Tryst with Categorization in a Classifieds Platform

When I started tradusads a C2C classifieds platform at ibibo, one of the many thoughts that engulfed the product strategy was – Why do all classifieds platform have a directory based approach or a newspaper style to categories?
For e.g. why do we have matrimony as a category in India? Why don’t we have Mobile phones as a separate category (not just a sub-category)

I was also astonished that major Indian players who were spending money like crazy on TV didn’t realize that the audience they are targeting needs more C2C categories and not categories like services or matrimony.

Services and matrimony, for e.g. are a different game altogether and need a different focus. (can write an entire post on this, may be sometime later)

Some of these thoughts I could convert into initiatives and receive early positive results during my subsequent stints.

Over time it was clear that most of the top C2C classifieds players couldn’t acquire enough consumer listings (this is public domain knowledge and any one can verify by counting and surveying listings on any classifieds portal) despite enough spend on TV, the platforms were at least half-full of B2C listings and my initial observations about Indian classifieds players not paying enough heed to categorization was coming true.