Online classifieds players Quikr and
OLX are finding good traction for their business from semi urban and
rural areas in states like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
Maharashtra, Orissa, Assam and Uttar Pradesh.
"While
the main metros continue to be top contributors to our site, the
rapidly increasing internet usage in tier 2 and 3 towns has also boosted
our growth tremendously. Today Tier 2 and 3 cities account for over 50%
of our traffic," Quikr CEO Pranay Chulet told PTI.
OLX, which has a majority of users mainly from metros, is also finding that small town traffic on its site is growing.
"We
do notice positive trends from Tier 2 cities as well. These include
cities like Jaipur, Surat, Cochin," OLX CEO Amarjit Batra said.
With
these sites offering platform to users to buy and sell a wide range of
products, it is not surprising that enterprising farmers are using them
to sell their pets and animals as well.
"People
are now witnessing responses to ads even for pets and animals like cows
and buffaloes, which have been listed for sale on OLX from rural or
semi urban areas," Batra said, adding such trends were prevalent
globally.
Buying and selling of such dairy
animals is already a practice in rural India and the availability of
this platform has further catalysed the trading of dairy farming animals
ensuring better reach and responses compared to other traditional
platforms, he added.
Expressing similar views,
Chulet said:"People are very passionate about their pets and that
reflects in the kinds of ads/replies we find for adoption of various
pets on our site.
We also have rural users putting up their animals for sale even though we have never actively promoted it."
With
a variety of users across different sections, these online classified
sites are witnessing a range of products being sold and purchased.
"Users
have listed exceptional and unique products for sale that are not
available anywhere. People have been posting ads for their Bombardier
jets, Bhagwad Gita lockets as well as antique Rolls Royce on OLX," Batra
said.
On the rapid pace of growth of online
classifieds in India, he said: "All of it is due to the increasing
internet penetration and awareness of this space due to heavy marketing
spends by most companies."
Chulet is also expecting to increase the number of transactions as internet penetration rise.
"We
believe our platform will continue to see a lot of traction in the
years to come as more and more Indians get comfortable with online
buying and selling," he said.
Still at a
nascent stage, the sites are currently working on a hybrid model that
includes paid listings and advertising on the website to generate
revenue.
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