Subscribe

OLX gears up for growth

Lauren Kate Rawlins
By Lauren Kate Rawlins, ITWeb digital and innovation contributor.
Johannesburg, 11 Mar 2015
OLX country manager Stephen Ballot says the Web site is solely focusing on growth at the moment.
OLX country manager Stephen Ballot says the Web site is solely focusing on growth at the moment.

Classifieds marketplace OLX has released a desktop Web site that focuses more on location and user experience, with improved security functions, as it gears up for growth.

This is according to country manager Stephen Ballot, speaking to ITWeb this morning.

The site gained 200% in use last year, with a 450% growth rate in Gauteng alone. "One of the driving factors behind this growth is mobile usage; we have seen a massive uptake in mobile trading."

Ballot said one of the main reasons behind the Web site revamp was to add more detailed location searches. "We're not like other e-commerce platforms. We are in the business of connecting people and it doesn't make sense to connect someone in Joburg looking for a bicycle with someone selling [one] in Cape Town." He said the site is constantly monitored and suburbs added if the demand is identified.

Matching demands

''The launch of our new desktop Web site comes following the demand from consumers for more refined search technology, faster page navigation, and simpler ways of listing and buying goods. The feedback thus far on the new Web site has been fantastic,'' said Ballot.

To prevent scam artists using the service, OLX employees physically check each advert before it is posted. Ballot said other features are live in the backend too, to stop the same fraudsters.

"This includes strong IP detection to see if advertisers are trying to block their IPs and the ability to build up profiles of scammers from feedback given by the rest of the OLX community. From those profiles, we can then block their IP address, mobile number or e-mail."

Ballot said the company is focusing solely on growth rather than profit at the moment. "We are lucky to have investors with long breath; when we have a large captive market, we will look at switching on things such as paid-for priority adverts."

Gumtree, one of the competitors in the SA online classifieds space, said last year it would be kick up its activity, as it faces increased competition from other sites such as OLX. The Web site said it has grown year-on-year, since launch in 2005, at 28%.

Share