Urbanclap Co-founder Varun Khaitan is giving Mark Zuckerburg something serious to think about

Facebook has quietly launched a new website and jumped straight into the hyperlocal services market in India. Their newest offering features a list of local services and businesses that can be searched and shortlisted based on location. There are 80 plus categories including general and personalized services. All these businesses are listed on Facebook’s website, are rated and include its user ratings.

India’s hyperlocal services market is crowded by players like UrbanClap, QuikrServices, Zopper and Zimmber to name a few. However, while Facebook revealed in October last year that there were over two million small business listed on its platform, segment leader Urbanclap isn’t much worried.

“They (Facebook) will probably have more detailed pages. However, it’s still just a listing. On Urbanclap it’s a more end-to-end platform based on your needs and budget. Platforms like those have some supply, but since the mechanism of connecting the professional to the customer is so bad, it doesn’t quite work for both sides. That’s why Just Dial as a marketplace never quite took off for local services”, Urbanclap co-founder Varun Khaitan told Business Insider.

Currently hyperlocal services platforms charge businesses a small fee to be featured on their platform, or take 10-20% commission from their total fee. There has not yet been any word on how Facebook plans on monetizing its hyperlocal service. However, Facebook’s entry into this crowded space is expected to only increase the competition. Recently, Facebook also launched tools that are designed to help users communicate with businesses via its Messenger. This will allow users to communicate with businesses using short URLs and codes.

The idea behind Facebook’s new portal is to connect users with local businesses and organizations with the best Facebook reviews and ratings. The portal currently lists quite a few businesses categorized under broad fields like plumber, spa, beauty and personal care, event planning, pet service, medical and health, arts and marketing, automotive, and business services. Each listing includes the business name, address, working hours, and a star rating based on users’ reviews.

This push by larger companies is putting considerable pressure on smaller companies in the space who have to grow rapidly, merge, or simply shut down. The three large firms apart, others in the space have cumulatively raised close to $15 million.

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