A few decades ago, if you wanted to find service providers, artisans, stores and more in your area, your options were limited. You could consult your local phone book (remember those?) or ask friends for advice. That was about it.
The advent of the internet made it a bit easier to locate these businesses near you, but at first, it was still a glorified (albeit digital) phone book.
Similarly, businesses were limited in how they could connect to potential customers. You could advertise or use a door-to-door selling model, but you didn’t have a lot of choices.
Local Service Marketplaces (LSMs) like Thumbtack or Home Advisor now seem to be the preferred way to forge a connection between everyday customers and service professionals near them. LSMs integrated into websites and apps allow businesses to list their services and lets customers read reviews, make an informed choice and contact one of those businesses.
It makes sense that LSMs have been growing exponentially, and more people realize the benefits of such marketplaces.
Examples of good LSMs
Chances are, if you are a web-savvy consumer, you have used one of these platforms, even if you did not realize it at the time. For instance, Thumbtack and Home Advisor are two of the most popular LSMs in the United States. In India, UrbanClap is leading the LSM industry with over 50,000 trusted professionals and more than a million customers.
However, you might not think of sites like Airbnb and VRBO as LSMs, but they are — on these sights, customers connect with a very specific type of service provider. Similarly, a service like Uber connects consumers with drivers. It is not a typical LSM,…