Flamp.ru, a consumer review website that appeared one year ago in the Siberian cities Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk, followed by a launch in Ekaterinburg in the Urals, announced last week it now covers the Russian capital.
Not only do Flamp.ru users review local businesses like cafés, museums and theaters, they can also post comments about banks, charities, and government bodies.
But customer review services face challenges from both the user and the merchant sides. “Russian consumers are more accustomed to complaining than to praising a business. Businesses, on their side, do not always understand how to react to positive or negative feedback,” Flamp.ru’s Development Director Evgeny Vasilkov said in an exchange with East-West Digital News.
The site claims to have 500,000 visitors per month and 20,000 registered users. It generates revenues from banner advertising and inclusion of paid profiles with detailed corporate information on the site’s pages. “But reviews are neither bought nor sold,” Vasilkov explained.
Flamp.ru is an extension of 2GIS, an online city directory that covers over 150 Russian and Ukrainian cities. “While observing our western model, Yelp.com, we understood that a Russian customer review website had such potential that it should be developed separately,” Vasilkov said.
To date, 2GIS has remained owner and sole investor in the project. But Vasilkov does not rule out attracting external financing “if investors show interest.”
Among Flamp.ru’s competitors is Tulp.ru, an Omsk-based startup created in 2009. Starting as a blog about local events. In 2010, the site was revamped following loosely along the lines of Yelp.com and it also began to extend its geographic coverage.
Russia’s leading consumer review website is Imhonet.ru, established 2006, which now counts over 800,000 registered users. The site does not offer reviews of local businesses, however. Instead, it provides reviews with a strong coverage of books, films, and tourist destinations, as well as some categories of consumer goods. Using sophisticated algorithms, it provides its users with personalized recommendations based on their behavioral data and their stated preferences.
