Montreal-based Transcontinental Media announced quietly last week the launch of weblocal.ca - an online search site for finding and reviewing local businesses, products or services in communities across Canada. Weblocal.ca is driven by content shared by users such as recommendations, ratings and reviews, as well as pictures and videos.
Sounds a lot like ZipLocal - "Canada's new online search directory that provides a rich, user-defined local search experience. ZipLocal provides relevant search results from over 1.3 million businesses with maps and capability for users to review, rate and tag business listings."
The Canadian local online directory space is certainly getting crowded. Don't forget that Yelp is now North of the border and BrownBook.net has crossed the Atlantic.
In the case of weblocal.ca vs. ZipLocal, we're looking at David versus Goliath. ZipLocal was formed in August 2006 from the merger of redCity Search Company and Zip411.net and is currently trading publically on the TSX. As of today's close, shares are at 1 cent with a total market capitalization of just over $750,000.
Transcontinental Inc. is a Billion dollar company.
I'm cheering for scrappy upstart but with Transcontinental’s established local sales force of over 400 reps and an online portfolio of over 125 websites - it's not going to be easy.
ZipLocal is the difference between getting advice from the phone book vs. your trusted friends and neighbours. ZipLocal makes it easy to find what... [more]
weblocal.ca is a local search company offering research and information about businesses in Canada. Information has been collected from throughout... [more]
Rob Lewis
Rob is the President of Techvibes Media Inc. and Editor-in-Chief of Techvibes.com.
His diverse background includes stints in International Trade Finance, Web Development, and Enterprise Software and he is a graduate of the University of British Columbia, British Columbia Institute of Technology, and Simon Fraser University.
When not blogging on...[more]
