An 11% jump in revenue from pro remodelers and other service providers enabled Angie's List to post today an $82,000 net profit for the third quarter--its first net profit ever for the July-to-September time period. Revenues climbed $5.6 million, or 7%, from the year-earlier period to just under $87 million largely because of a $6.8 million rise in collections from service providers.
Revenue from consumers dropped 6% to $17.2 million. Membership revenue per paid member fell 14% due to tiered pricing that has cut average membership fees, while the number of gross memberships added sank 9% from the year before. This may stem in part from a $3 million decline in selling expense to $29 million, which Indianapolis-based Angie's List attributed to "lower headcount and increased efficiency."
All told, Angie's List had contracts with 270,904 service providers as of Sept. 30; that's 14.6% more than the year before. Meanwhile, its total paid memberships from consumers rose 8.9% to 3,248,239.
Operating expenses barely changed at $86.2 million. Marketing expenses rose just $900,000 to $23.5 million.
Also today, Angie's List introduced the "Angie's Fair Price Guarantee" and "Angie's Service Quality Guarantee." The former declares that a price on the Angie's List marketplace is within the 75th percentile of prices available in the member's local area for similar services.
The Service Quality Guarantee "promises that if a member purchases services through Angie's List's ecommerce marketplace and is not satisfied with the quality delivered by the provider, Angie's List will help make it right or refund up to the purchase price of the ecommerce offer, up to $100,000." It's available only to Plus and Premium members.
