June 2024 , Cape Town, South Africa -Since late 2022, Gumtree SA has been entirely SA-owned for the first time. “Becoming locally-owned, hosted and controlled has been a significant strategic boost for Gumtree South Africa (SA)”, says Marcus Badach, Chief of Staff at Gumtree South Africa.
“This localisation and the resultant agility have made a huge difference to us at Gumtree; positioning ourselves as a marketplace deeply rooted in local needs and nuances, differentiates us from our international counterparts and impacts our daily operations and the future of the business.“
Gumtree’s transition to being completely South African owned is a strategic move that reinforces its commitment to the local market. By focusing on local ownership and operations, Gumtree aims to empower South Africans, support SMEs, and enhance the online trading experience with a platform that understands and caters to the unique needs of its users. This local focus is poised to not only benefit Gumtree but also contribute to the broader growth and development of South Africa’s digital economy.
“While we knew that Gumtree is a great brand and one of South Africa’s most-visited websites, what we’d totally underestimated, was the positive response from people wanting to work at Gumtree,” Badach continues. “When people found out that we were an entirely SA-owned company, we started getting a lot more interest from potential employees who were keen to move to Cape Town and be a part of the Gumtree SA story. We now also have the budget and scope to employ these people, which benefits the local job market and economy.”
Badach explains the Benefits of the Local Focus
We have created a more supportive environment for job creation and support of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are the backbone of the South African economy. As one of South Africa’s largest online classified marketplaces, we have evolved into a vibrant community where sellers are able to build a brand and an online shop with loyal customers, with marketing tools and support, at low monthly costs.
Since we’ve become entirely South African, Gumtree has been able to tailor its operations, customer support and moderation tools to suit the specific requirements of the local market. Having a fully staffed local team who understand the marketplace’s unique challenges and opportunities, allows us to offer a level of service and security to make online transactions safer and more reliable, that is uniquely suited to South African users.”
It’s important for our users to know that unlike our international competitors, we actually have physical people who know local conditions and culture, as well as automation, checking things. At Gumtree SA, customer service is a genuine relationship between our staff and our customers.
Being locally-owned, and based, enables us to be more responsive and flexible to market changes and user feedback, implementing improvements and innovations in real time, to address the needs of our users. This agility is crucial in the fast-paced world of online trading, where user expectations and technological advancements are continually evolving.”
Tech Benefits
Gumtree’s new-found independence and agility has allowed the company to facilitate exciting and innovative developments and new features. Launching soon, adding an e-commerce experience to Gumtree SA, Pay & Ship, ensure that essential elements, such as secure buying and delivery, are taken care of.
“We are constantly looking at how we can make the website and app better, with major updates and changes planned for 2024,” Badach adds. “Gumtree’s User Verification, powered by mobile payments app Spot, is able to verify the identity of buyers and sellers and their contact information, and is a critical step towards Gumtree becoming the most trusted marketplace in South Africa.”
ABOUT Gumtree South Africa
Gumtree is South Africa’s largest classifieds site. It’s a marketplace everyone trusts, a familiar space that’s easy to navigate, and a classified site that just works – whether via your mobile phone or desktop. Since launching in South Africa in 2005, ‘Put it on Gumtree’ has become a favourite South African saying, and we’ve helped millions of people buy and sell millions of things.
Video: The Future of Gumtree SA is Local
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Alan Straton
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