Written by Jay Fortner and edited by Richard MacManus
We’ve all been there. You’re in a rush, you need to find a parking spot –
and there’s nothing available! Well, how about finding a parking spot on your mobile
phone; or maybe even reserving a spot from home via your browser? This kind of Web-based
car parking solution is in its infancy, but we think this solution is going to change the
way people park their cars – especially when in a rush!
So far, the early leaders in this space are the UK based Findacarpark.com, parkatmyhouse.com, peasy.com, the highly touted spotscout.com, and the Chicago-based ParkWhiz.com (although ParkWhiz has yet to fully
launch their service).
Can these services disrupt the parking industry?
As a resident of a downtown metropolis, agonizing over parking spots is a re-occurring
theme. I would find tremendous value in being able to secure and reserve parking, rather
than driving around the block hoping for an open spot to appear. Additionally, I see
great value in aggregating the costs of parking from various lots in similar areas,
providing more transparency in the industry – especially if someone is relatively new to
a city. Why park at one lot if you knew you could save a couple of bucks parking across
the street? This could force parking lot owners to compete more smartly over parkers,
providing lower prices to consumers.
Another potential marketplace is that property owners could cash in and provide an
easy online shop to rent their space for parking. This would be extremely lucrative to
those who lived near stadiums and highly traffiked landmarks.
So yes, online or mobile parking solutions could be very disruptive to the existing
parking industry.
Monetization
These services aim to take a small percentage of the parking marketplace and/or
provide targeted advertising through the mobile phone and web browser. Also I think that
layering in sponsored events and activities with searches, could be very powerful – if
they can better target me by my previous search history. In addition, I expect these
online parking services to be mashed in to e-vite services and event 2.0 sites, as an
added-value tool – like we commonly see with Google Maps. For example I’d love to
get a classified listing on Craigslist, and click a link to see a Google Map and nearby
parking in that area.
SpotScout process
Potential pitfalls
Enforcement: As with any service that allows user-generated content, it is
easily prone to gaming and fraud. I suspect that the feedback and comments features that
have made eBay so successful, is also necessary on online parking sites – to maintain the
integrity of transactions. Those with long histories of ethical transactions should get
promoted to the top of search results for a given area, and power users need to be
supported so that they continue to frequently offer parking inventory.
Use of mobile phone: If I’m in a rush, do I have time to type in
coordinates on my mobile phone? Would it be too distracting to try and find the address
to a parking spot and drive at the same time? Long-term to get around this pitfall, we
may need these services to be integrated into the navigation systems in cars.
Where is the true value?
Does the value lie in the market, or the aggregation of information? I’ve been
tossing back and forth for a while on this question. I think the true value that will
make this service viral is empowering every home in a high traffic area to have the
potential to make money. By matching up parking spots with consumers and making it easier
for them to make reservations in areas where it seems impossible to find a spot, this is
where the hidden value lies in this market. What do you think?
Can GYM enter this space?
If GYM (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft) doesn’t enter this space by developing their
own solutions, then they will probably enter through acquisition. So in the US at least,
ParkWhiz and Spotscout have to move fast – because my local search would be enhanced
significantly if I knew where to park too!