مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

There are three kinds of intermediation platforms—matching platforms, transaction platforms, and info-mediation platforms. Matching platforms are those where customers/ users look for one-to-one matches. Typically these are matrimonial websites such as Bharatmatrimony.com. Generally, in order to create an account, users are asked to fill out a questionnaire (Srinivasan & Rao, 2015a). Based on the information given by an individual, the platform provides them with a list of users on the other side with similar interests and sensibilities. The kind of transactions that happen here are one–one and the intent of both sides is for it to be the only transaction they make on this platform, since they hope to find someone and remain married to them for life. Once the transaction is done, the two parties would not engage with the platform any more. A matching platform does not want recurring customers as that would mean that they have not been matched properly the first time. If a customer is unable to find a match and remains on the platform for too long, he/she is considered a bad quality customer by Bharatmatrimony.com, as he/she would be responsible for diluting the quality of the entire platform. It is extremely important for a matching platform to conduct thorough verifi- cation on the information provided by the users.

A transaction platform facilitates transactions between two sides of the platform, e.g., the buyers and the sellers. It connects the provider of a product/service to the consumer of said product/service. A good example of a transaction platform is Practo.com, where patients can find doctors relevant to all kinds of health disorders and book appointments with them on the platform (Srinivasan, 2015). A transaction platform needs to have acquired a database of one side of customers such as sellers, or clinics/doctors in the case of Practo, which should be valued by the other side.

An info-mediation platform such as Justdial gathers a database of information about one side of customers and provides it to the other side (Srinivasan & Rao, 2015b). Justdial started getting small and medium business(es) (SMBs) onto the platform by listing them free of charge on their site with the promise of augmenting their customer bases, thereby acquiring a database of information up to the street level about these sellers. The kinds of transactions that happen on an infomediation platform are many. Unlike on a matching platform, both sides of the platform keep coming back to Justdial for more business. A customer who stays on the platform for long is considered a high quality customer in an info-mediation platform.