The most important feature of a classifieds site is cost to reach audience X. At this point, it is probably impossible to compete with Craigslist on that metric.
This might be true, but there is no reason it couldn't be done better.
I'll offer up one advance it could make. I'd like to click on a map and see all available apartments near my click. People lie about what "Park Slope" means and it's a waste of my time.
I guess that was also part of my questions. Is this the end all for classified? Theres nothing left to innovate? Its just going to be a bunch of categories with multiple levels like a directory from 1998?
I'm not looking for someone to tell me what the next big thing would be. I'm just trying to understand why no major innovation has had any market pull at all. There must be a classified killer floating around out there.
It seems like it'd be irrational to take on Craigslist right now. They own the audience. The audience is what matters most. Anything you could do to try to take the audience, Craigslist could probably do too. But they start out with the audience, and you start out with nothing.
This is called "barrier to entry".
Windows XP is clearly not the end-all of operating systems. But their competition is a rounding error on the market. They've needed an absolutely brilliant opponent and a historic internal fuckup for there to even be competition. And the network effect for operating systems is lower than for Craigslist: a vendor can spend their way into the OS/ISV game.
Why aren't more startups trying to work with Craigslist? Of all the 800lb gorillas in the world, Craigslist seems the most amenable.
It seems like it'd be irrational to take on Craigslist right now. They own the audience. The audience is what matters most. Anything you could do to try to take the audience, Craigslist could probably do too. But they start out with the audience, and you start out with nothing.
As PG would say, Google beat out Yahoo, Altavista, Excite by improving something that wasn't as good as it could be.
BUT, your question about why people don't work with CL is an interesting one. I don't recall ever seeing a way to get at their data aside from screen scraping...
On just the search engine level, right now there really isn't one. This is sort of how Google ended up on top, no? I think people are less attached to an actual search engine then they would be to craigslist! Search engines job is to return the best possible data for your search. Craigslist job is to get the best possible response to your Ad. If someone with far superior search results popped up tomorrow, I think people would slowly make the transition as they once did to Google and other various search properties.
At this point in the game, something like Google or Yahoo goes far beyond a search engine... Email, calendars, ad networks, analytics, etc.. All these things combined make it so much harder to walk away (theres your network effect). I personally couldn't leave Google. They house to much of the information and tools I use on a daily basis, it wouldn't even be worth the effort at this point. The "new" offering would have to be huge.
Then don't try to tackle Craigslist head on. Attack them with an indirect strategy. Focus on what Craigslist doesn't get right and aim for the identified weaknesses. Better yet start by building up a position of strength for your own competing site and once your position is unassailable, then go into competition with them for classified ads. Finally, if you prefer neither indirect approach, then compel Craigslist to try and compete with your company in an area closely related to classified ads but different enough that it will be hard for Craigslist to adapt adequately to compete with you in this new space.
I guess a way of asking is why are we so married to the concept of classifieds. Maybe you should look at innovation in finding jobs, finding houses, etc.
Ebay is an innovation in buying selling stuff (once classifieds territory).
Personally, I think maps/real-estate, very possibly from Google could be a major point of attack. just makes sense to find real estate on a map. Also makes sense to book hotels.
2 money areas online.
Thanks everyone responding. It seems the common response so far has been about reach. It makes sense... the goal of your Ad is to get it in front of as many people as possible. CL Ads have no shortage of that. Anyone who has posted knows you can potentially get a huge response, quality aside. But as history has shown, very few companies (especially web) have remained on top forever. It just interesting CL has gone this long unchallenged.
yeah it's all network effect and branding. Kijiji has been having problems finding a foot hold anywhere. Just the same way olx.com has got gotten big in the USA but is big internationally.
At flugpo we are building a craigslist competitor that has better everything. But it's hard to get a large foothold anywhere with out being able to focus on a market and work at it for a long time.
srry not to be mean but you totally missed the market craigslist is actually better than your site... we are working on a competitor but only in germany.
kijiji and other sites are doing just fine outside the US. CL was a bit late to those markets. Likely, that means that there are lots of smaller, local competitors rather than big competitors.
The most important feature of a classifieds site is cost to reach audience X. At this point, it is probably impossible to compete with Craigslist on that metric.