The digital classified industry is projected to grow three times to $1.2 billion, on the back of growing smartphone penetration and Internet user base, according to a joint-report by Google and KPMG.
The industry was pegged at $150 million in 2011 and is estimated to have been about $400 million in 2015.
The report ‘Digital Classifieds in India 2020’ added that the next phase of growth of digital classifieds would be driven by the rapid growth of e-services, real estate and automobiles.
Nitin Bawankule, Industry Director at Google India said, “The ecosystem is ripe for the emergence of digital classifieds. Spurred by smartphone penetration, online users are expected to grow to a whopping 650 million by 2020 and the digital classified segment is expected to touch $1.2 billion.”
Horizontal leadsHowever, horizontal classifieds (or those that targeted users not specific to a vertical but belonging to a certain demographic profile) will still continue to lead with about 30 per cent market share of total digital classifieds in 2020.
Classifieds on real estate are expected to grow 4 times, while online services are forecast to grow 7 times, including dining, auto rentals, relocation services and home services such as beauty services and tutoring.
The online jobs market is expected to double by 2020. Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad are the top cities for online job searches.
Government jobs commanded attention with the maximum number of searches coming in here.
