Information has price: Comment on class O2O website Angie ' Slist Research

The Chinese Internet industry is still in the Consumer-to-consumer (Copy to China) model, and the O2O sector is largely the same; the consultancy study found that almost all overseas O2O models found corresponding references in China, such as the 58 City of Craigslist (classified information), With Yelp corresponding to the public comment network (restaurant reviews), and opentable corresponding to the rice network (ordering) and Groupon corresponding to the domestic major group purchase site. But the fee reviews O2O website Angie ' s list is an exception, China has not yet appeared to the same site, and even Angie ' s list in China caused sporadic attention after its listing in November 2011, when Angie ' s list has been established for 16 years. Angie ' s list is a typical O2O online enterprise, which tries to provide relevant reference for domestic O2O researchers and practitioners by collating and analyzing its development course, profit model and the way to deal with competition.











Angie ' s list brief information and development history





Angie ' s list was founded in June 1995, and the idea originated when William S. Oesterle, the boss of Angie Hicks, who was just graduating from college, was looking for a home repair service at Ohio Columbus, struggling to find a trusted service provider, The two partners set up a company called Columbus Neighbors to provide housing repairs and medical care services to other families. Angie Hicks through door-to-door sales to recruit seed users, by 1996, accumulated about 1000 users, the company name is officially changed to Angie ' s List. From 1995 to 2000, Angie's list serves customers mainly by call centers and issue magazines, and in 1999, the Angieslist.com Web site is online and its business form is rapidly turning to the Internet.





Angie's list has maintained a steady pace of development, and by 2006, Angie's list has expanded from the original 10 cities to the major U.S. cities, and Angie's list covers more than 200 U.S. cities. There are also businesses in 13 cities or areas in Canada. In terms of service categories, the current Angie ' s list focuses on the four major categories of family Services (home), outdoor (outdoor), health (Tiyatien) and auto (auto), with a total of more than 550 kinds of large and small categories. After several rounds of financing, Angie ' s list officially landed on Nasdaq in NOVEMBER 2011.










Analysis of profit model of
II and Angie ' s list





Angie ' s list belongs to the Comment class website, but and general comment the website is different: 1 reviews category, Angie's list focuses on family services, outdoor health and other "failure costs" (high cost of failure) services, and catering, Shopping, such as light decision based on the site has a big difference; 2 comments on quality, Angie ' s list is only for paid members to open reviews and ensure the authenticity and objectivity of each comment information, which makes Angie ' s list and general comment sites separate. Angie's list of typical operating processes is paid users to view reviews, make consumption choices, and then generate a new comment content.





Angie ' s list revenue comes from two parts: 1 user pays (membership), according to the city different and has the different charge price, 2012 Angie ' s list user pays the revenue to be 477.17 billion US dollars, the proportion which occupies the total revenue is 30.6% 2) Business advertising fees (Service Provider), Angie ' s list allows the overall evaluation of a or B of the quality of businesses in their website and magazine advertising, 2012 business advertising revenue of 108 million, accounting for the overall revenue ratio of 69.4%. Overall, the early Angie ' s list of revenue mainly from user pay, by 2006, the commercial advertising fee (51.3%) accounted for more than the user pay (48.7%) accounted for.











The consultancy study found that in recent years, Angie's List of revenue growth has become increasingly dependent on business advertising, June 2010 Angie ' s list online Group buying service (the big Deal), to the business of the service to the non-paying users, This to its from the merchant side to increase the revenue to play a greater role in promoting. Although Angie's list of revenue has maintained a relatively rapid growth rate, but to expand the size of its market and sales costs are too high, Angie ' s list has been at a loss since its inception. As of 2012, Angie ' s list has lost a total loss of USD 220 million. In the fourth quarter of 2012, Angie ' s list achieved its first quarterly profit (USD 2.43 million).





third, Angie ' s list how to deal with competition





the Angie ' s list competition threshold is reflected in it has about 3 million true comments information, and through the High-quality service gathered 2 million of paying users. To ensure objectivity and authenticity of the information on the reviews, Angie ' s list to establish a standardized process system: when the user through the Angie ' s list to find a suitable service provider and consumption, users are required to service to the merchant A to F of the score, scoring criteria including six (comprehensive experience, price, quality, responsibility , punctuality and professionalism), users are encouraged to provide details of the description and evaluation, anonymous comments are not allowed; Angie ' s list has the relevant audit team responsible for reviewing the authenticity of the information, and invited businessmen to comment on the information to respond, once there is controversy, Angie ' s list of the audit team and the user , Business contacts to restore the facts. To enhance credibility, Angie's list has since 2007 invited a well-known independent certification body, BPA CSM, to authenticate the objectivity of its information.





as of 2013, Angie ' s list years of deep local Service market has been 18 years, the first advantage and professionalism for its establishment of a higher threshold; but with Yelp as the representative of the site with free policy attracted more users, especially in recent years, the United States has a group of consumer comment class sites, Typical delegates include Stik,redbeacon and Thumbtack, which are more subdivided in function and positioning, and most insist on free, growing quickly through the use of social elements, which poses a challenge to Angie ' s list.





In response to the challenge, Angie's list has taken the following measures: 1 service expansion, since its inception Angie ' s list for a long time only family service reviews information, 2008 its online health channel a total of 149 categories, 2009 and the online car channel a total of 90 categories 2) Geographical expansion, Angie ' s list from the more remote Ohio start, gradually to the east-west coastal cities to expand, so far in the major cities have a firm footing. In September 2012 and January 2013, Angie's list announced that more than 100,000 subscribers were paying subscriptions in the New York area and Washington Land District. The April 2010 Angie ' s list service expanded to Canada, the future international expansion will become its important development direction; 3 integration of social and mobile tide, Angie ' s list site from 2001 began interactive function, social media and social network after the popular, Angie ' s The list actively uses Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for branding and diversion. To meet the social needs of the users, the February 2013 Angie ' s list also launched the band of Neighbors Community Exchange Forum. On the mobile side, the Angie ' s list publishes different systems for both users and businesses; January 2013 Angie ' s list and square established a strategic partnership to integrate Square's mobile payment technology into its clients, making Angie ' s List's merchant users can collect money anytime, anywhere. From the overall analysis, the author thinks that the development strategy of Angie ' s list is quite successful, and its development speed is obviously accelerated in recent years.











Four, why China does not appear Angie ' s List





Angie's list insists on charging users for reviews, which are unique in the free tide of the Internet. Currently, China has not yet appeared with the Angie ' s list corresponding to the site. Commodities Consulting thinks that this is primarily related to the great environment of the US and China: The United States has a stable and comprehensive upper-middle class, and they are willing to pay extra for quality service (as can be seen from Angie's List of user attributes, whose users are "at 35-64 years of age, with higher education, Annual income of more than 100,000 dollars, have their own property "). In addition, the United States has a more mature credit system and intellectual property system, Angie's list of accumulated comments on the information is well protected by the law; Finally, Angie's list of service industries is highly valued in the United States, Whether the service business or the site itself can be through the provision of quality services can be recognized by consumers.





Angie's list of models in China is difficult to do: first of all, the current Chinese netizens lack the habit of paying for information, a large number of free comments on the information can be more popular; second, because the law is not sound, intellectual property is not valued, the value of the information will not be really protected, Competitors can easily steal information; again, China's existing Internet entrepreneurial environment is hard to tolerate a company's long-term losses, the vast majority of entrepreneurs themselves are also lack of long-term deep in a particular area of determination and perseverance. For the decision-making family, automobile, health and other local O2O services, there is no long-term cultivation, it is difficult to achieve success. Quality Road Consulting that, although the current Angie ' s list is not suitable for China, but Angie ' s list in the development of the focus and the persistence of information quality, it is worth every O2O practitioners to ponder and study.





original articles, reproduced please indicate the Source: Huang (Product research director, Internet industry analyst), Sina Weibo Huang.