Editorials

by Rajen Kumar

No Escaping Social Media

Running a magazine concentrating on issues of small and medium enterprises and managing with limited resources is a like living life on the edge. In this rush of meeting deadlines,...

Special Reports

Apr 2012

EMRC, Brussels Associates with SME WORLD as its New Media Partner

EMRC has promoted business partnerships with the developing world and has organised dozens of business forums in key decision-making cities, such as Amsterdam, Rome,...

Interviews

Quikr Offers Faster, Better and Cheaper Online Visibility for SMEs

Rishi Sonwal
Nov 2010

Quikr is India's leading horizontal classifieds company. Launched in July 2008, currently has presence in 40 cities across the country. Quikr provides the local community in every city a platform where consumers can buy, sell, rent, find something and address a need while doing so, in over 150 categories.

Quikr is backed by Matrix Partners India, Omidyar Network, Norwest Venture Partners and invested in by eBay Inc. Quikr was formerly known as Kijiji.in. The company was re-branded as Quikr.com in July 2008.

Six Million Quikr Users

Quikr is an ideal platform not just for individuals to trade with each other but also for those who would like to start a new business or grow an existing one. Over Six million people across India visit Quikr every month to address a need they have.

It is Quikr's endeavour to offer consumers the 'quikest' and simplest classified website, thus making it the ideal destination for people to “buy, sell, rent or find” things that they need in their day-to-day lives. Being a community based platform, Quikr is focused on offering services that touch every aspect of a person's life; thereby creating a platform conducive for facilitating online transactions.

From the most mundane to the highly unusual, Quikr is a platform that connects consumers to meet supply and demand in an easy and instant manner. Be it buying a new phone; selling a seldom-used treadmill or an old TV; renting an apartment or finding partners to car-pool - Quikr is the place that makes it possible for you in the 'quikest and simplest' way.

Chief Executive Officer of Quikr India Private Limited, Pranay Chulet in a brief discussion with SME WORLD highlights the pros of Quikr.com.

Why Quikr?

Quikr has the potential to change the e-commerce landscape in India. Even in more mature economies like the US where people are more comfortable buying things online using their credit cards, there are great success stories of digital platforms which let users meet each other through digital media like internet & mobile phones, and then conduct actual transactions offline. In a country like India where so many people do not have credit cards or just aren't comfortable shelling out money to buy something online, a platform like Quikr has even higher potential in market share terms. There is no doubt that a platform like Quikr is very well suited for the Indian market – this reflects in the way we have grown…over 8 times in an year. Millions of consumers and lakhs of SMEs are already using our platform and this number is growing fast.

What was the motivation behind switching to classified company from content business?

It's the opportunity that classifieds platforms offer in any place where either there aren't well-established platforms for people to buy/sell/rent/find or these platforms are too expensive. I have seen this story play only too well in the West where digital classifieds platforms have been a hands-down winner. If that's what has happened in the West, going back to what I said above, the opportunity in a market like India is even bigger. And by the way, I won't say Quikr is not a content business. The only difference between us and a pure content company is that our content – which is listings - comes from our users instead of from us directly. We monitor this content and ensure it is of great quality. The basic principles of content businesses very much apply at Quikr as well.

How has been the success so far?

Growing over eight times in one year and having over seven million people come to us every month is not bad! Our users love us - that's why they come back to us over and over. They tell us what they like and also tell us what we should improve. A lot of our users are small businesses that use Quikr as a way to get more customers. Its delights us no end that there are thousands of SMEs from all walks of life who are launching and expanding their businesses on Quikr. If our users are successful, we are successful. That has been and will be our mantra in everything we do.

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