Zaarly, a competitor to Craigslist that specializes in services (as opposed to physical goods), is about to launch a new feature. Dubbed “Zaarly Storefronts,” the as-yet-unannounced feature will allow power “taskers” to better sell their goods or expertise.
The Zaarly Storefront is not yet open to all users. We learned about it thanks to a Zaarly power user who tipped us off to an email sent from the company (see below) offering exclusive early access.
Zaarly has traditionally contended with services like TaskRabbit and Fiverr. But Zaarly Storefronts would presumably bring the company in direct competition with eBay, Etsy, and Betterfly. With Storefronts, Zaarly will include a listing that allows anyone looking to for someone to complete a task or purchase an item to peruse users offering goods or services, whether it be a part-time physical laborer or a professional baker selling red velvet cupcakes.
Zaarly Storefront will likely serve as an extension of the recently launched Zaarly Anywhere, an embeddable button that gives Zaarly users the ability to quickly post a request for someone to perform a particular task. So if, for example, you come across a recipe for a complicated Korean BBQ dish, you can use the Zaarly Anywhere button to post a request for a Korean chef to cook you the meal.
Zaarly Storefront may serve a similar function, allowing Web users to quickly access Zaarly users offering a service related to whatever content they’ve come across on the Internet. This would also presumably make for a particularly attractive proposition to Zaarly’s partnering publishers, who collect a 10 percent commission from Zaarly Anywhere transactions.
According to the email, republished below, the first batch of invited users will be receiving direct support, in the form of copywriting and photographs, from Zaarly in setting up their Storefront pages.
Thanks for being an amazing asset to the Zaarly community! We’ve hand selected you to take part in something special.
Soon, we will be launching a brand new side of Zaarly that will allow you to make money doing what you love by directly selling your talents and passions to people in your community. Your Zaarly Storefront will allow you to display your skills and unique offerings in easy-to-purchase listings for buyers to find and purchase.
This invite-only group will help lay the foundation for the future of selling on Zaarly. We’d love for you to be a part of it.
If you are interested in having early access to your personal storefront, please respond quickly so we can move to the next step! We’ll be providing professional photography and creative copywriting exclusively for this first group.
Thanks for being a part of this awesome opportunity and I look forward to working with you.
We’ve reached out to Zaarly for comments, and we’ll keep you updated with any responses.
