Gumtree was quite “sticky” overseas – the classifieds site attracted and held a lot of attention in the UK, Ireland, Poland, New Zealand, Asia, Australia, and South Africa. Gumtree, which is owned by eBay, will now have a chance to do the same in three American cities.
That sounds like a natural expansion, just a matter of going to where there are more people. But there’s an elaborate plan here; in an article for The New York Times, Brad Stone writes, “EBay says links on the site for the three American cities will be marketed to British expatriates in New York, British and Australian expats in Boston and Polish expats in Chicago.”
Which may help explain the lack of hubbub surrounding this launch – eBay isn’t trying to get anyone and everyone to pay attention. At least not with this one move . . . A lot of smaller market entrances could add up to a big market share, and it’s hard not to notice that Gumtree’s American release comes soon after the Kijiji debut.
On July 5, our own David Utter wrote, “If opening the Kijiji classifieds site to American users draws business away from Craigslist, eBay stands to lose a little bit too.” Substitute “Gumtree” for “Kijiji,” and the same principle applies.
It’ll be harder to point the finger, however, with multiple eBay properties taking shots. Your humble author is just hoping that most of them will be easier to spell than Kijiji.
