OLX- next generation online classifieds website for India
(This review is based on interactions I had with the founders of OLX, an international online classifieds and auctions website. OLX is launching the Indian edition of its website and is looking to customize it to the Indian context through reviews/ user feedback received from Indian bloggers)
OLX stands for ‘OnLine Exchange‘ and it is positioned as the ‘next generation online classifieds and auctions website‘. The company has offices in NY and Buenos Aires. It wants to be a significant player in the online ecommerce space in the emerging markets of the world (as is apparent from country specific websites that are launching - India, Mexico, South Africa, New Zealand, Hong Kong etc).
OLX has been co-founded by two successful international tech entrepreneurs, Fabrice Grinda & Alec Oxenford. Between them, they have founded successful web businesses like Zingy.com, the largest mobile Media Company in the Americas and DeRemate.com, a leading online auction site in Latin America. Alec also has an Indian connection, as he was an early stage investor in India’s leading ecommerce site, Bazzee.com (he has since exited from that venture).
The Indian online classifieds space is characterized by a bunch of mediocre, look-alike websites, none of which have critical mass and hence there is no default choice. Clearly, some innovation is needed to jazz up this moribund space. So when I became aware of an international website, promoted by successful serial (ecommerce) entrepreneurs, launching a ‘next generation’ classifieds website in India, I decided to check them out.
I was intrigued by the term ‘next generation…’, so that was my first query to Alex. His answer indicated that OLX plans to differentiate itself from its competitors through a slew of innovative features (which have never before been attempted in the classifieds space). Here’s a sampler from that list
- a city, neighborhood and zip code database to cover the entire country
- a distance field showing postings within a certain range of your zip code
- ability to post items in virtual worlds (e.g. SecondLife)(sounds interesting)
- mobile version of the site
- ability to post listings and view the site in any language in any country
OLX’s website allows classified listings for jobs, housing, goods and services, personals, events and community, plus a wide variety of discussion forums. The site is completely free to use. OLX’s eventual business model will be based on revenues generated through (non-intrusive) contextual internet advertising, once the site gains traction and has a dedicated user base.
Having gone through their site (currently in beta), here are a few spontaneous suggestions from my side
- The categorization structure on their current site may need to be better aligned to the Indian context; one of the reasons why the Craigslist website is a non-starter in India is the sheer lack of relevance of their categorization structure to an Indian audience
- It makes sense to do a 80:20 analysis of Indian cities and concentrate only on top 10-15 cities (at least initially) rather than spreading out all across (since top 10 cities contribute to 85% of online traffic)
On the whole, OLX believes that it has the wherewithal to stand out from the rest of the crowd through a combination of a much better product backed up by smart viral marketing, keyword advertising, affiliate management, word of mouth, partnerships with newspapers and portals, effective PR and mobile distribution.
What I liked about OLX is the confidence they have in their product. I am also impressed with the gameplan they have in getting the word out about their product (this review is proof of that). These are novel developments in the Indian consumer internet space and Indian website creators could possibly take a leaf out of their proactive approach.
So my seat belts are fastened in anticipation of OLX’s zoooooooming launch. I wish them a happy landing in the Indian internet space.
21 comments
In my experience, as a user of classified and other sites with relevance to location, I have always wanted to narrow down to things in my local area.
So If OLX can pull off the GeoTagging or Proximity calculation thingy as you mentioned … [city, neighborhood and zip code database] … It would definitely take OLX many notches above the other sites.
Looking forward to their Launch.
And if they make available an API to access the distance calculation data …. we could have many mashup startups too.
Yes,
Ability to narrow down by zip codes is a sure shot differentiator and should do OLX a lot of good. I haven’t heard of any classifieds site having implemented that as yet.
Though US based housingmaps (www.housingmaps.com) does something similar; its a mashup of googlemaps and real estate classifieds and its quite successful.
However this is surely going to be a general trend in the classifieds/ecommerce space into the future.
amit
Hi Amit,
I was jus going thru your posts and found abt OLX. Sometime back we (BharatMatrimony Group) launched http://www.IndiaList.com and we are getting good responses now.. do share your views abt this site.
Hi Amit,
I like your analysis. Very good info on what India needs.
I developed the website http://www.kool.in. I don’t know if you might have noticed. Its still in development!
Well I am adding code when ever I get time. Would be great if you can share some thought on how to make this success.
Idea is not to make money with http://www.kool.in but to provide quality service for Indians. I know that this is not so easy.
I know tech and I can make what ever is required and I think you know what market wants. Hope this appeals you.
Regards, Prashanth.
it’s good!
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having read about olx here I decided to jump on the band wagon and have start yet another classified site http://www.kashcart.com please do check it out and let me know what you think.
Hi Amit,
I had profiled a list of startups in India when we were conducting Barcamp Bangalore 2.0.
Chk out more on the same at : http://numsum.com/spreadsheet/show/35631
Classifieds Crossing only focuses on a geographical level, later it’ll expand into india in the near future see
http://www.classifieds.sohoindex.com/index.php
There is also apanastan.com which vovers all the 9 metro areas and will later expand.
Despite countless emails reporting the fraudulent ads on the OLX sites worldwide in the animal and art collectables these criminals are still advertising their non existant goods, in particular bulldogs,pugs,maltese terriers,yorkshire terrier,chihuahuas,exotic birds,monkeys, you name it, they try and defraud the poor unsuspecting public.It’s about time OLX got their act together, go through the ads with a fine tooth comb, delete them, ban them and report them to the relevant authorities. Until they do this, they have lost all of their credibility and cannot be taken seriously as a fraud free site,
I was quite impressed with the website, till i read the latest ( 12th ) comment by Laraine. I think its quite alarming and a website ( if it intends to stay in business) cannot afford to have such negative publicity associated with it…Someone needs to check the credibility of information provided above. I have a question for Amit, when is thsi Indian site proposed for launch? Who can we contact locally for advertising /listing opportunities? Can you give me some leads on this? Thanks!
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there are many more online classifieds for the same platform(India).
I agree with the relevance of limiting searches to local ads within a certain distance. Olx is NOT the first one to implement this, my own http://www.buscafierros.com.ar and http://www.autotrader.com have this feature. There’s a few flaws in olx’s business model though.
1. Too manoy sites offering free classifieds.
2. Mixing real estate ads, vehicles, dating services and other listings makes it difficult to search. Are you really going to list a USD 50000 mercedes benz in a free classifieds site?
3. Online advertising sponsors have better options like more targeted sites (ex construction machinery) Do you really think they will immediately jump into sites like this?
another free classifieds site for India can be found at http://www.locanto.in. It covers the largest cities and has some good traffic.
Wow … that’s a good collection of classified sites. Would like to mention http://www.craigslist.com and http://classifieds.khrido.com/ Have been pretty good to me so far.
I accidentally found this blog but your post is really great.
Thanks for sharing. indiaconnect is also good.
Regards,
Tabrej
http://www.tabrej.com
I suggest an other interesting india classified website: Tao01.com
http://www.classifieds.tao01.com/en/india/india-classified-ads-hl1269750-li74-ali74.php
Here there are all the other countries:
http://www.classifieds.tao01.com/en/classified-ads-hl0-li74-ali74.php
Its a great site Post Ads Online.It Really works.Thanks to OLX
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