Kijiji will Surpass Craigslist within 5 Years
March 14, 2008 – 7:23 pmKijiji, the classifieds site owned by eBay is on a growth path destined to surpass Craigslist within 5 years. eBay has 25% ownership in Craigslist and finally realized they will never see a dime of that so decided to go head to head and launch Kijiji.
My prediction is that within 5 years, Kijiji will have surpassed Craigslist in unique visitors, page views and of course revenue.
Once a community or nation gets to large, self policing is no longer an efficient way to keep the bad guys out. This same community or nation will inevitably destory itself. I will write more about this self destruction in another post.
9 Responses to “Kijiji will Surpass Craigslist within 5 Years”
It would be better for me if there is no clear winner on the free side.
By Dave Dugdale on Mar 15, 2008
I use postlet html for my CL ads without any e-mail listing so prospects find me via Kijiji or HotPads or through my own website which is in postlet.
No SPAM and very few “penis” ads which is good and loads of rental inquiries….I’m pleased and FREE is good….
By Gibson on Mar 15, 2008
Hi Gibson,
Why do you not have an email on craigslist. Is it because of the spammers and scammers?
By Dan Daugherty on Mar 15, 2008
I’ve never heard of kijiji - are they offering free classified advertising too? How are they gaining so much momentum, is it basically from ebay traffic?
Either way Craigslist has left millions on the table and continues to do so - they could be able to maintain most of their market share if they found a little revenue.
Do you know how close backpage.com is to catching up with Craigslist?
By jayson on Mar 16, 2008
Hi Jayson,
Yes, Kijiji is exactly like craigslist but better user experience and safer for vendors and users. eBay has had years of experience protecting consumers from scammers and spammers. They (eBay) are spending a lot of money driving traffic to Kijiji to try to reach critical mass.
You are right, a free service can only truly work if the company can monetize it through other venues. I will write more about why free services that generate very little revenue after reaching critical mass will inevitably kill itself.
Backpage is another great free classifieds service. According to compete.com data, back page did about 1.2 million uniques last month, Craigslist did about 30 million.
By Dan Daugherty on Mar 16, 2008
Dan * I want contact via phone or through my website e-mail which is featured on my postlet…..If they come through my website, they will most likely have viewed our other rental properties available in their timeframe and price range…this way I don’t have to send them BACK to my website…I can tell by the time stamps on income e-mail that people are e-mailing 24/7 * I obviously don’t want those calls to my cel phone at o-dark-thirty EST
By Gibson on Mar 16, 2008
Dan thanks for the information. It looks like back page has a little work to do!
By jayson on Mar 17, 2008
Kijiji’s growth chart looks phenomenal. There is a strong possibility of Kijiji beating craiglist and becoming no. 1. In any case, the consumer is in a win-win situation.
By Anurag on Mar 25, 2008