Free classifieds site and craigslist competitor OLX.com raised $13.5m yesterday which brings this Buenos Aires based company’s funding to $23.5m. TechCrunch has the story and some interesting comments left by accomplished co-founder Fabrice Grinda:
Americans are not likely to have heard of OLX because its popularity
lies mainly outside of the United States in places like Spain, India,
Portugal, Mexico, South America, China, and the Philippines. It has
established a presence in a total of 40 countries while supporting 15
languages. Much of its success in the Philippines can be attributed to
its white label partnership
with Friendster. Its offices are also spread over the globe with 92
employees working out of New York, Buenos Aires, Beijing, and Moscow.
The job board landscape is evolving so quickly, it’s really difficult to know where it’s all going. But it’s important to keep in mind that craigslist is a top job board in our midst. And it’s mostly free. Even where Craig charges, it costs $25 a post, a pittance really. OLX says it plans to stay free and exist on AdSense and upgrades. Poke around and you’ll see OLX is using a Beyond.com feed.
Now, I don’t think the sky is falling for ‘traditional’ job boards. As Doug Geinzer points out, quality and usability is still a big issue for Craigslist. It’s a multi-billion dollar marketplace and there’s room for everyone.
But, click on this compete.com icon to see a graph of website traffic
at free classifieds competitors olx.com, kijiji.com, oodle.com, and
craigslist.org — that’s a lot of traffic. I do think we should be inspired by the momentum in free classifieds to think deeply about our sources of competitive advantage. Your competitive advantage can come from:
- a category defining domain
- a lifetime of experience and contacts in a niche
- being the first to develop a niche
- a low cost structure due to scale, outsourcing or special marketing partnerships
- quality, usability and service
- marketing, seo and management skills
- passion for the business – working harder than the next guy
What are your sources? How secure are they? I see a trend where folks in Argentina or India for example are targeting US job board markets. Think about it. Can you compete with someone whose payroll is only half of yours or less? Read a little of Gautam Ghosh’s interview with RiseSmart’s CEO:
5. Who do you think are your main competitors?
No
one does what we do, which is why we’re so excited about our future.
TheLadders has carved out a niche as a job board for $100K+ earners,
but it offers members only a limited pool of jobs which are posted on
their site by recruiters. Their database of jobs is less than a tenth
the size of ours. And the monthly subscription fee they charge is
comparable to ours. So why would anyone choose them over us? I think
our value proposition is pretty compelling. Just that we are new so
people do not know about us.6. How many employees does RiseSmart have?
Currently 30 across New Delhi and Dallas.
I’m not sure why Sanjay left out Dave Opton’s Execunet.com… but anyhow, the point is we’re all looking at a hypercompetitive environment for job boards when we look five years down the road. That’s the future of the internet and especially for a highly productive segment like the internet recruiting market. What will you do to prepare for that future when all jobs are everywhere and you might have direct competitors living on another continent? Are free classifieds a threat to job boards?
{ 6 comments }
I think the important thing is that all sites have to continue to innovate, the ones who don’t (no matter if they are a traditional job board or a free classified site) are in trouble.
Austin
CEO and Co-Founder of myfirstpaycheck.com
At the end of the day my clients’ want hires, not just applicants. Free boards may drive applicant flow, but if the quality does not match expectations and additional human resources need to be invested for the screening process…does it make sense? I think not. They have now created an addtional cost center for HR. Plus, without revenue, a free board does not have the resources or desire to filter out the scam ads which lower jobseeker confidence. When jobseekers do not return to that site because they can not find what they are searching for and are spammed with non-employment advertising, do you think they will remain loyal users? Probably not. They may ‘disrupt’ for a period of time, but not forever.
hi,
I am Muhammad Tariq from Bannu Pakistan.I have faced many scam and fraud due to website which advertise Jobs on Internet.some of them ask for money in US dollar abt 100 to 200 for registration.I am a poor school clerk my salary is 12000 rupees having four kidds two daughters and two sons.I am very worried for their better education and better life style.I have sent many emails to all the job Providers but in vain.There is only one school named Pennel high school in my Area running under church of pakistan this school is better in my area but its feeses and fund are out of access.
I am master of History and BED. I am also a refergiration and air conditioning machenic. I am qualified dispenser.I seek jobs in kuwait, Bahrain, uk, canada usa but in vain. I have a nephew (sister son) in canada he promise me to help me getting to canada but now he broke his promise.
I s there any one who can help me finding job in canada,usa, uk,kuwait,bahrain? for the sake of God almighty, and to help my children on the basis of humanitarian.
thanx a lot
very sincerely yours,
Muhammad Tariq,
bluemooon.123 at gmail.com
olx is NOT worth the effort to post a job. been suckered in a few times. what a complete waste of time and effort. I prefer models like http://www.resumetrunk.com, simplyhired, indeed.com, etc. for real exposure for jobs. olx seems to be spammed by someone, so a large majority of jobs are from someone fishing for google dollars and you cannot apply for the job. kijijijijij or whatever it is called is also a waste, unless you need a waitress. why would you ever have a domain name that nobody can spell and remember easily? complete stupidity, unless you like paying for clicks. Google base should eliminate both of them eventually.
**es** I’m not sure resumetrunk.com qualifies you to make fun of someone else’s domain, lol. Hard to find a good link these days, eh?
Domain names have zero affect, e.g. monster.com for jobs, unless it’s something that even the employees can’t spell correctly, like kijijjijji. ResumeTrunk.com at least has some shot at being remembered. You’re average joe isn’t a prolific bookmarker. Anyway, kijiijiji and oil of olx are horrible job boards. As usual, VC have more money than brains.
OLX, the Craigslist for the rest of the world, has raised $5 million in funding from from Nexus Capital India.