and 15% of any less expensive offerings. A monthly subscription fee will also be introduced, but is being waived by Amazon until July of 2015.
ServiceDepot.com is another service like Porch.com. Please provide your comments if you have experience with any of these firms. Post your comments at the blog or email richard@law.name.
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