VConnect

VConnect
Type of business Private company
Available in English
Founded 2010
Headquarters Marina, Lagos, Nigeria
Area served Nigeria
Industry Local search and discovery. Business ratings, reviews and marketplace.
Website vconnect.com
Alexa rank Increase 9,668 (February 2016)[1]
Launched 8 March 2011 (2011-03-08)

VConnect (VConnect Global Services Ltd) is a Lagos-based discovery and engagement platform.[2] The platform helps local business access their markets and also helps customers find local businesses online.

VConnect.com was founded by core members of Tolaram Group in 2010. Deepankar Rustagi performs in the capacity of General Manager of the company. VConnect's vision is to be "the leading business discovery and engagement platform in Africa".[3]

History

In 2010, after his inability to find Nigerian local businesses online, Deepankar began to assemble a team that would help collect local SMEs information that can be accessed via a Google-esque local search engine.[4]

He along with his co-founder, Anand Chander Mohan launched VConnect.com on 8 March 2011.[5] VConnect is a part of Tolaram Group, which is headquartered in Singapore. When the company started out, it spent $1 million[6] on business data gathering, and optimization.

In 2011, VConnect introduced SMSConnect. With the functionality, users were able to send a fixed number of free SMSes per day on any local GSM network.[7]

By 2013, VConnect listed 700,000 local businesses and in the same year, Forbes recognized VConnect as one of the "Hottest Tech Startups in Africa".[8] At the end of 2015, VConnect had 1.2 million businesses listed with a large percentage of its search queries coming from Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Abuja. It's why the three present businesses on its homepage are Abuja, Port Harcourt and Abuja.[9]

Offices

VConnect presently employs 55 people in its Nigerian office and 30 in its Indian office. Its Lagos office oversees the company's business development operations while the Indian office houses the company's backend software development and digital marketing teams.[10]

Brand evolution

In April 2015, VConnect began to rethink its brand outlook. By the end of Q1 2015, VConnect had changed its logo and tagline. The logo changed from a stylized VConnect in green colors to with a curved arrow cutting across it, into a simpler stylized VConnect in sans serif rendered in orange color.[11]

According to the company's official blog, the goal of rebranding was so that the company will be seen "as being open, nimble and forward thinking.[12]"

The company's tagline also changed from "information whenever, wherever" to "find, buy, sell".

Marketplace

By Q2 2015, VConnect had gone a step further in its new brand outlook. The company introduced a marketplace as an extension of its initial business directory. The upgrade allowed businesses listed on the platform to also sell their products directly to users. The platform became what Deepankar, the General Manager of the company referred to as a "managed marketplace.[13]

The VConnect website changed from its Google-esque one with the lone search bar, into a grid or products on sale. According to TechCabal, a local tech news and analysis website, the company was the largest marketplace in Nigeria with more than 1.2 million merchants listed.[14]

Social discovery and engagement platform

In Q2 2016, the company began to revisit its business strategy and redesigned its website again.[15] The new website launched on July 27, 2016. This time, the search bar returned in the middle of the homepage alongside new components (lists, ratings, and reviews) that the company planned to use to generate genuine interactions between users and businesses.

The company's thesis was that as users needs have evolved, there's value to be gleaned by helping people make transactional decisions based on complete information (reviews, ratings, and lists) available on the main site.

The company retained its marketplace but toned it down by giving it less real estate on its homepage.[16]

Business lists

One of the new components that came with the 2016 redesign was "business lists" which is a curation tool that VConnect introduced to help users keep track of businesses that fulfill a certain kind of a need for them.[17]

Reviews and ratings

As part of the redesign, the company made it easier for people to review businesses by suggesting businesses they could review based on their interactions on the website. The company also changed how reviews appeared on the website. Whereas the company's QA team used to vet every review, in the new design, the company left reviews to appear immediately on the website while the community regulates itself.

Activity feed

VConnect also introduced an activity feed which is a real-time stream of activities being carried out on VConnect. When a user is logged in, they see activities in their network, otherwise, they see general activities on the network.

Mobile applications

VConnect launched mobile applications[18] for Android,Blackberry & iOS platform in 2013. It allows users to find local businesses on the go and uses GPS to track their location to find nearest businesses. Users can locate businesses using maps and navigate there via "Get Direction" feature. One Can find best businesses in town based on users ratings and reviews, mark them as their favorite and get latest feeds. This app allows users to get a quotation from different suppliers using "Get suppliers" feature.

Awards and achievements

References

  1. ↑ "VConnect.com Site Info". Alexa. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  2. ↑ "After Pivoting To E-Commerce Last Year, VConnect Has Brought Back Business Listings". TechCabal.com. Retrieved 2016-07-27.
  3. ↑ "About". vconnect.com. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  4. ↑ "Little giants: Deepankar Rustagi at TEDxLagos". youtube.com. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  5. ↑ "VConnect launches Nigeria's local search engine". Vanguard Nigeria. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  6. ↑ "We have spent over N157million to optimize data VConnect Co-founder". Sun News Online. 9 April 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  7. ↑ "VConnect offers users free SMS". The Guardian. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "VConnect.com Is One Of Africa's Hottest Tech Startups". Forbes. 2 August 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  9. ↑ "#1 Local Search Engine - Find Businesses, Products, Services in Lagos". VConnect. 2 August 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  10. ↑ "About". vconnect.com. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  11. ↑ "VConnect has a new logo". blog.vconnect.com. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  12. ↑ "VConnect has a new logo". blog.vconnect.com. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  13. ↑ "The CEO Watch - Deepankar Rustagi Vconnect". Vanguard TV. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  14. ↑ "While You Weren't Looking, Vconnect Became The Largest E-commerce Marketplace In Nigeria". TechCabal.com. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  15. ↑ "After Pivoting To E-Commerce Last Year, VConnect Has Brought Back Business Listings". TechCabal.com. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  16. ↑ "VConnect rolls out upgrades for enhanced SME sales and seamless customer experience". BusinessDay Newspaper. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  17. ↑ "#DiscoverWithVConnect: What is a business list?". VConnect Blog. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  18. ↑ "Your phone as shopping mall with Mobile app". Vanguard. 10 May 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  19. ↑ "VConnect wins 'Personalized Information Product' award". The Guardian. 7 December 2011. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  20. ↑ "VConnect emerges Nigeria's Fastest growing web portal". Nigerian Bulletin. 1 September 2011. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  21. ↑ "Nigerian Event Awards". Naijalife. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  22. ↑ "VConnect wins mobile information product recognition at RIMA Awards". HumanIPO. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
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