Yell has acquired Trusted Places, the private equity-backed company behind the UK local reviews website trustedplaces.com.
The purchase means that Yell will, for the first time, enable consumers to recommend a local business through its Yell.com website.
The combination of Yell’s database of over two million businesses with TrustedPlaces’ expertise in generating recommendations from local consumers represents a major shake-up of the fast-growing local reviews market.
It aims to generate additional leads and provide a richer online interaction with existing and potential new consumers.
Mark Canon (pictured), president of new media at Yell in the UK, says: “This represents a significant growth opportunity. We all know that recommendations help local businesses to attract new consumers, so Yell.com and TrustedPlaces are a perfect fit.”
Initially, TrustedPlaces reviews will be added to Yell’s business listings, leading to full integration under the Yell.com domain.
The company also expects that the techniques and technologies that have made TrustedPlaces successful in the UK will be shared with other Yell Group operating companies in the US, Spain and Latin America.
Under the deal, Sokratis Papafloratos, chief executive and co-founder of TrustedPlaces, is joining Yell as head of social products in the UK.
He says: “The internet gives customers more influence in the reputation of a local business than ever before. This exciting partnership gives businesses the opportunity to harness the power of recommendations like never before.”
TrustedPlaces was launched in late 2006. The private equity backed start-up now attracts around 700,000 unique users a month looking for recommendations on local businesses across a range of key categories. These cover restaurants, bars and pubs, hotels and travel, beauty and spas, shopping and home maintenance and repairs, which includes services such as plumbers.