A Chennai-based start-up bootstrapped by two young developers is trying to reinvent the online shopping experience. By creating listings based on real-time locations, it intends to make it easier for shoppers and residents to find exactly what they are looking for in a specific area.
“The advantages are plenty,” says R. Senthil Raja, the 31-year-old co-founder of the real-time location-based classifieds service Localever. “Often any shopping experience – be it finding a rental home or a café, depends on the location. By building the classified listings based on locations, we are able to serve users with relevant results.”
To demonstrate his point, Senthil used the example of a person trying to relocate to a city suburb in order to shorten the commute to his workplace. “If he were to go to any of the regular listings websites, the experience is similar to that of traditional classifieds, where the listings are based on keywords or a pin code,” he said.
The real-time location based listing, on the other hand, will make it clear to the person looking for a house, where nearby amenities such as schools or hospitals are. Or it could even just list what the best cafes in the neighbourhood are.
Together with his co-founder and chief technology officer 29-year-old V. Ramesh Kumar, Senthil hopes to make Localever the go-to website for online shopping on both the web and mobile platforms. Begun in August last year, the service is at present live at www.localever.com, and the duo is already working on an Android application (app) that will be launched soon.
The site also has an innovative integration with professional social network LinkedIn, through which people who post classified advertisements — such as for used air-conditioners on sale — can first begin sales of their products to those within their office or their LinkedIn network. “That way, the sale often happens within one’s known circle. This will make the sellers more comfortable,” says Ramesh.
Localever brings an interesting dynamic to a fast-changing mobile landscape in India. Google estimates that there will be 400 million internet users in the country by 2014. There is enough space for every one – big players and small. And that space makes it most exciting for start-ups like Localever.
