OLX sees surge in automobile, smartphones and consumer durable advertisers on the platform: Amit Kumar, CEO, OLX Group

OLX has witnessed tremendous growth in automobile, smartphones and consumer durable advertisers on the platform in recent times, according to Amit Kumar, CEO, OLX Group. 

Expanding further, Kumar said, “We witnessed a surge across these categories, led by auto. On the platform, the demand for pre-owned cars was 25% higher than pre-Covid levels, while there was an 82% plus growth in demand for pre-owned smartphones. 87 % of OLX mobile sellers tend to buy a new phone and hence, we have witnessed mobile advertisers increase over a period of time on OLX. Our goods category also saw a strong rebound, as demand and supply have gone up by an average of 68% and 25%, respectively, compared to pre-Covid levels.”

This surge in advertising by automobile, consumer durables and smartphones are the outcome of the Covid and post-pandemic era, as per him. 

According to Kumar, Covid-19 was a black swan event that led to people being stuck at home and spending much more time in the digital space - consuming content and shopping online. Similarly, with personal mobility becoming a priority post-Covid, there is a large segment of car sellers who are intending to buy a new car hence auto advertisers have increased over the year, he said. 

“This shift also led to a big change in the way brands communicate with their target audiences and their choice of channel for advertising. Being a digital-first brand coupled with the fact that there is a sweeping shift in favour of digital consumption in India, we have continued to grow our digital presence as the primary mode of staying in touch with our users,” added Kumar. 

Earlier, it was only newspapers where one could get to see the classified job and matrimonial listings. Then the advent of digital gave birth to digital classified listing platforms in the jobs and matrimony space. In no time, the digital space saw a spurt of horizontal classified platforms addressing multiple needs of consumers other than just jobs and matrimony at a much faster pace on a single platform. 

Kumar said, “At that time, OLX decided to foray into advertisements and paid listings to tap into this accelerating shift towards classified platforms - and cater to brands with easy access to high-intent audiences at scale.”

Cut to today, OLX Advertising has partnered with almost every auto and smartphone brand in the market. The platform has also established partnerships with premium new-age brands including Fitbit, Netflix and Spotify. In addition, OLX advertising has been building partnerships across multiple categories, including consumer durables, IT appliances, Services, Retail and E-Commerce.

Now, the advertising platform wants to focus more on onboarding BFSI, real estate and consumer durables brands, said Kumar. 

This year, OLX advertising saw an increase in advertisers on the platform during the festive season. Kumar believes that this momentum will continue with brands being bullish about the future. 

Stating the reasons for this year’s festive season being significant, Kumar said, “Consumers usually plan for their big-ticket purchases during this time, hence we anticipate demand spiking in the autos, handsets, electronics, and consumer durables categories. Also, this time the season follows two years of pandemic-induced lockdowns and the ensuing economic downturn, which had brands and advertisers excited and optimistic about the future.” 

He also pointed out that they are seeing revenge shopping with buying returning to pre-covid levels. “Brands and analysts anticipate higher consumer spending during this festival season. The usage of omnichannel communication with social media having a huge impact, especially on Gen Z and millennials, is one of the trends that we are also witnessing,” commented Kumar. 

Talking about why brands must choose OLX advertising for their advertising needs, Kumar said that with OLX, brands are able to tap into highly engaged audiences with high purchase intent, on a platform that offers first-party audience segregation across a spectrum of categories.

He said, ‘OLX is brand safe. Advertisements on OLX are non-intrusive and offer a 100% share of voice in a single frame. We have a rich first-party database for high-purchase intent audiences, in high-value categories. With a large base of 6 million+ daily active users, consumers spend over 30 minutes on every visit with a clear intent to close the transaction. Also, every listed item gets an average of 20+ replies within seven days from interested buyers.”

Not just acting as a media, OLX also offers creative advertising solutions to brands. Kumar said, “We work as partners with  brands to  tailor their ads as per their requirements, focussing upon campaign optimisation basis the campaign brief. We also support our clients with an in-house team to help our clients ideate, support creative development and recommend ingenious campaigns through various formats and custom targeting.”

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