Singapore-based mobile classifieds marketplace Carousell recently announced that it has acquired Duriana, a Malaysian-based mobile-first, fashion and lifestyle marketplace in Southeast Asia.
It was the company’s third acquisition in less than six months, which is expected to boost its ambition to become a leading global mobile classifieds marketplace.
Basically, Carousell offers a mobile marketplace for vendors to sell stuff – mostly used or ‘preloved’ items – using only an iPhone or an Android phone. It offers fast onboarding – its claim is 30 seconds to list an item for sale – and one can share the link on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
This aspect of social selling is bundled with a trusted user feedback that makes it easy for vendors to engage with customers. As simple as the concept sounds, it is fast catching on. ‘Snap to sell’ and ‘chat to buy’ resonates with a young and digital-savvy target market.
Siu Rui Quek, CEO & Co-founder of Carousell, told in an email interview that the basis of the idea was that selling should be as simple as taking a photo, and buying as easy as chatting.
“We felt that this was important, as we noticed more people like us using the smartphone as the main device to access the internet,” he said. “We aim to be more than just a transactional platform because we believe that buying and selling preloved goods is a more responsible way to consumption and that every interaction on our marketplace can help to inspire others to become more thoughtful consumers,” he said.
The marketplace also has a feature called “Carousell Groups” which allows users of similar interests and hobbies to connect and make friends. “We have a vibrant community of Lego fans, Disney fans, sneakerheads, photography enthusiasts and many others,” he added.
Launched in 2012 in Singapore, Carousell has since spread to 19 cities around the wold, including recent launches in Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Australia. It is backed by leading international Venture Capitalists Sequoia India, Rakuten Ventures, 500 Startups, Golden Gate Ventures, and QuestVC.
Since its launch in Malaysia in 2014 and the Philippines in 2016, the classifieds marketplace has been growing rapidly in both countries. Carousell claims almost two million items sold in the fourth quarter of 2016, almost doubling within a quarter.
Duriana, on the other hand, was founded in 2013 and has raised funding from investors like Alps Ventures and BEENOS.
“It’s been an exciting three years with Duriana, and we’re proud to have brought the company to this stage,” said Saeed Gouda, Co-founder and CEO of Duriana. “We’re confident that Duriana users will enjoy buying, selling and connecting as part of the vibrant Carousell community.”
The acquisition of Duriana is part of Carousell’s international expansion strategy, according to Quek.
“Mobile classifieds operate best with a large community of buyers and sellers on one platform,” he said. “In Southeast Asia, where more people are experiencing the internet for the first time through their smartphones, we have the opportunity to reimagine the way they buy and sell online. There are over 600 million people, but almost 400 million are not connected to the internet yet. That’s a lot of potential. We’re reaching out to a generation of internet users who leapfrogged the desktop internet, creating an environment where we can take a mobile-first approach to solving unique local problems.”
From startup to global player
“If you’ve ever bought or sold something on a forum or classifieds website, you’ll remember how difficult and frustrating it could be to list an item or find something you wanted these sites on those forums. You often needed a pretty good idea of how the forums or online stores worked, as they were built for different purposes and not as a marketplace,” Rui explained.
Thus, in March 2012, Quek and co-founders Marcus Tan and Lucas Ngoo participated in a Startup Startup Weekend Singapore and built the first Carousell prototype in 54 hours to solve this problem. They demonstrated the prototype and won the competition.
“The basis of the idea was that selling should be as simple as taking a photo, and buying as easy as chatting. We felt that this was important, as we noticed more people like us using the smartphone as the main device to access the internet,” he said.
The trio started working on Carousell full-time, and the first version was launched in the Singapore iTunes App Store in August 2012.
Today, Carousell expects mobile commerce to be a significant contributor to the exponential growth in the region, as the web and mobile infrastructure improve, and as smartphones become more affordable and accessible.
Retail e-commerce is poised to reach $4 trillion by 2020 globally, according to a report from eMarketer. APAC is expected to take a sizeable chunk of that pie in 2020 with US$2.7trillion, and Southeast Asia is poised to become one of the world’s fastest-growing regions for e-commerce revenues, exceeding $25 billion by 2020.
“Across this region, governments are also making a greater push for companies and entrepreneurs to adopt new technology to keep up with consumer trends and demands. For example in Malaysia, the government has announced that 2017 will be the “Year of the Internet Economy”. The digital economy is already contributing 16% to the country’s GDP, and this figure will only go up,” he added.
Global push
By acquiring Duriana, which is a mobile-first, peer-to-peer, fashion and lifestyle marketplace in the region, the company expects to bring its users 600,000 users in Malaysia and the Philippines onto the Carousell platform.
“We saw that Duriana users had similar demographics and interests in buying and selling fashion items, gadgets, and electronics as well as home furnishing,” Quek shared.
With the speed with which it has expanded in the region in the last five years, the company also sees a global opportunity.
“The problem we are solving is a global one, and we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to be the world’s largest classifieds marketplace because of the mobile phenomenon,” Quek said. “By 2020, more than six billion people around the world are expected to own mobile phones.”
