Amazon expands Home Services business amidst Angie's List layoffs

[Shawn Knight]

Amazon on Monday morning announced the expansion of Amazon Home Services, the service that lets shoppers hire local professionals to help out with all sorts of around-the-house tasks.

Amazon in late 2014 quietly launched a service that would let shoppers hire installation professionals when purchasing applicable products (hire someone to mount that new TV on the wall, for example). The company rebranded the service in 2015 and expanded its reach to include handyman-type jobs in a bid to compete with similar offerings from Angie’s List, HomeAdvisor, Handy, Thumbtack, Facebook Professional Services and others.

Today's expansion brings Amazon Home Services coverage to these additional 20 metro areas: Santa Rosa, CA; Ventura County, CA; Boulder, CO; Greater Bridgeport, CT; New Haven, CT; Brevard County, FL; Cape Coral, FL; Sarasota, FL; Indianapolis, IN; Ann Arbor, MI; Raleigh, NC; Trenton, NJ; Las Vegas, NV; Cleveland, OH; Allentown, PA; Lehigh Valley, PA; San Antonio, TX; Milwaukee, WI; Richmond, VA and Hampton Roads VA/NC.

Angie’s List is considered to be the market leader in the local professional-for-hire industry but as TechCrunch highlights, the company has found itself in choppy waters as of late. After turning down a $512 million acquisition offer from IAC subsidy HomeAdvisor last year, Angie’s List is now laying off employees and considering alternative strategies.

The e-commerce giant hasn’t poured a lot of marketing dollars into its Home Services division, instead electing to more or less let it grow organically – a strategy that appears to be paying dividends.

Since the rebrand last year, Amazon says the number of service providers it has attracted has increased more than 1,500 percent. Nish Lathia, General Manager of Amazon Home Services, says customers can now search over 1,200 unique services from qualified handymen in more than 60 professions.

Image courtesy Angie's List

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https://www.techspot.com/news/67035-amazon-expands-home-services-business-amidst-angie-list.html

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Sounds like bob-a-job to me so there isn't much sense in pouring millions into marketing it. Probably about 90% of those jobs can easily be accomplished anyone with a bit of DIY aptitude and a few basic tools. I love people who can't do, or are too lazy those basic types of things, I make a pretty penny from them.

 

[Uncle Al]

My home was previously owned by a guy with a dump truck & backhoe. Shortly after moving in I got an "invitation" to pay to have my business on Angie's list, contrary to their claims, their "checked out" simply means they got a check and you got a listing. Any of these referral services lacks the kind of scrutiny I would expect to have one of their so called "experts" in my home .... frankly, personal referrals from friends and neighbors are a lot more accurate and dependable!