A new app designed to allow consumers to identify traders at a time that suits them has been launched.

Me:Now is the brainchild of two former IT specialists at an investment bank, Barry Thompson from Whitstable and Stuart Buckland from Great Chart, near Ashford, who, after years of research, are now rolling their scheme out nationwide after a successful trial in the Canterbury district and parts of Sevenoaks.

The idea is for traders to be able to advertise availability on certain days and times which will then, hopefully, be matched by a potential customer.

For example, want a plumber between 2-3pm on Friday afternoon? Put the details in the search and you’ll get only those traders free at the time you want.

Five listings a month - individual time windows - cost a business nothing, but £35 plus VAT gets them 30. The cost is a flat rate and whoever puts their availability up first on the app gets listed first.

“The app is built to be flexible for the business,” explains Mr Thompson, who quit his job in June to focus fully on Me:Now. “If I’m a plumber and working in Canterbury today and I’m going to be free this afternoon, I can advertise that. That cuts down on their travelling time.

“Likewise, if it’s a hairdressers and they have two different stylists available at different times, they can highlight that.

“So from an end user point of view, it delivers generically - so if you need a plumber it will list them on that day in their area. It won’t list all of them - just those available.

“Better, it allows users to follow a specific business and get a notification when that business is available.

“So when you need a haircut, when you’re thinking of getting one, you can turn on the notifications for your hairdresser of choice and you’ll get an alert when your stylist is available.”

With hundreds of other industries represented - from dog walkers to dentists - no firm is vetted and users are urged to “do their normal due diligence”.

And the future looks encouraging. Talks are taking place with major councils, with a view to the app being adopted by their local businesses, while internationally there’s interest too.

A US launch is imminent and with the system effectively managed by the users, it can easily be rolled out in different countries and in different languages.

Adds Mr Thompson: “It’s all based on how best small business can market itself. And the big thing to standing out is by telling people you’re available.

“We want to restart the conversation. Online booking is fantastic for many people, but if you want a plumber and one’s available he will want to know what you want him to know.

“So you need a conversation with them. We make that easy.

“It’s a complete reversal of push advertising - with this every user pulls the advert to them.”