Posted by David Post:
Craigslist:
A nice [1]article by William Taylor in this Sunday's NYTimes about ING
Direct Bank and about the phenomenon that is "Craigslist." I had never
heard of [2]Craigslist till this past summer, when my daughter was
moving to New York and looking for an apartment or a share; I asked a
bunch of friends for advice on what she should do, and a good
half-dozen said: craigslist. While I wasn't looking, it had apparently
become the site of choice for just about everything, for just about
everybody. Excerpts:
"Craigslist has a simple, unadorned Web site. But that is part of a
forward-looking business strategy. Mr. Buckmaster said he reveled
in what he called "the ironies of unbranding, demonetizing and
noncompeting." Together, they represent sharp departures from the
commercialism on so much of the Web."
"Craigslist has an unconventional approach to investing in its
"brand": it doesn't do anything. "We never even use that word
internally," Mr. Buckmaster said. "We do zero advertising. We don't
have a logo. Now we're told we have the strongest brand ever for a
company our size."
"The company also has a fresh approach to competition: it doesn't
compete. "We have no interest in competing with anyone," Mr.
Buckmaster said. "We're just trying to create something as useful
as possible. Yet we keep reading that we're one of the newspaper
industry's deadliest competitors" for classified ads.
"Above all, Craigslist has a distinctive approach to economics: it
keeps finding reasons not to charge customers. It imposes modest
fees on companies that post job listings in Los Angeles, San
Francisco and New York, and there is talk of charging real estate
agents to list apartments in New York. Other than that, the site is
free. Yet the company has generated healthy profits on revenue
approaching $10 million a year, and eBay recently bought a minority
stake.
References
1.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/02/business/yourmoney/02advo.html?oref=login
2. http://www.craigslist.com/
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