Classified market benefits from competition

"We are also seeing some consolidation with a few acquisitions of smaller brands by bigger global companies. Then, there are online classifieds providers that are consolidating their vertical sites and those which are looking to diversify their offering with more niche sites, all to win a bigger piece of the pie,” he comments.

He says that it is pleasing to see the market stimulated, active and growing after the recession. "The recession made things tough for classifieds companies, especially here at home, as many of the markets which traditionally utilise classifieds, such as the motoring and recruitment markets, have been badly hit by the economic slowdown.

“Our recruitment and motoring advertising revenues dropped by 20% in 2009 but fortunately, this was offset by market share growth following the launch of our new online business strategy.”

Online advances, print declines

"Technology advancements and broadband capacity improvements will also play a big part in re-shaping the online classifieds industry. These enhancements will change the way users use the web and online classifieds forever. For instance, the use of videos is going to take off. For local players, getting the infrastructure in place to support new technologies and meet consumer demand for more functionality is going to be a challenge.

"The print classifieds market will continue its slow decline, as it has for the past 11 years. Fortunately, the print medium can still hold its own in South Africa so we will still get some mileage here," he concludes.