On Classifieds (Part II): Mobile Examples

Resumen del artículo: tras mi anterior artículo sobre las estrategias de las diferentes categorías de jugadores de clasificados, este post se concentra en las innovaciones que los móviles están permitiendo.

In my previous post I wrote about some of the larger players using different strategies, Craigslist, eBay and Oodle. All of them will have to leverage their R&D capabilities to assure healthy growth against the myriad of competitors aiming at this lucrative market. In all cases players will have to adopt and adapt the new technologies to better serve their clients and audiences. In the case of Craigslist it may have to raise, at least partially, its revenue in order to experiment and adopt some of the technology already being used by most competitors without necessarily having to abandon its “helping people help” philosophy that pleases much of its audience. EBay, which has promised large investments in classifieds, will transfer to them all the tools and experience it has acquired in its core business along the years such as refined searching and filtering. Implementing technological improvements will be a challenge to all of them, Oodle included.

As mobiles are increasingly able to replace the PC classifieds will have to exploit all possibilities to the max, even more so in lesser developed countries where computers may not always be a choice. As the web becomes mobile and the platform for social content classifieds will have to follow their (younger) audiences. Telcos eventually will be forced to facilitate this transition with offers better adapted to the present. The first step is to offer online classifieds to people wherever and whenever they may need them, through mobile access. Out shopping for a car and want to make sure you’re getting the best deal? Check on the classifieds available on your mobile and see if there is a better option out there. Have to be out and on the run while looking for work? No problem when you can have notices sent directly to your mobile as they are posted. One of the players offering this service now is sulekha.com operating out of India, where there are some 50 million using their mobiles to log onto the web. Their classifieds on mobile offer users instant, inexpensive access 24/7.

Another company that seems to have it all worked out is Gumiyo. Their mobile online marketplace connects live buyers and sellers effectively and efficiently. Capture an image or video with your mobile, attach it to a text message and send it to the main source for listing. Buyers who are browsing from their mobiles can get alerts or e-mails when new items pop up and through a direct sms connection, an e-mail, or mobile to mobile connection the two are in touch. Iqzone is another company which has achieved this level of service and they encourage users to spread the word and share deals they find on their virtual garage sale with anyone in their network of friends such as Facebook.

Just last August a radio station in the UK adopted something similar where listeners were invited to text a message with a picture of their items for sale to an mms short code. That info then gets listed on oodle.co.uk -a process they say takes just 60 seconds - and then you and your potential buyer can connect, again via mobiles. Listen to the radio ad here.
Clickindia.com, one of the leading classifieds sites, launched its service a few months ago wap.clickindia.com available to all WAP capable and GPRS enabled phones. They say they offer users the same quality of info as is available from home computers and that the efficient and speedy downloading gets local information to users “in a flash” – clearly something today’s society requires.

Back to the newspaper game…the Chicago Tribune launched a mobile job classified service recently designed to send job listings to mobile devices. They believe offering this service will help bridge the gap between print and mobile media – giving people instant access to the information without needing to get home to a computer.

Online classifieds are quickly becoming the method of choice for people buying and selling and players and companies with different strategies have been gaining access to this new and large online market. The acceleration of investments taking place in the internet and in the mobile industry promises an interesting game where some newcomers will produce a flow of innovation…in many cases to the benefit of deep pocketed players eager to acquire them. Remember, thus has been the history of classifieds, even from the offline times.

Comments

[fitt]

are these sites running only with classifieds service

[preeti]

great article, thanks :)

[Mike Sparr]

Great post; agree on need for continual R&D. Check out www.Goomzee.com as well. Many more innovations in the pipeline and out of Missoula, Montana! ;-)