Meta-Classifieds Search Ping Pong Battles.
In Australia it's now folklore that the terrible twos-bill' mkt cap'd seek.com.au didn't go into other classifieds category outside employment. Even though it had the chance to, and their primary shareholder (Sir James) did thru investments in Carsales, and incubation of MyHome. The seek boyz had run their numbers, and played their hand thru the boom, held on thru the crash, and came out the other side with a beautiful view of Brighton. Neat.
Which led analysts to downgrade public newspapers like Fairfax (as well as News addressing these segments), who were falling behind in this space and are now spending, spending, spending to catchup. Well, planning to anyway. It's a very exciting time in online classifieds in 2007 both in Australia and globally. Headcounts and budgets way up, but many intitiaves are dealing with managing the existing business which is bursting at the seams with growth, using legacy technology, and are more focused on the paying customers, that being the larger classifieds sellers. Dealers. Agents etc. Who also have more choice than ever, esp when you factor in google's increasingly verticalised adword offerings, as well as new types of advertising. (display, video etc)
Every consumer and advertiser product innovation matters when there is this "competitive friction". Why waste time with dodgy stuff. I always wonder then why classifieds sites dont concentrate on a better "picture" experience of what is being sold. Why dont they present me with sexy slide shows of cars and properties, and let me tag, view, mashup these pics.. while this functionality is coming thru elements such as "watchlists" and "scrapbooks" - I'm also talking about better pictures fullstop. Better resolution. More pictures. Train private and dealer/agents taking the pics. In a world of video, 10megapixel cameras, and amazing online video/pic editing the picture experience of online classifieds should be low hanging fruit. ("geez the search on this site sux, but they have the best pictures")
Now the reality is headcount + technology = cost in order to complete new designated inititiave A. But sometimes pitching management ideas such as "Better Pictures." just aint sexy enough in a world of 3D Google/Microsoft Earth. And how do you quantify the value of better pictures ? (well u could do research but there's $10k for some baseline quant research that won't necessarily give a real result because it's hard to isolate factors driving post-click purchase optimisation as the classifieds site itself does'nt necessarily know which property/car sold , by when, and what caused it.. ok im really off topic now)
The US new school (Jobster and Zillow) are facing the same Gladiator/300 Battle in a much more traditional manner. Relegating fussball to a "SXSW thing" they've created a ping-pong super battle. Which Jobster won 4-3. Wonder if there will be a lunch-eater out there who takes a portfolio approach to classifieds or if each kid will stay to their part of the playyard.
Zillow Blog : "Jobster was kind enough to come to our house, so Zillow got home-court advantage. With more than 40 spectators cheering every big smash, and wincing at every unforced error, both competitors played intense, entertaining games in a well-balanced matchup. The action was fast and furious, as sidespin serves, edge-splitting slices, and smooth smashes were exchanged. We brought our A-game, and Jobster answered without fear. At the end of the day, Jobster went home with the trophy, 4 - 3. Congratulations to Jobster!"
Which led analysts to downgrade public newspapers like Fairfax (as well as News addressing these segments), who were falling behind in this space and are now spending, spending, spending to catchup. Well, planning to anyway. It's a very exciting time in online classifieds in 2007 both in Australia and globally. Headcounts and budgets way up, but many intitiaves are dealing with managing the existing business which is bursting at the seams with growth, using legacy technology, and are more focused on the paying customers, that being the larger classifieds sellers. Dealers. Agents etc. Who also have more choice than ever, esp when you factor in google's increasingly verticalised adword offerings, as well as new types of advertising. (display, video etc)
Every consumer and advertiser product innovation matters when there is this "competitive friction". Why waste time with dodgy stuff. I always wonder then why classifieds sites dont concentrate on a better "picture" experience of what is being sold. Why dont they present me with sexy slide shows of cars and properties, and let me tag, view, mashup these pics.. while this functionality is coming thru elements such as "watchlists" and "scrapbooks" - I'm also talking about better pictures fullstop. Better resolution. More pictures. Train private and dealer/agents taking the pics. In a world of video, 10megapixel cameras, and amazing online video/pic editing the picture experience of online classifieds should be low hanging fruit. ("geez the search on this site sux, but they have the best pictures")
Now the reality is headcount + technology = cost in order to complete new designated inititiave A. But sometimes pitching management ideas such as "Better Pictures." just aint sexy enough in a world of 3D Google/Microsoft Earth. And how do you quantify the value of better pictures ? (well u could do research but there's $10k for some baseline quant research that won't necessarily give a real result because it's hard to isolate factors driving post-click purchase optimisation as the classifieds site itself does'nt necessarily know which property/car sold , by when, and what caused it.. ok im really off topic now)
The US new school (Jobster and Zillow) are facing the same Gladiator/300 Battle in a much more traditional manner. Relegating fussball to a "SXSW thing" they've created a ping-pong super battle. Which Jobster won 4-3. Wonder if there will be a lunch-eater out there who takes a portfolio approach to classifieds or if each kid will stay to their part of the playyard.
Zillow Blog : "Jobster was kind enough to come to our house, so Zillow got home-court advantage. With more than 40 spectators cheering every big smash, and wincing at every unforced error, both competitors played intense, entertaining games in a well-balanced matchup. The action was fast and furious, as sidespin serves, edge-splitting slices, and smooth smashes were exchanged. We brought our A-game, and Jobster answered without fear. At the end of the day, Jobster went home with the trophy, 4 - 3. Congratulations to Jobster!"
posted by redbarren at 4:52 PM
<< Home