Classifieds + Community = Sellsius
Our friends at Sellsius launched their "classifieds community" site last week. As usual, I like to digest the initial responses first, mainly because I only write at night and don't want to be the 5th review on launch day saying the same old, same old.
For Classifieds, More is Better
Prevailing theory suggest consumers judge, rank and visit online classified websites based on the size of their listings databases. It's the AutoTrader or CraigsList Syndrome - consumers will gravitate first towards the site with the most listings, particularly within their locale. The biggest database sites use feeds to aggregate and populate the listings (one exception is Craigslist)... they are positioned as vertical listings search engines and are used by consumers to "check the inventory". A niche industry of ad distribution platforms - Vlyer and Postlets are two examples - has popped up to automate ad placement into the "data monsters" - Google Base, Craigslist, Ebay, Oodle, Vast, Trulia, etc.
Smaller database classifieds sites, whether they are localized like online newspaper classifieds or focus on a narrower vertical like ski gear sites, are left to compete for traffic versus the monsters. In real estate for example, Realtor.com and Trulia have become nationally prominent as venues to search over a set of aggregated listings. According to Joe at Sellsius, if Sellsius Real Estate launched as a feed based listings venue, it would be too little, too late to differentiate themselves as just another listings venue... competing would be tough.
So what sets Sellsius Real Estate apart?
Joe points out that CraigsList and Active Rain are unique in that both sites, quite successful, do not rely on feeds or content aggregation. Their audience interacts and gets involved within their systems, even if only to manually create the ad as one does on Craigslist. Feed-fed aggregate listing monsters are too automated and dry to command any attention from agents - one click sends the agents' feeds to its destinations, and the agent could care less where that destination is as long as it is achieving its marketing mission.
So Sellsius' positioning strategy is most intriguing - it's a hybrid, a business model mashup - it's a classifieds community. It's trying to involve listing agents to participate not only in the listing but also the communities around those listings. One of the listing agent requirements is to become a member and fill out a public profile as a show of personal transparency.
The jury is still out on the new business model... it flies in the face of conventional wisdom on big database classifieds... and its annual membership fee is a barrier to growing a big listings database. However, online communities harbor trust among its members due to greater familiarity between buyer and seller, so Sellsius is banking on developing a critical mass of users to populate those communities which, in turn, will enhance the credibility and trust around classified transactions. I should also mention finally that Sellsius not only does real estate; there are classifieds for a variety of products and services including business brokerage and travel.
Technorati Tags: sellsius real estate, google base, ebay, vast, oodle, trulia, craigslist, realtor.com
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Thank you for the thoughtful review, Pat.
Yes, we are going against conventional wisdom in many ways. For one, we do not accept feeds. A couple of reasons for this.
First, and foremost, we know of no community built on feeds. It is difficult to build brand loyalty that way. I'm not talking consumer loyalty (consumers go to all the sites) but content provider loyalty. Craigslist is not the prettiest but there is a fierce loyalty there. We know because we've spent a lot of time in the forums.
Second, feeds require brokerage consent, which can be political. We prefer to be individual agent-centric. They are the ones in the trenches (we were there with them)doing the selling, getting the listings. So long as agents have the freedom to pick there own venues, it's their non-political vote we'd rather earn.
Third, you can't charge to take a feed and are left to sell ads to be profitable---we didn;t want to sell ads. It divides your loyalty---we are only loyal to our members.
Search frustration: Exact match
We often had clients with very specific wants---find me a duplex penthouse condo, in a pre-war doorman building and, oh yeah, we want a southern exposure. Talk about a search nightmare. A site with thousands of listings was not an advantage, since most searches are fuzzy and we had to wade thru hundreds of listings. We built a better search engine, we think--one with exact match & niche search. Once it gets some gas (data) it will hum.
Niche v. All inclusive site
We are also going against the grain which says pick a niche. Go residential or commercial, go sale or rental. We said no-- because in our experience we got oportunities to sell and lease and once in a while had some commercial property (NYC is a diverse market). We decided to take the supermarket, all-inclusive route. Why list sales on this site, rentals here, biz for sale here, timeshares here--too many accounts, to many systems to learn. Why not one site to do it all? Plus you can post ads for real estate goods services and jobs.
The community beyond agents:
We wanted to open our community to other professionals who support the real estate idustry---stagers, inspectors, attorneys, tradespeople--these folks dont have listings but they are valuable part of the industry. We could see no reason why they were excluded from listing sites. In fact, we exclude no one.
I guess ultimately we believe real estate is PEOPLE as much as property.
Gee, I can see I'm filling the page so I'll stop now. (sorry readers, I get carried away). There is so much more, including our secret plan to reward our founding members. Stay tuned.
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