The latest Rocket Internet venture Sparklist aims to connect buyers and sellers through location based listings and social features.
Sparklist is an online classifieds mobile app. The company is supported by Rocket Internet, the world’s largest Internet platform outside the US and China, which, alongside Zalando, Groupon International and eDarling, has built many successful Internet companies worldwide. Behind Sparklist is Nalla Karuanithy, Founder and Global Managing Director. Khizr Imran Tajammul, winner of the Rwanga Social Startup Competition (at the fifth One Young World Summit in Dublin), is Managing Director, Pakistan.
Rocket Internet said Sparklist revolutionises the online shopping experience for second hand goods. Sparklist connects the most relevant buyers to the most relevant sellers through proximity sensitive listings, eliminating the nuisance of lengthy commute times. Not only does this model enhance social cohesion, it also keeps the wealth of any given community, within the community.
To encourage engagement between buyers and sellers alike, Sparklist offers several social features in its app, including an integrated instant messaging system. Nalla Karunanithy, Global Managing Director of Sparklist, explains, ‘in our mobile app, users can constantly make new connections, find new bargains, and truly harness the immense but hidden socio-economic potential of their own respective communities’.
Karunanithy plans to launch Sparklist in emerging markets across the globe. Nearly two weeks ago, Karunanithy decided to start this journey in Lahore, Pakistan, and he explains why: ‘Only 4.5% of the population in Pakistan uses smartphones, which alone represents a massive market of 9 million users; as the adoption of smart technology rapidly grows, Pakistan’s market will become increasingly more competitive and first movers will have a distinct competitive advantage’.
How it works:
Users can browse through a large assortment of products in their current proximity and find a wide variety of second hand goods. Buyers and sellers can directly communicate, negotiate and engage to conclude a transaction. Showcasing an item is simple, intuitive and secure: snap a photograph of the product you wish to sell; add a description; set a price; and bargain until you find that price. Users are verified through social media integration.
