New Yelp Platform Allows Direct Ordering

Yelp is now allowing users to purchase food and services local businesses directly through Yelp Platform, according to MediaPost.com.

Currently, the businesses that are on board are limited to just a few in San Francisco and New York, but more are on their way. CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said in a blog post that people can currently only order food from those supported by Delivery.com and Eat24. Yelp is starting with transactions for pickup and delivery just for restaurants, but plans to move it outside of just the realm of food into categories like spas, dentists, and yoga studios.

According to the source, the new platform "allows third-party developers to integrate transaction services directly into Yelp via the company's APIs," or application programming interface. These APIs dictate how components of software communicate with each other, and Yelp's allows ordering, scheduling, payment, and the ability to carryout customer support much more easily.

The service is available both on computers and mobile phone apps, and the iOS version was updated earlier this week.