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You’ve probably heard of the world’s
most popular classified site, Craigslist and UK’s Gumtree. Both sites offer
buyers and sellers an opportunity to engage in a free and open market.
With the success of these sites in
their respective countries and beyond, Nigerian entrepreneurs are keying into
the online classified market. Today there are probably more than 50
classified sites in Nigeria offering the same service, but with different
business models and technical functionality.
Some of the local classified sites
include Nairalist.com, Dealfish, Txtoweb.com, Chukslist.com, Gbogbo.com and WhoGoBuy.
Other online shopping sites are Kalahari, Flegz, Buyright, YesideFashionStore.com and Shopaholic. On the other hand, some other Nigerian sites offer online classified ad
listings in addition to their other products and services. Just like other
classified ads sites, they all have one thing in common: offer buyers and
sellers an opportunity to engage in a free and open market.
Some of these classified ads sites
were launched due to the success of the leading classified sites such as
Craigslist, Gumtree and Kijiji. Their success can be measured in terms of the
great value they provide to local businesses and individuals who wish to buy
and/or sell their items online from cars to phones.
In terms of revenue, we can say that
the online classified market has seen tremendous success. In 2007, reports
estimated Craigslist’s revenue at $150 million, with its sole source of
revenue from paid job ads in selected cities.
On the other hand, Craigslist has
witnessed a great deal of criticism, notable among which is an appeal in August
2007 by Atlanta’s Mayor, Shirley Franklin to take steps to avoid unwittingly
enabling child prostitution through its classified ads.
There have also been allegations by
several US states that the “Erotic services” ads on Craigslist were being used
for prostitution. On May 13, 2009, Craigslist announced that it will close the
‘Erotic services’ section, replacing it with an ‘adult services’ section where
the postings will be reviewed by Craigslist employees, while postings to the
new category cost $10 and can be renewed for $5.
In Nigeria, classified ads sites
have their own stories to tell. Some have packed up shop because of a lack of
the right business/marketing strategy and/or sustainable business models. Other
reasons have been due to a breach of trust from buyers and sellers as well as
third-party clients.
Others have had issues with using
the right programming languages and the right functionality, spam-resistance
and security features needed to sustain such sites. For example, WhoGoBuy
(launched in late 2005) built their site using ASP initially, then
migrated to ASP.net about a year later, and then moved over to PHP a few months
after.
In March 2010, the founder of Nairalist.com,
Seun Osewa asked some very interesting questions: Should Nairalist have
been packaged as a software product and not a new website? How many
Craigslist(s) can Nigeria (or the world) accommodate?
The Google Buzz topic generated a
lot of reactions which provided suggestions on how Nairalist can be improved.
One of the best suggestions was that Nairalist should be turned into a Facebook
application that allows people to put stuffs they want to sell and share it
with their friends and their friends can share it with their own friends too.
Despite these challenges, these
online classified sites still offer this service all for FREE, unlike some
Nigerian newspapers and WASEET, Nigeria’s first weekly classified ads
publication that charge a fee for posting classified ads.
Perhaps one of the biggest
challenges that the online marketplace faces is the issue of trust. According
to Fritz Ekwoge, founder of Kerawa.com, one of the leading
African classifieds site: “The Nigerian classifieds business is a business
of trust. And trust takes years.”
He also stated that when Craig
Newmark started Craigslist in 1995, it took him about five years to open in
another city. Being the first to market, he is benefiting from the fruits of
his labour. Ekwoge believes that the Nigerian classifieds market is growing and
will boom financially too as it has done in other developed countries.
But the question is: How trustworthy
can it get? Are there any trustworthy classified sites out there? Share your
experiences.
