Looking for last-minute concert tickets, an old sofa and someone to walk your dog? Well, welcome to Zaarly. You might have heard of Zaarly, if only because some of its key investors include tag team Ashton Kutcher & Demi Moore, along with a few of the gentleman behind Groupon. But, as noted with apps like Color, all the backing in the world won’t work if no one actually likes your app.
I don’t think Zaarly will have that problem, but what it might eventually suffer from, once more users begin playing with it, is a lack of a cohesive message. Zaarly essentially functions like an app version of Craig’s List without the adult services section. You post a short ad for something you want and what you’re willing to offer for the good/service, and then in a perfect world someone responds and everyone goes home happy.
But Craig’s List works because there are numerous categories that the offers are filtered into. If I want to rent a room, I don’t have to read ads looking for U2 tickets. And if I want U2 tickets, I don’t have to read ads about dog walkers.
Zaarly’s only separates its ads by geography. Right now that’s not a problem. In the Chicago area there are roughly a dozen ads currently on display, ranging from ticket requests to turntable requests. Reading them all isn’t a hassle, but if more mobile users start picking this app up, the marketplace is going to look like a train wreck.
Zaarly is also rather oddly a one-way street for posting. You can request anything you want, but you’re not able to post things you’d potentially like to sell. Buying and selling seem to go hand in hand, so it’s rather odd that you can only do one and not the other with Zaarly.
Lack of organization and missing features aside, Zaarly is easy to use, and the interface works well for what the app does. Responding to an ad can be completed quickly and simply, and the main screen’s “My Activity” page is a great way to keep up on the ads you’ve posted and responded to.
Zaarly isn’t off to a flawless start by any means, but at the very least it has potential as an easy-to-use app alternative to Craig’s List. Its lack of features gives away its youth, but check back after a few updates and Zaarly might offer a local marketplace to be reckoned with.
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