India’s Digital Classifieds Industry to grow by three times – ‘Digital Classifieds in India 2020’ report

According to a new report by Google and KPMG , the Indian digital classifieds industry is projected to grow three times to $1.2 billion by 2020.  Google and KPMG  the ‘Digital Classifieds in India 2020’ report, which says the next phase of growth of such ads will be driven by the rapid growth of e-services, real estate and automobiles.

About KPMG :

• KPMG is a professional service company, being one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, EY and PwC.
• Seated inAmsterdam, the Netherlands, KPMG employs 174,000 people and has three lines of services: audit, tax, and advisory. Its tax and advisory services are further divided into various service groups.
• The name “KPMG” was chosen when KMG (Klynveld Main Goerdeler) merged with Peat Marwick.
• Each national KPMG firm is an independent legal entity and is a member of KPMG International Cooperative, a Swiss entity registered in the SwissCanton of Zug. KPMG International changed its legal structure from a Swiss Verein to a co-operative under Swiss law in 2003.
• This structure in which the Cooperative provides support services only to the member firms is similar to otherprofessional services networks. The member firms provide the services to client. The purpose is to limit the liability of each independent member.
• Michael Andrew, previously Chairman of KPMG in Australia, assumed the Global Chairmanship in September 2011 and is based in Hong Kong. This is the first time a Big Four accounting organisation has had its global leader based in Asia Pacific.
• On February 27, 2014 it was announced that Michael Andrew was retiring as Chairman due to illnessand that he would be succeeded by John B. Veihmeyer, a role he will perform alongside continuing as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of KPMG’s U.S. firm. Veihmeyer is based in New York City.
• KPMG is registered as a multidisciplinary entity which also provides legal services.
• The Swedish member firm was main sponsor for Swedishbiathlete Magdalena Forsberg, six-time world champion and two-time Olympic medalist. Forsberg was working as a tax consultant at the KPMG Sundsvall office parallel to her athletic career.

India’s Classifieds position:-

The ecosystem is ripe for the emergence of digital classifieds. This is spurred by the smartphone penetration, online users are expected to grow to a whopping 650 million by 2020; and with every second consumer willing to pay for value added services, the digital classified segment is expected to touch $1.2 billion by 2020.

• Horizontal classifieds will still continue to lead with about 30% market share of total digital classifieds in 2020.
• Google search trends reveal that local searches across these categories have grown fourfold in the last four years, led by non-metros such as Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Kochi, Coimbatore, Indore and Jaipur.
• Within thee-services classifieds vertical, dining, auto rentals, relocation services and home services like beauty services, repair, tutoring, personal trainers are the most popular. 
• It is noted that there is a high possibility of e-Tailing, EServices and Digital classifieds coming together as a strong one stop value proposition in the coming years. This would further enhance revenue streams, monetizing possibilities and reduce overall cost of customer acquisition.