A blog on issues affecting Australia's newsagents, media and small business generally. More ...

Online classifieds

The newsagent role in replacing the Trading Post

mo_nov5.jpgMelbourne Trader, the first Trading Post replacement, distributed with the Melbourne Observer, hit the streets a week ago.  Former Managing Director of The Age, Stuart Simson is talking up his plans to launch Trading Mart into the classifieds space.

Outside of a common cover price, the two offers are quite different.  The Observer offer is made on the back of a successful weekly newspaper with a history of free classifieds.  The Trading Mart offer is the traditional Trading Post offer – pay only for ads which generate a sale.

Classified advertisements have moved online worldwide and they are unlikely to return to print in a stand alone form like the Trading Post.  Trawling a newspaper for items to buy or sell is so yesterday and so environmentally unfriendly.  People like the ability to search and other facilities with an online model.  Look at the success of craigslist in the US and elsewhere.  Many say it is a newspaper killer.  While I disagree, it has become a lightening rod for drawing everyday classified online.

I think that the free classifieds offer with the Melbourne  Observer will work because of already strong distribution and a loyal customer base. The keys are free ads and that they are included within the existing successful product.

I am skeptical about the prospects for Trading Mart because of the considerable capital required to launch, that it is a stand alone product without any other traffic drivers and that they appear to be relying on newsagents to drive advertisement acquisition.

I am biased against print when it comes to classifieds.  After considerable research, I spent in excess of $750,000 on FindIt between 2005 and 2006.  FindIt was an online classified model to be launched in partnership with newsagents.  Despite attracting in excess of 20,000 advertisements and a hundred or so genuinely supportive newsagents, I pulled the plug because we did not have sufficient newsagent support to reach the critical mass necessary and because we had made a mistake in how we connected online classifieds with a bricks and mortar retail network.

While newsagencies are a natural hub for a classified offering to the less online-connected demographic, they will need to demonstrate genuine engagement for a stand alone classified offer to work – far more engagement than ever before and beyond just selling the newspapers.  If they want the traffic from Melbourne Observer and Trading Mart sales, they need to ensure their success on a variety of fronts.

1 likes
Newsagency opportunities

Newspapers slow to compete with online

The CEO of carsales.com.au was on ABC TV on the weekend saying that newspapers have been slow to compete with them.

People who have been reading this blog for more than a couple of years will know that I developed Find It as a newsagent connected online classifieds place.  I closed Find It due to lack of support from newsagents.  Participation was free.  The ANF muddied the waters by promoting a competitive site for some time too.

I am confident that we (newsagents and publishers) will look back and say that online classified revenue should not have passed us by.  Newsagents could have ‘owned’ this space.

1 likes
Online classifieds

Google, Australian newspapers fighting

GOOGLE is facing the greatest challenge yet to its might in Australia as two of its largest media customers threaten to pull their business over the internet company’s decision to enter the real estate listings market.

This is the opening paragraph of a story from the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday.  The opening paragraph could easily have been: News Ltd and Fairfax face a tough challenge from the move by Google into real-estate advertising.

The SMH article raises the prospect of the publishers boycotting Google.  Hmm, newsagents have suffered poor treatment at the hands of publishers many times over the years.  I wonder how they would have reacted had newsagents boycotted them in an effort to resolve a dispute.

The Inquisitor also has a good report about this story.

Google, or the Internet more widely, has won the battle of advertising platform of choice for real-estate, motor vehicles and employment.  This was won several years ago.  Any action by newspapers today to block or slow the migration will be futile.

The AIM Group in the US, has recently published a report on the state of classified advertising there. The report includes the results of a poll claiming that nearly 6 out of every 10 real estate agents polled think newspaper advertising is useless.   I’d note, however, that the US situation is quite different because of the entrenched position of craigslist, the (mainly) free online classified site.  While craigslist is here, it is yet to gain the same traction it has in the US.

This is why newspapers and newsagents need to find traffic and revenue from non classified advertising sources.  It is why I invested $750,000 in Find It a free online ad portal designed to drive traffic to newsagencies.  I pulled the plug on Find It mid 2008 due to lack of engagement from newsagents and their associations.

Google is not facing a challenge.  Newspapers face the challenge.  By association, newsagents face the challenge.  Newspaper publishers and newsagents show no sign of understanding this yet.

0 likes
Media disruption

Online classified growth doubles

The Pew Center in the US released a report overnight which shows how the free online classified advertising opportunities such as Craigslist, are impacting paid claissified advertising in newspapers.

The number of online adults who have used online classified ads has more than doubled in the past four years. Almost half (49%) of internet users say they have ever used online classified sites, compared with 22% of online adults who had done so in 2005.

The age of those using Craigslist is important for us to note.  This shows where the generation we want to attract to newsagencies is going for classifieds.

Free online classifieds sites like Craigslist are tremendously popular with young adults moving to new cities, looking for jobs, or trying to find inexpensive goods or roommates. Internet users ages 25-44 are significantly more likely than any other age group — including 18-24 year-olds — to use online classified ads. Fully 62% of online 25-34 year olds and 57% of 35-44 year-olds use online classified ads, compared with 49% of online 18-24 year olds and 48% of online 45-54 year olds.

While yet to gain critical mass, Craigslist does have free online classifieds sites here in Australia for all capital cities.

We will look back and say that online classifieds were an opportunity missed by newsagents.

0 likes
Online classifieds

Announcement

I have announced this morning the sale of the Find It free online classifieds website for an undisclosed sum. While Find It attracted more than 20,000 advertisements, less than half of 1% of these were placed newsagents – even though such ads (including business listings) were free. Without newsagent support, the Find It model could not work for newsagents – hence this difficult decision.

 

1 likes
Media disruption

Newsagents ignore online classifieds

660 newsagents list their businesses at Find It the online classifieds website we created to provide newsagents with an online connection. Of these 660, 250 are what I’d call complete directories with photos. Either newsagents don;t get the impact the migration of advertising from print ot online will have on their business or our promotion of Find It has not resonated.

Car dealers, with no state in the migration of advertising online get Find It. We currently have more than 12,000 vehicles listed and plenty more on the way.

0 likes
Media disruption

Yahoo!7 free online classified push

Newsagents wondering about the shift of classifieds from print to online ought to read the story by Michael Sainsbury on page 33 of yesterday’s Australian. It reports that Kerry Stokes’ Seven Network plans to offer free classifieds. Yahoo!7 has no major print investment at risk with a pitch for free online classifieds. Newsagents have missed an opportunity.

0 likes
Media disruption

Trading Post options

tp_online_logo.JPGThe Trading Post has the same retail space allocation as the Herald Sun newspaper in my newsagency. The gross profit it generates is only 3% of that of the Herald Sun. In a cash-flow sense, allowing for the cost of real-estate and labour, the Trading Post is a loss making title at least at Forest Hill, Victoria. Beyond the financial return is the efficiency.

With Trading Post sales continuing to fall, Sensis management must be considering how to respond. One option is to go completely free. The other is to shutdown the presses altogether and shift entirely online. I would not be surprised to see the Trading Post shift to a pure online model – given the tag line used in their logo.

1 likes
Online classifieds

Media companies back free online classifieds site

socal_ads.JPGInteresting to read an Editor& Publisher report of 12 media companies combining forces to launch a free online classified site in Colorado Springs. What is more interesting is that a newspaper, a TV station and 10 radio stations are behind the project. SoCoAds.com is a good site – simple to use and, best of all, free. The biggest media company backed free site in Australia is Cracker, the Fairfax site.

0 likes
Online classifieds

Find It online classifieds

Our Find It online classifieds site has passed 19,000 ads including 11,500 car ads. Find It has been created to provide an online revenue stream for newsagents. Access for newsagents is free. Commission on sales is 100%. There are few commercial opportunities given to newsagents as generous as the Find It model. One day, some newsagents will look back and wonder why they missed out on the online classified opportunity.

0 likes
Online classifieds

Trading Post masthead written down

In case newsagents needed clarity of the impact of online advertising on print read this about the Trading Post :

As at 30 June 2007 the carrying value of the Trading Post mastheads was tested for impairment based on value in use. This test resulted in an impairment charge of $110 million being recognised in the financial statements. The impairment arose as a result of increasing competition in the traditional print classifieds market, challenges in the highly competitive on-line classified market and the risks associated with new initiatives.

A note on page 3 of the preliminary financial report for Telstra for the year to June 30, 2007 published yesterday.

On page 82 of the 304 page document is this:

Mr Trujillo said Trading Post print classifieds disappointed due to the rapid changes in the market, while online classifieds continued to grow.

Newsagents need to change their businesses just as Telstra is changing focus at the Trading Post.

0 likes
Media disruption

Incomplete reporting by Fairfax

Fairfax newspapers The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald today run stories about the ACCC legal action against Google and the Trading Post. It is disappointing that Fairfax is quick to list other companies which may be guilty of similar behaviour but not any company associated with them. As I have documented here before, Fairfax’s RSVP used a campaign based on fudging search results where people were looking for 3loves, a free online dating business I own – connected with the Find It online classifieds business.

The Fairfax reporting today demonstrates, at best, sloppy reporting and at worst, bias.

I know Fairfax was embarrassed by my revealing here six months ago the campaign from which they benefited – they immediately took down the campaign. No apology. No acknowledgement. And, now, they are prepared to finger others yet not themselves. The original post about the Fairfax/RSVP scam can be found here.

0 likes
Online classifieds

Why stop at the Trading Post and Google ACCC?

The announcement yesterday of court action against Google and the Trading Post by the ACCC has shocked many. The case appears to centre around the names of businesses which compete against the Trading Post appearing in the title of sponsored links (ads) for the Trading Post on the Google website. In plain English, people using Google might see, say, company A, click on that expecting to get to company a and find them selves at company B.

How does this connect to newsagents? Earlier this year, as I blogged here previously, RSVP, the Fairfax owned business, paid for a campaign with an affiliate of Commission Monster which targeted my 3loves site. Here is how it looked on a Google search:

rsvpsquat.jpg

3loves is a social networking site connected with Find It, the online classifieds model created to provide newsagents with revenue from online classifieds.

The scam against 3loves appears to be similar to what Google and the Trading Post are charged with.

People searching for 3loves were presented with what appeared to be a link to the site. When they clicked that they were taken to Google. Now I don’t know if Fairfax had any knowledge of this. What I do know is that they were the beneficiary of the action – or at least their RSVP site was. Fairfax approved the use of Commission Monster. Commission Monster manages its affiliate relationships. Each of the companies involved ought to have known about campaigns like that which benefited Fairfax by targeting my 3loves site.

My question is, if the ACCC can take Google and the Trading Post to court, why not Fairfax and the other parties involved – plus the scores of others who have engaged in similar tactics? I doubt that the Fairfax press would out their involvement in something similar to the current ACCC action.

0 likes
Online classifieds

Online classifieds and newsagents

This letter is being mailed today to all newsagents inviting them to take a stake in Find It online classifieds.

Central to the Find It offer for newsagent is the guarantee of 100% commission on vouchers sold by newsagents to customers wanting to place ads online. There is also a guarantee of trail revenue.

There is no capital cost for newsagents – no financial commitment whatsoever – and the commitment to a profit share remains.

Find It aims to help Australians save millions from online advertising. All but three ad categories will be free and it is from these three that newsagents stand to make good money – if they actively support find It online classifieds.

0 likes
Online classifieds

eBay online classified pitch

Further to my post here last week about Kijiji, the eBay backed free online classified site launching in the US, it is interesting to read some of the 160 stories posted so far. Kijiji is big news in the US. Read what some newspaper reporters and commentators have to say: Steve Johnson writing for the Chicago Tribune, Catherine Holahan – BusinessWeek, Saul Hansell – New York Times.

While US newspapers and commentators are taking the eBay move into free online classifieds seriously, newspapers and newsagents here appear to remain ignorant of the threat of online classifieds. Well, that is not quite right. Newspaper publishers have positioned themselves well in the paid online classifieds space. Fairfax has also positioned themselves well in the free classifieds space with Cracker.

Newsagents who are yet to notice what is happening online.

0 likes
Online classifieds

202 garage sale ads

Our Find It online classifieds site has reached 202 garage sale ads this reflects 13% of the number of ads at the biggest garage sale site in the country. Offering free garage sale ads is a great way for newsagents to promote their community credentials in partnership with Find It.

0 likes
Online classifieds

eBay launches classifieds in the US

eBay has launched its Kijiji classsifieds business in the US according to this report from cnet. The New York Times slant on this is here. Kijiji is well established in Canada, Germany, Italy and Taiwan.

This is a huge move since eBay owns 25% of the hugely successful Craigslist in the US. Craigslist operates in Australia as well.

eBay owns gumtree which offers free classifieds in Australia.

0 likes
Online classifieds

Carsales shuns competition

Two months ago Carsales arranged a feed of vehicle ads from two vehicle dealers to our Find It online classifieds site. This came about because Carsales provided the software which the dealers use to manage their inventory. Last week, Carsales turned off the feed and told us they would not provide further feeds. This is a pity because we have 35 dealers who use the Carsales software who want to load their stock data to our site.

I could write more but the threat of legal action by Carsales makes me leave it at that for the moment.

Car ads are free at Find It. We think that individuals and dealers pay too much for online ads. Hence our decision to make them free and to partner with newsagents to help Australians save millions of dollars.

0 likes
Online classifieds

Find It online classifieds surge

Find It online classifieds now has 17,301 live ads, 11,120 of which are for vehicles. This is an ad medium which will save Australians millions and generate revenue for newsagents – for no capital outlay.

I am backing Find It as a means of helping newsagents tap into online revenue and find commercial relevance from the online world.

0 likes
Online classifieds

Trading Post for sale?

The Sunday Age reports that the Sensis (Telstra) owned Trading Post is for sale – their newspapers and online business. As I have posted here recently, over the counter sales in newsagencies of the Trading Post have been falling in recent years – as much as 25% of the last year. The Age report says that Sensis reports a 7% decline in revenue in the six months to December.

The days of classified ads in print are over. Counting eBay and all other online sites, we know that 100,000 ads are placed online every day by Australians for anything from a CD to a house and while some of these ads are placed on multiple sites, the majority are not getting into print. Online is the game in town.

I know that many working for newspaper publishers will disagree with me. They have to – they want newsagents to believe that the print classified model has legs because they need newsagent support. Time will show that I am right just as it is already showing this to be the case in the US.

Advertisers of CDs, books, cars, homes and jobs what a faster outcome than a newspaper can provide. They also want to represent their items better – with photos and video. Today, the print edition of the Trading Post exists only to promote the brand of the online website, it’s relevance is coming to an end.

If I were the folks at the Trading Post I would move to a free model. A nationally distributed free newspaper would at least maintain the brand and provide an opportunity for a more active migration to the online edition.

The fall in stakes of the Trading Post is a reminder to newsagents about their need to have an online connection. This is one reason I created Find It online classifieds. We are writing to newsagents this coming week with an update including news about the revenue share with newsagents once we come out of beat in a few weeks. Smart newsagents will quickly make more from Find It for no financial outlay than the make from the Trading Post.

0 likes
Media disruption

Find It passes 10,000 vehicle ads

Our Find It on line classifieds offering has passed 10,000 vehicles today. We have another 1,000 vehicles to be loaded in the next two days. This gives us 15% of the ad inventory of carsguide, the News Ltd online vehicle classified site “that’s too big to miss” – their tag.

We’re pushing 16,000 online classified ads generally.

We will announce to newsagents next week the commencement of a lucrative revenue model for ads newsagents bring online in three high opportunity categories. Find It is the only online classifieds play which generates revenue for newsagents.

Passing 10,000 vehicle ads is a huge milestone for our fledgling operation. Watch this space.

0 likes
Online classifieds