The Hindu Business Line : For a bit more of the `village' feeling in the community

A start-up created by a small team of entrepreneurial employees inside eBay, Kijiji is currently present in 200 cities across Germany, France, Italy, Canada, China, Taiwan and Japan, and has been trying to gain traction in India for more than a year now.

"Kijiji means `village' in Swahili," says Mr Jiby Thomas, Head of Kijiji India (www.kijiji.in) , speaking to Business Line.

Rationalising the decision to stay with the name in India, he elaborates: "We picked this name because we hope to help bring back a bit more of the `village' feeling in our own community.

The Internet has done wonders in bringing ideas and people together from all over the world. But what about creating a deeper sense of community right here, in our own city, within our own neighbourhood?"

That's what Kijiji has been trying to do in India since November 2005, when it was launched. It is currently available for 12 cities in the country. "We would like to help foster the feeling that our local community can be a `village' too, where we all come together and help each other out."

The USP of the site is that it offers a platform for people living in the same city to meet, share, sell, buy and help one another in a range of areas such as real estate, jobs and services.

Interestingly, Mr Thomas says that Indian users have responded positively to the name, and with a little bit of curiosity.

He also claims that the response by local users has been satisfactory. Since it is early days, the company is focused on building the community, and not on monetising the site.

At a time when e-commerce has come of age in India but social networking is yet to catch on, how does Kijiji see itself?

"We are well-poised to provide an easy and convenient solution to real needs faced by local communities, like marketing small local businesses or finding a job, an apartment or even a car pool."

He cites the example of a couple of people who were able to take their love of chocolate making and extend it into a successful business by teaching other interested people.

Stepping stone

Since eBay is the preferred destination for online auction in India, isn't there some synergy between the two?

Mr Thomas says Kijiji could act as a stepping-stone for users who are not too confident about trading on an online platform like eBay.

"We believe that Kijiji is best suited for the first-time Net user who would like to use to make enquiries online but complete the transaction in person or over the phone/e-mail. As he gets more comfortable with the Net, he feels confident about completing the entire transaction online. He would then prefer a vibrant marketplace like eBay."

Besides, he adds, the Kijiji user is looking for a solution to primarily local needs.

"Hence, a city-specific site like ours is perfect for him. The eBay user is looking for national or international products to trade in."

According to him, Kijiji and eBay as synergistic complementary businesses.

Discussion fora

Since Kijiji is all about thinking global and acting local, what steps is it taking to connect to the consumer?

"The site has many active discussion forums where users can interact and share their experiences. On every specific ad, there is a feature called comments and discussions, where users can leave a public comment for the person posting an ad. You can also send e-mail or call the person to complete the transaction."

Though Kijiji's stated intent is to provide a local experience, it does not offer Indian languages as an option to users, because "the language of business and the Internet is still English."

What about the mobile opportunity? Mr Thomas says: "We are constantly evaluating technology advancements while balancing it with the need to keep the interface simple."

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