(MENAFN-Khaleej Times) online vehicle marketplace to be more active in major regions
Online vehicle marketplace carmudi.com is on a global and regional expansion that will see it active in over 20 countries by the end of this year.
The online portal which was most recently launched in pakistan in the fourth quarter of 2013 and early in may this year in the uae will soon launch in saudi arabia and qatar stefan haubold co-founder and global managing director of carmudi told khaleej times in an exclusive interview.
“we are an online car classifieds where individuals or car dealers can buy and sell motorcycles cars and commercial vehicles” he explained. “what makes us unique is the quality of our services. we facilitate the transaction process making it rather easy and transparent for our users.”
Currently active in 11 countries including vietnam myanmar indonesia bangladesh nigeria and ghana carmudi has plans to be active in several of the major emerging markets of the world. “our strategy is to enter markets of a certain size where we see massive potential to gain leadership. and currently we are exploring quite a few markets in africa and latin america” haubold noted.
When asked what it was that made carmudi different from all the other websites that list and sell cars in the region haubold answered “speed”.
“our search criteria is more precise than most of our competitors. we offer specific filters such as region city and price that allow our users to reach their desired results very fast. after all we are in the business of speeding machines” he elaborated.
Highlighting the features of the website haubold that the website is available in both arabic and english. “we’ve recently launched our mobile website so our users can shop on the go. we guarantee a very user-friendly experience allowing our users to connect directly with dealers by email phone and region as well as receive email alerts for their desired search” he said.
When asked if the decision to launch carmudi in the uae was influenced by the impressive car culture that the country boasts haubold answered in the affirmative.
“cars define a lifestyle in the uae” he noted. “the whopping number of 541 cars per 1000 people in dubai alone exceeds that of bustling cities like london singapore and new york. and if this trend continues there will be 5.3 million registered cars in dubai by 2020. a market you cannot choose to ignore.”
Speaking on how countries like pakistan have a major advantage in terms of population and land size over a market like the uae yet are plagued by problems such as fuel shortages and poor road infrastructure haubold agreed that there are inherent infrastructural problems in emerging economies but must not be underestimated.
“we must not underestimate the huge untapped potential that a market like pakistan with 63 per cent of its population below 25 years of age can offer. the fact is there are already 13 million cars out there that need to be sold or replaced at some point. and that is where carmudi comes in. we are catering to a wide spectrum of customers for whom a car can be a commodity or an aspirational product.”
Asked if carmudi’s launch in the uae would prove to be a big hit he revealed that it was too soon to say but added: “given our track record in pakistan where we skyrocketed from 1500 listings in january to 7500 in march a growth of 120 per cent per month we will replicate our success here [in the uae] if not more.”
Analysing the success of the various markets where carmudi was currently active haubold said: “if we look at sheer numbers pakistan is growing at an exponential pace. we are doing tremendously well in mexico and nigeria as well. however it is too early to compare all our markets as we are at different stages across continents. we are still a very young company.”
In response to being asked how e-commerce has impacted the traditional norm of doing business and what he perceived to be the future of e-commerce in the mena and south asia regions haubold explained that e-commerce had dramatically changed business dynamics and customer behavior.
“now shopping is about the convenience of sitting on your couch and ticking your list off with the click of a mouse. at carmudi we get most of our traffic between 9pm and 1am. currently six per cent of sales are done online but more than 50 per cent of sales are affected by web” he informed.
“and with the growing internet penetration there is certainly a demand for such platforms in the mena and south asia regions.”
— rohma?khaleejtimes.com
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.