CAROUSELL ADDRESSES FEEDBACK FROM USERS BY IMPROVING SELLING AND BUYING EXPERIENCE

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Online classifieds cleans up marketplace by introducing a listing quota of 30 active listings

Singapore, 11 August 2020 – To improve the selling and buying experience for its users, Carousell, one of the world’s largest and fastest growing classifieds, today announced that it will introduce a quota of 30 active listings across all General Classifieds categories1 from 25 August 2020. This is to help buyers find the best and available items with greater ease and allow sellers to sell quickly, with greater success. The marketplace improvement follows feedback from users, where 7 in 102 report that it has become harder to sell and buy on Carousell as unlimited listings have led to a crowded marketplace. 

The majority of Carousell users will be unaffected, as almost 90% of users have 30 or fewer listings in total. Users with more than 30 listings will have their inventory of listings divided into two categories: i) ‘Active’ listings that are displayed on the marketplace, and ii) ‘Inactive’ listings that are hidden from other users. Their 30 most recent listings will be selected as ‘Active’ by default, and they are able to change this selection on their profile at any time3. Users may purchase additional listing allowances under Carousell for Business (CarouBiz) subscription plans. 

“When we first started in 2012, we wanted to create a mobile-first, seamless buying and selling experience, but in recent years, we’ve been receiving feedback from our community that unlimited listings have inevitably made for a crowded marketplace. With our users’ interests in mind, we deep-dived into understanding how we can clear these roadblocks. A listing quota will encourage our users to manage their inventory and keep their listings fresh and up to date,” said Lewis Ng, Chief Commercial Officer, Carousell. 

“With a decluttered marketplace, we can shift impressions from inactive listings to newer and more relevant listings. Buyers can quickly find exactly what they need and sellers can stand out and sell faster. We are forecasting a higher rate of success, more transactions and more active users. As we celebrate our eighth anniversary, we’re renewing our focus on helping our users sell, and growing our marketplace viably; in a way that’s win-win for both sellers and buyers. The introduction of listing quotas fortifies our commitment to delivering a frictionless user experience for selling and buying,” Ng continued. 

Carousell has also rolled out several product updates over the past year to reduce friction with selling and buying and create intuitive experiences for its users, both in-app and on its desktop and mobile website.  Users can now list and even chat on web browsers with greater ease, selecting suggested categories when uploading listings, or replying with AI-powered predictive chat. From this month, users can also transact on our website with Carousell Protection, Carousell’s trusted escrow payment solution previously known as Caroupay, which guarantees safe transactions by holding funds until both buyer and seller verify that the transaction is successful.

The listing quota will be first introduced in Singapore from 25 August 2020, and users have the option to learn more about CarouBiz by starting a month-long free trial from today. For more information, please visit: caro.sl/generalquota-sg

1 General categories previously allowed for unlimited listings. This excludes Property, Autos, Jobs and Services categories, where existing listing fees will continue to apply.
2  Data is collected from a range of 4,550 Carousell users in Singapore.
3 Users have a monthly listing insertion, which refers to the number of listings they can create or mark active every month, that is double the amount of their listing quota.

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About Carousell

Carousell is a classifieds marketplace that makes selling as easy as taking a photo, buying as simple as chatting. Launched in August 2012, Carousell began in Singapore and now has a presence in eight markets across Asia. With over 250 million listings, we are one of the world’s largest and fastest growing marketplaces in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and are backed by Telenor Group, Rakuten Ventures, Sequoia India and Naspers. The Carousell marketplace has a diverse range of products across a variety of categories, including cars, lifestyle, gadgets and fashion accessories. Download the app for iOS or Android, and visit www.carousell.com for more information.

For further information, please contact press@thecarousell.com