GLBrain opens free local marketplace to Austrians during coronavirus crisis

• Austrian users who register with GLBrain can use its GLMall marketplace package free of charge for their first three months.
• The package includes a professional online shop with up to 100 listings for products, services, jobs and real estate.
• Region-based search helps people offer and find goods, services and help nearby during the coronavirus crisis.

SALZBURG. People in Austria are looking for local ways to buy and sell, hire and find work, and GLBrain is responding with a free offer.

Anyone in Austria who signs up for the platform can use its GLMall marketplace package at no cost for three months from the day they register.

"With this, GLBrain aims to make an important contribution and help local suppliers and consumers to better cope with this difficult time," said Dr. Wolfgang Pinegger, owner and CEO of the GloBra Group.

Getting started requires no extra steps. Choosing Austria as the country during sign-up switches the free package on automatically.

Users can then open their own professional online shop and publish up to 100 listings, sorted into four categories: products, services, jobs and real estate. Information about the offer appears at the top of each user's profile page once they have registered.

Location is central to how GLMall works. Sellers can say where their offer is available, and buyers can say where they need something, so both sides deal with people close by.

During the coronavirus crisis, this lets users post and find products, services, job vacancies and job applications in the area they choose.

A dedicated "Charity & Volunteers" category also lets people offer volunteer help and donations in kind.

"We wanted to create a way for all types of online communities to operate and manage them professionally. GLMall is our software package for locally defined online marketplaces and covers all aspects of daily life, such as products, services, jobs, and real estate," said Dr. Wolfgang Pinegger, owner and CEO of the GloBra Group.

Because GLMall sits inside the wider GLBrain platform, sellers get more than a shop. They can also message customers, advertise, produce content, build a professional profile and push their content out to other social networks with little effort.

Language is less of a barrier than on many platforms. Each user can choose a language and see every post in it, as well as write in it. GLBrain covers more than 100 languages worldwide. Pinegger says this also matters in Austria, where the company wants to reach residents who don't speak German.

The GloBra Group, which runs its Austrian business through GloBra GmbH in Salzburg, already operates in several countries.

Its largest market at present is India.

There, the government is spending heavily on rural infrastructure such as internet access, and GLBrain works with large Indian and international partners on tools for rural communities, especially for online marketing.

That work produced the platform's location-based search and its multilingual features.

GLBrain describes itself as a platform for running online communities professionally, with a focus on data security and transparency.

It offers software packages for individuals, businesses and large organisations that need more than ordinary social networks provide.