“CLASSIFIEDS WAS ONLY RELEVANT FOR B2C OR B2B”
WHERE ON ONE HAND, THE FIGHT BETWEEN ONLINE & TRADITIONAL RETAILERS HAS BECOME A COMMON TALE IN THE B2B & B2C SEGMENTS, AN ONLINE PLAYER LIKE OLX HAS BROUGHT ALIVE THE BUY-SELL SPIRIT IN THE C2C CATEGORY. AND THERE’S EXCITEMENT.
AMARJIT BATRA - CEO - OLX INDIA& HEAD - ASIA,OLX INC.
Three years after entering the Indian market, OLX – in 2009 – ventured into the C2C classifi eds space. OLX.in seems to have got a head start in the fast growing digital commerce market in India. Isn’t that so?
OLX realised that people typically stock unused old goods at home for very long – especially in the Indian market – and
identifi ed the latent need to sell these used goods for which it created an online C2C market place where users can sell & buy their personal goods. Classifi eds in its traditional form was only relevant for B2C or B2B users, but OLX made this completely C2C and thereby created a new marketplace altogether. It connects buyers and sellers who wish to buy, sell, exchange or trade used goods and services, by posting a free ad on its website. People use this classifi eds platform to search for any product that they want to buy directly from individuals. At present, Delhi, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are our biggest markets in India, with these fi ve states accounting for over 60% of the listings on our site. However, even for the Tier III locations like Lucknow, Vijaywada, Bhubaneshwar et al, we have noted increases in online activity and engagements on the C2C platform.
So what product categories get the maximum postings?
Most people at present post ads for selling their old mobile phones, laptops, cars and two wheelers.
Think of the top three brands in the online classifi eds market in India, and you are bound to mention OLX. How difficult was it for you to establish the concept of buying and selling of unused and used goods on OLX.in?
We Indians have a tendency to hold on to our old belongings, values of which mostly fall eventually. As far as convincing Indians to give up their old goods, it was quite a task – it required us to infl uence a behavioural change in people. Having said that the initial time was challenging. People’s attitude has been changing fast over the past few years due to multiple factors like urbanisation, houses becoming smaller and increasing consumerism. We offered OLX as a new way to sell and discard old goods and evangelised the C2C segment as a whole.
You make it sound like the initial challenge to set up an ecosystem for user generated content – C2C – wasn’t a big one. Are we right?
Oh! It was challenging initially as we were trying to create a market that didn’t exist. Online Classifi eds in India existed predominantly as B2B and with our continuous efforts we managed to create some space for C2C. And that of course has
grown in time. While we had identified the latent need but creating the right platform for users – safe, easy to use and one that gave them desired results – was critical. Unlike other sites, we have exclusive user generated content (UGC). Getting people to change behaviour and develop a positive attitude towards UGC was the prime challenge. We have invested heavily in motivating users and educating them about the ease and convenience that OLX offers. We have developed different mobile platforms – including apps for all mobile operating systems – to get more people on board. The right marketing mix and message, and the right product platform – appropriate efforts in these areas together have helped in creating a safe and easy to use C2C platform.
You mentioned ‘marketing mix’. In the past 12 months, much has been seen from OLX in the name of TVC and online spends. How have the promotional efforts helped?
We have invested in marketing to reach out to a larger audience and make it understand the benefi ts of transacting in
used goods. The initiative to educate customers – about usages and benefits – has helped both OLX and the category
grow. It took a sustained effort to create the market and reach the leadership position.
What strategy has OLX adopted to acquire users by the volumes?
Since we are an online platform, digital advertising was the most obvious choice to start with. As Internet penetration
was low in India, we decided to use TV’s massive reach to educate prospective consumers and help in creation of the
market. We have undertaken 360-degree marketing campaigns to engage with customers in various parts of the country.
We have been using social media to remain in regular touch with social media consumers. Since recent growth of the Internet has been happening through the mobile platform, we have also been the front-runners in our focus on mobility devices. Today, OLX is available to users who don’t have access to laptops, broadband & PCs. Our latest Mrs. Bech De tips campaign on video sharing website and Bechshala TV capsule are meant to educate users on how to use and get maximum out of OLX!
How about some numbers to prove that your brand has made its mark in the online space?
While there are statistics to prove our mettle, we believe the true indicator of our success so far has been the mindset
change we have managed to bring about amongst our users. Our users are able to sell faster and get good prices for
their goods. Various user testimonials are an indication of same. We have engaged users to such an extent that our
communication message (“Bech de”) has become a common phrase. Here are few numbers showcasing our success
rate: OLX’s traffi c has grown 55 times in the last 22 months. Our website crossed half-a-billion page views in July
2013 – double the number of page views our closest competitors get. OLX’s 2 year CAGR of 653% is signifi cantly
ahead of the 32% CAGR that Internet traffi c has recorded over the same period. OLX’s brand awareness is 4 times
its closest competitor. OLX’s mobile traffi c surpassed it’s web traffi c in recent months. 100% of listing content on
OLX is user generated – and that’s some sign of our success.
As far as geographical reach is concerned, OLX.in has the widest reach as compared to other online classifieds platform? What kind of traction has OLX got in Tier 2 & 3 markets?
We are present in over 1,000 cities across India. OLX is probably the only site which has users from various pockets of
the country. We treat every city as a market place, the hyper local nature of website and mobile platform makes it very
relevant for users. Tier 2-3 cities’ trafficis the fastest growing traffi c and contributes over 40% of our total traffi c.
Mobile WAP and app are helping us penetrate further in tier 2-3 towns. OLX.in is the largest C2C marketplace
in India today. We observe a lot of activity across products like mobile phones, cameras, furniture, cars and bikes, laptops
and PCs, real estate in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad. The fact that cattle and agricultural products are also commonly listed on OLX these days indicates that we’ve even arrived in rural India.
OLX.in is also gaining popularity as a multi-lingual platform in India. What has been the response to digital content in regional languages?
Our WAP users are from areas where the Internet penetration is very low. In addition to English, we also extend our
services for these users in different languages like Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Marathi. We initially
began our online exercise with 5-6 languages to gauge user response. Many more local languages are on the cards.
Every medium has a certain reach and user profi le. PC Internet users are most comfortable using websites in English
because a majority of websites, PC programs and input methods don’t support other languages. Mobile apps which are
accessed by smartphone users are customised for processing Internet content in English. Our WAP platform is mostly
accessed through feature phones from smaller cities – and that’s where the need for language options arises.
How about the rising popularity of mobile classifi eds in India – how has OLX changed gears from PC to mobility
devices?
Mobile is increasingly becoming the choice of medium to use Internet and services based on Internet. Penetration
of cheaper smart phones is giving a boost to the growth of mobile Internet usage, especially in tier 2 & 3 locations.
We saw this shift in trend early on and have bet big on the mobile Internet market. The count of Internet users in India
is scheduled to increase fi vefold by 2015 – and what’s best for us is that more than 75% of this count of new users
will come from the mobile category. How have we benefi tted? Typically, other Internet companies get 20-25% of
their traffi c from mobile. OLX gets around 55%.
What is the future of online classifi eds in India?
Online classifieds business has the potential to become the most widespread business in the world of Internet business
industry in the country and ahead, it will actually drive forward growth of Internet in the country.
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