SROYS

Seems like the perfect service they should venture into - they have paying retail advertisers and they can easily create a program where these retailers are allowed to add special offers into their listings for a small extra price. Give them an interface to add coupons for special items. They really have an opportunity to revolutionize this industry and possibly completely replace something very basic and important on our mobile phones which we use all the time. Let’s get into it step by step…

I think if they can manage to be a little less greedy than Groupon and charge only 10% of the deal amount as fees - it would make them a major hit among retailers and establish them as a market leader in the deal space (but that’s not the USP - we’ll discuss that later). Plus possibly get them new client listings much more quickly. They need to MOVE NOW!

Like for example I run a listing on justdial.com for my father’s plant shop which sells gift plants - if we can run an offer where we give a 30% discount if and only if we sell a 100 coupons worth Rs.100 each. So the user gets a gift plant worth Rs.142 for Rs.100 - and justdial takes a nominal 10% - giving me a little profit over the cost price and exposure to a hundred new customers - all geo targeted in my location!!

There could be other models as well - like letting people add a wish list for individual retailers - when a certain number is hit for a particular item - justdial can suggest the retailer to run a coupon campaign.

Justdial could also send the retailer running the deal a sticker to post on their shop with a coupon code - so people can go to justdial to buy those coupons. Why would the retailer put up the sticker? Cause anyone who buys through the coupon promotion code justdial doesn’t charge the 10% fee. So justdial can get advertising for a very nominal cost. Plus the sticker can ask people to add to the retailer’s wish list - increasing engagement between the user and the retailer - and increasing traffic for justdial.

Frankly I wouldn’t mind getting some real deals from shops around my locality other than spas, hotels and restaurants. I am sure justdial can think of some other innovative ideas to make this work and make it spread like wild fire - maybe they are already working on it!

Now onto the most important part - MOBILE!

Justdial recently launched their phone apps - and frankly I am a bit disappointed. I’ll tell you why - because they have missed a great opportunity here. You need to see a use case to understand what I mean -

When do I use justdial?

• Find out the number for a hotel where I am going to have lunch to find out if they have a buffet on.
• What was the number for that terracotta maker in south city?
• I need to find some local digital printers.

The way the app works is like an extension of their website - it’s useful no doubt - I can directly search and click a button to call the retailer - but the functionality can be increased quite a bit.

What I think they should’ve done is create the app like a dialer with a search button with all the existing contacts on the phone imported - basically REPLACE THE PHONE DIALER! They can call it JUSTDIALER.

The advantages are immense here - the way I use the phone dialer on my Samsung is I go to the dialer and start typing the name of the contact I want to call - unless I have a shortcut on the home screen for it.

Most people do it this way. So basically I am doing a search - if I had justdialer and if it’s done intelligently - it should give me a small checkbox to see listings or not see listings. They already know my current location from the phone - I am sure they can get the default location or ask for it on first run.

Then when I am looking to dial someone - I am already all set to find anything that I may want, my own contacts, any retailer around me and possibly also get LOCAL DEALS when I am searching right inside my dialer.

So going by the use case - I can go to justdialer - check show listings - type in “Radisson Gurgaon” and get their number (PLUS MORE)… now isn’t that simpler than doing it the way they are doing it now. I can’t believe they are not building this!