The demise of free advertisement papers in countries with high levels of Internet penetration will occur in about five years, predicts Junk Mail project manager Felix Erken.
He adds that the only way such businesses will survive is to move online.
Junk Mail, which was launched eight years ago, on Thursday added to its growing stable of websites a new site containing vehicle classified advertisements - the online version of its Auto Net Mail.
Erken explains that this is another step in the Junk Mail group`s evolution, which has so far been determined by advances in the Internet.
When the Internet first came to SA, Junk Mail realised it could threaten its viability. "So we decided we would move onto the Internet," Erken says.
The company launched its website over three years ago, reproducing the paper edition online, but once US-based auction site eBay became successful, the group faced another threat.
"This worried us," says Erken. "We were just classifieds online. It wasn`t dynamic. You looked at the site and saw ads. That was it. The auction sites made classifieds dynamic."
Erken, who is also MD of Junk Mail`s online auction initiative, Auxion, says the company launched Auxion in January this year.
Dynamic classifieds
The Auxion model is to build a community of buyers and sellers who interact with each other and build up a level of trust, which Erken says is different from a true auction site such as Aucor.
"We are coming from a classified ad background and they are coming from an auction background," he says. "Theirs is an auction site, but we are creating a community around dynamic classified advertising."
Junk Mail has had regular buyers and sellers for eight years, and the aim is to create a marketplace where Junk Mail operates only as a "landlord", offering these buyers and sellers space to operate.
"The secret is to empower the people in that community. They are tenants, so we provide the space and we let them get on with it."
Auxion is transparent, he says, in that it allows buyers and sellers to communicate with each other and know with whom they are dealing. In addition, buyers and sellers rate each other, so other people know who to trust. This adds to the sense of community.
Junk Mail launched the print version of Auto Net Mail just three months ago, and has already built it up to 12 000 copies. Erken says he expects the website to be a success as a result.
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