Pranay Chulet's genius of simplicity

Quikr, an India-based portal which allows people to post free classified ads under a number of categories is currently available in many cities across the country ” including Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune. Quikr has plans to branch out to other Indian cities in the near future. Adgully caught up with Pranay Chulet, the CEO of Quikr, in an exclusive interview in which he discussed the challenges and opportunities in this space. Terming local classified portals as 'faster, better and cheaper' way of enhancing businesses, Chulet talked about the characteristics of Quikr.

Adgully: Can you take us back to your early years?

Pranay Chulet: I grew up in Rajasthan and then moved to Delhi to attend IIT Delhi. Subsequently I graduated from IIM Calcutta and then spent over a decade in New York as a management consultant and later as an entrepreneur. During my stint in New York, I witnessed the growth of the new media industry and the way it was impacting people's media consumption habits, and hence impacting the established media industry. It was at this point that I decided to move to India and focus on this sector as similar changes were sure to arrive in India soon.

AG: What opportunity do you see in this space?

PC: The opportunity is huge. We believe a market like India clearly needs a horizontal classifieds platform that can offer a smooth experience of buying/selling/renting/finding things across categories. And not only in the B2C channel but also in the C2C channel. We are happy that the C2C usage is growing very fast in Quikr. That's a huge space that was wide open and we are happy to fill the gap. In general, the classifieds opportunity is becoming even bigger ” a lot of it is driven by macro factors like the country becoming more and more affluent, the purchase cycles getting shorter, people disposing off more goods, changing more jobs, residences and even cities than they were doing earlier.

AG: What sets Quikr apart from its peers?

PC: More directly for the users, Quikr offers the best and the cleanest experience, fastest and easiest transactions, more ads, more replies to ads; a great team, and the ability to invest in pursuing and realizing this large opportunity.

AG: What are the key challenges?

PC: One big challenge is to continue to be a simple platform and improve user experience even as the scale of business grows. Also, expanding our user base to include those who are not using digital classifieds is something we often think about. When it comes to this business's potential in India, sky is the limit. One just needs to make sure the platform is able to touch and serve the average consumer and not just certain sections of consumers.

AG: What is Quikr's USP?

PC: Quickest way to buy, sell, rent or find

AG: How difficult is it to engage your audience?

PC: We are in a market which has a dichotomy in its user base: many of our users are amongst the most tech savvy in the world, but a large portion of our traffic comprises users who are not very tech savvy. We have to constantly look at all our engagement factors including user experience and marketing through the eyes of these two sets of users. That makes it a little challenging, but that also makes it a lot more fun.

AG: How do you ensure maximum participation and loyalty?

PC: We believe a good platform that provides good value to the user by itself drives participation and loyalty like nothing else can. Our consumer focus on an easy-to-use product plays a very important role in driving usage and loyalty of our users. All our product and marketing efforts in general are focused on delivering our value proposition to users which in turn helps us build loyalty amongst our community of users.

AG: What's your revenue model?

PC: Our revenue stream comprises advertising as well as services that allow small businesses to get more business. The latter includes a premium listings service where advertisers can pay us to get more visibility to their ads, thereby getting themselves more responses. We count small business from all walks of life amongst our paying advertisers. Categories range from real estate to cars/bikes to services to electronics and everything in between. Over 7 million users come to us every month and our platform offers well over a million listings. It is the scale of our platform that attracts these paying advertisers to us.

AG: What about marketing strategy?

PC: Our marketing efforts are focused on building awareness, driving adoption and increasing repeat usage. And we do this keeping in mind targeting efficiencies and ROI in various options. We have so far effectively used Internet Marketing, PR and Radio as part of our marketing efforts. As part of strengthening the Quikr brand and our leadership position in horizontal classifieds in India, we are constantly evaluating other media options.

AG: How do you intend to strengthen Quikr?

PC: Continue to focus on the basics, ensure our users get the best experience possible and build on our leadership position in the market.

AG: What is your advice for young entrepreneurs?

PC: It takes a lot of little things to make one big thing. And if none of these little things are surprises, you're not aiming high enough.