The Goods Guys will launch a new platform to make home installations of products sold in its stores across Australia easier, thanks to a partnership with tech company Airtasker.
“We started building it just after mid-way last year,” Airtasker co-founder and chief operating officer Jonathan Lui tells SmartCompany.
The Good Guys installations platform will let people walk in store, purchase an item like an air conditioner and organise installation at the same time.
The platform will allow customers sign-on, pick a contractor in their area based on price and ratings, and book in a time for installation. The job details are then sent to both the contractor and the customer via an app on which they can contact each other.
“You can manage the booking online like you do with a flight booking,” Lui says.
The installations platform uses a similar system to Airtasker’s online marketplace for odd jobs and outsourced services where providers and customers can rate each other and communicate freely.
When a job is completed on the installations platform, contractors will upload photos and documentation, which the customer can approve and review before the contractor is paid.
Lui says The Good Guys installations platform will help with quality assurance while also enhancing client relationships and customers’ experience from purchase to installment.
“We provide transparency into the entire organisation and network of contractors they’re using,” he says.
The Good Guys collaboration comes as Airtasker looks to broaden its services out to larger enterprises.
“We’ve always wanted to be a platform [but] we really wanted to work with all types of companies both small and large,” Lui says.
The opportunity to work with The Good Guys came on the advice of a common acquaintance.
“We had seen small and medium enterprises, and I wanted to look at something where we could scale that even more aggressively,” he says.
“I put a strategy together, [considering] what kind of features they would require and what type of businesses would want to use it.
“We drove a lot of the vision from our side but The Good Guys were the perfect partner.”
While Airtasker continues to service more than 600,000 users on its main platform, which generates more than $40 million worth of transactions a year, Lui says they have commenced talks about similar projects with other big players.
“We’ve got lots of opportunities already,” he says.
As big companies look to enhance the value and experience they give customers, Lui says there is increasing opportunity for innovative startups and small business to produce solutions for the big guys.
“You’ve got to be persistent,” he says.
“Try to identify a problem that can be solved, otherwise it can be a challenge to sell the idea.
“If there’s already a problem and you’ve got a good solution, then the conversation flows smoothly.”
This article was first published on SmartCompany.
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Dinushi Dias is a freelance journalist and a former StartupSmart reporter and multimedia content producer. She is the co-founder of Melbourne-based production house Dinushi & Power.
