The best online sites all have one characteristic in common that keeps the competition at bay: simplicity.
Google’s got a clean, no-frills text box that conceals the complexity of behind-the-scenes magic. Amazon keeps their users coming back with reviews, recommendations, and a giant inventory. And online classifieds site craigslist still boasts the most simple user experience of all minus the colorful ads, flashy video, and garish banners.
With an estimated revenue of $80 million in 2008 and a valuation of about $5 billion, craigslist has continued to keep venture capitalists salivating. Simply put, when it comes to traffic, they’re spanking the
would-be craigslist killers, including eBay-owned Kijiji, Vast.com, and Oodle.com.
And it’s hard not to wince when remembering Microsoft’s oft-maligned Windows Live Expo, which shut down in July after a little more than two years of operation.
Lately it seems the competition is understanding that snatching away the die-hard craigslist loyalists is more laborious than finding a younger, more unfaithful audience on Facebook and myspace. Both eBay and Facebook itself have launched marketplace applications, and Oodle is powering myspace’s classified site.
But it appears that recently there have been a few cracks in craigslist’s walled fortress. Ebay, who owned a 28 percent stake in craigslist, was served with a lawsuit by founder Craig Newmark after launching their own version of online classifieds, Kijiji.com. Craigslist wants to force eBay to dilute its shares to less than 25 percent, but eBay isn’t budging. In fact, according to a CNET article, eBay’s CEO said he would happily buy out the remaining portion of craigslist shares to claim full ownership.
Considering craigslist’s aversion to change and their refusal to allow other sites to spider their content, I wasn’t surprised to hear Craig Newmark’s response to my question on if a marketplace application is in craiglist’s future.
“I wish I had more to say,” he said. “We just haven’t really considered it.”
So the point is, for the time being at least, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Popularity: 13% [?]
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
I agree that simplicity continue to differentiate craigslist. Personally, I found my first job, apartment, and couch on craigslist. I think the simplicity has two more side effects that makes craigslist so popular.
One, it shows that craigslis’t has an attitude. They are against the establishment. They just don’t care about fancy web 2.0 stuff and I think people connect with that.
Two, you don’t find on craigslist, you discover. You are not at Saks Fifth Avenue, you are at the local flee market making cool discoveries. It is this sense of discovery that drives pageviews.
As far as a recruiting platform, I don’t really like it.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Making COOL discoveries at the local flea market like finding bargain basement prices on prostitutes? Which staff member from cl provided this entry. Sad.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
I wonder why Craigslist has never considered building a database like Monster or CareerBuilder considering the fact that they have so many jobseekers visiting their website? Doesnt that sound like a viable option?
September 5th, 2008 at 9:27 am
It seems unfathomable to me that if they could earn more revenues by adding additional fee services, advertisers, sponsored listings, etc, that they choose not to do this. Craig’s keep-it-simple philosophy, combined with CEO Jim Buckmaster’s socialist ideologies (he’s been accused of being a communist and an anti-capitalist) is holding Craigslist back from realizing its true revenue potential – intentionally.
I respect differing viewpoints and business philosophies, but even if Craigslist made some innovations that would drive revenues (like charging for postings and apartment listings in more markets, etc.) and gave 100% of those proceeds away to charity, they would increase their value to the online community and to the planet as a whole. They are in a unique position to earn hundreds of millions of dollars more in revenue; help thousands of people and make a true difference. If they don’t care about making money, I can respect that; so make it and give it away. To do otherwise could be almost be construed as selfish and egotistical. Set up a trust. Create a Charity. Sponsor a country. There’s lots of great things that need to be done in this world!