Yelp and ReachLocal partner for direct booking

Now home service providers can integrate Yelp Platform's direct booking into their Yelp profiles

Last month, Yelp unveiled its latest effort to connect with businesses: Yelp Platform. Now, businesses on Yelp will be able to transact with customers directly through Yelp—which is pretty handy, since not having to leave the site to book means customers are less likely to forget or change their minds.

Right now, Yelp Platform is only available to food delivery and pickup businesses, but the Platform will roll out to additional categories over the coming months, such as yoga studios and spas, salons, dentists, and more. Now, Yelp is partnering with ReachLocal to expand the Yelp Platform offerings to home service providers.

Beginning in Q4 of this year, local businesses in the home services category will have the ability to integrate booking functionality into their Yelp profiles. That means everyone from movers and repairmen to interior designers, cleaners, contractors, and more.

The partnership is specifically between Yelp Platform and ReachLocal’s recently announced online booking and buying system, ReachCommerce. ReachCommerce is a SaaS management platform that automates businesses’ entire customer experience, as well as back-office operations and marketing activities. SMBs can use ReachCommerce for everything from online booking—including appointment setting, scheduling, and notification) to buying (estimated, invoicing), and more.

"The home services market will invariably undergo the kind of offline to online transformation the restaurant and travel industries have already experienced. Leveraging the power of Yelp Platform is one of the many ways ReachCommerce can help local service providers ensure they prosper in an era of digital transformation,” said ReachLocal CEO Zorik Gordon, in a statement.

a recent study by Nielsen found that when customers find a local business on Yelp, 89% make a purchase within a week. Earlier this month, the company launched Yelp Platform to allow customers to transact with businesses directly on Yelp. It also launched the Call to Action feature that allows advertisers to promote a desired transaction directly on their Yelp business listing.

Yelp revealed last week that it saw a net loss of $0.01 per share on revenue of $55 million in the second quarter of 2013. That’s compared to a loss of $0.03 per share on revenue of $32.7 million in Q2 2012. And that’s a significant leap over analysts’ expectations of $53.3 million and a loss of $0.04 per share.

In the first six months of 2013, Yelp generated $101.2 million in revenue, an increase of 68% from the same period last year when it generated $60 million.

Adjusted EBITDA for Q2 2013 was $7.8 million, compared to $1.6 million in Q2 2012.  

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