How Google, Amazon, and others are battling it out to control our marketplace
There is a battle taking place that will have huge effects on the future of home services industry and the future of cleaning. This battle is taking place on two seemingly unrelated fronts, but the trends are coming together in a way that will reshape how services are delivered to the home owner.
The first front of this battle that many of us have already noticed is the home services marketplaces. Companies like Google, Apple, and Amazon have become massively successful by owning the marketplaces where transactions happen. Google and Apple control marketplaces for data. If you own an Apple or an Android device, these two companies get a part of nearly every app you download or purchase you make on their devices. Amazon dominates the physical marketplaces—not only through the Amazon website but also through Amazon’s fulfillment and web hosting services for other retailers. There is now more than a 50% chance that with every purchase you make online, Amazon in some way gets a piece of it. Now with Amazon Prime, the company is moving into movies and data as well. Owning the marketplace is like owning a cash machine. Now Silicon Valley and the big tech companies want to own yet another cash machine. All of them have caught on that the next big marketplace is home services. This market includes every plumber, cleaning, electrician, painter, and more that takes place in the home.
Next week in part 2 of this series, I’ll examine how the two of these tech heavyweights are approaching the home services marketplace and the future of cleaning.
Derek Christian is a partner in Castle Keepers, one of the largest and fastest growing independent house cleaning companies in America. Derek is Co-publisher and Director of Business Development & Sales for Cleaning Business Today, and a partner in Cleaning Business Builders. He founded My Maid Service in Cincinnati, OH and spent twelve years at P&G working on household cleaning products.
