Show Me What Is Nearby

ShowNearby had an almost fatal 2008, having almost gone bankrupt. But since then and a public appeal for investors and partners, they’ve turned around to surviving a couple of months to today and having just launched Version 3 of their search engine.

ShowNearby concentrates on aggregating Points of Interest (POI) in Singapore, effectively trying to be the database whereby anyone can find anything (s)he wants. They include useful data from everyday tools like ATM machines, petrol stations, convenience stores and bus-stops to spas, locksmiths and florists.

While the home page is very clean with only a search bar that prompts you to enter an address for you to see the amenities nearby, ShowNearby has also segmented the rest of the site into Maps, Places, People, Events, Promotions and Websites.

It is interesting that they have these segments, effectively trying to be a one-stop shop for those who want to find driving directions, find events or restaurant or spa promotions or new friends! And one-stop shops for consumers usually go two ways: they succeed tremendously or they tank spectacularly. Aggregators sometimes try to do too much and end up not doing anything at all, not building a great enough niche in any segment to attract consumers; or they do such a great job that they become the go-to site.

Their “Websites” segment is also interesting because it allows you to submit your own website for display and to subject it to be voted upon by fellow users. It doesn’t seem to be fully live yet as there are repeat websites listed on front page and with links that go nowhere. Of course, to vote, you need to sign up and have a profile, which in turn puts you in their “People” database as well.

The business model for ShowNearby? Selling data of course. That would be the primary value they can provide other businesses. The consumer aspect of it is for now, I suspect, secondary. Selling ads and placement priority in search would be a much harder business to be in, but nevertheless can be extremely lucrative if they manage to build their traffic to a respectable level.