Dmitry Pakhomkin is Co-Founder and CEO of Goodzer, a location-based, shopping search engine.
AdExchanger.com: Where did the idea come from for Goodzer? Is it in market today?
DP: The idea came from me and my wife’s personal frustration about local shopping and what could help us find things faster and closer to us. At the same time, the same idea came to my business partner Artem on the other side of the planet. Last Tuesday, we launched Goodzer.com starting with the New York City area.
What problem is Goodzer solving?
Goodzer is improving consumers’ discovery and decisioning process, making it easier for them to get what they want, at the best price, in real-time and, importantly, closest to them.
Wait.. product search for mobile? Aren’t you concerned that Google will run you over?
Our technology has been in development for 2 years, and search has so many aspects to it that – even for Google – this particular part of it is an extremely hard nut to crack. Plus, please remind me when was the last time Google actually developed something cool by itself and not by acquiring another company?
From your standpoint, why is product search so valuable? And, what is a common misconception, if any, by clients?
It saves time and money. Offline shopping is still more than 90% of all retail transactions in the U.S.
A common misconception is that small local shops will be left alone there to die in the Internet age.
How will Goodzer make money from this model?
Our user is THE most targeted user for the advertisers. This is a person, who is willing to spend money at a particular moment, at a particular location and we even know what the buying intention is. It is as targeted as it can get. Perfect platform for the local small businesses access there targeted audience. Location based advertising, affiliate programs with the stores (offline and online), partnerships with location-based service offerings, content providers, and of course we want to be in each and every barcode scanning app out there.
Have you raised capital? Any hiring plans?
We raised an angel round in the end of the summer to build our first beta version of the service. All the things in the company are done by just 2 people, so yes, we plan to hire after the launch and next round of investment.
How long has Goodzer been in the making? What sorts of goals would you like to accomplish a year from now?
Our technology has been in development for 2 years and the company itself was founded in April 2010. A year from now we plan to have all US and Canada covered and most probably 10-15 European countries.
What can Goodzer do to help advertisers and publishers produce better performing creative?
And again – Goodzer will have the most targeted audience. We totally expect that marketing campaigns are going to be implemented through Goodzer may be much, much more effective than the “usual” ones .
Would it make sense someday for cookie-based and/or audience targeting methods to be merged with Goodzer technology for marketer campaigns?
It may. We still have to look at the details.
Follow Goodzer (@goodzer) and AdExchanger.com (@adexchanger) on Twitter.
