It is difficult to imagine any other single, on-line marketplace becoming a serious contender for eBay. At Powersellersunite.com, the listings for 20 active auction sites are tracked hourly. Earlier today, eBay had 13,406,204 active listings. The collective total across the 19 other sites together was only 7,689,423 listings. However, not included in the list are niche market sites, and other sites with different listing models, such as Amazon.com and Craigslist.com — all taking additional significant marketshare and making it a complex task to assess the overall situation.
Even with the variety of options available, many Sellers are unable to leave eBay due to the sheer volume of Buyers (millions) who visit eBay every day. But, who are these Buyers? What are a million Buyers worth if only a very small percentage is a match for the Sellers? Growing volumes of “general” Buyers does not necessarily mean increase sales.
For the new marketplaces, the trick will be uniting the common interests of the Buyers and the Sellers, thereby increasing sell-thru rates. Niche market sites (such as PenBid.com, WineBid.com, JustBeads.com, and GolfClubExchange.com) and Yahoo Group memberships are indicative of this trend.
The winners won’t try to emulate eBay and attract millions of general Buyers. The winners will attract the right Buyers.
At Loobalee.com, we are offering an on-line marketplace to serve the niche designer children’s apparel and merchandise market. For example, our Sellers will sell children’s clothing and our Buyers will be looking for children’s clothing. It’s a perfect match. No other Sellers will be served, and therefore non-target Buyers will not care to visit.
Loobalee’ target market is primarily Mom’s — who enjoy sharing with and helping each other. The significance of a large volume store, or of attracting extreme volumes of visitors is not applicable here. We are about Community, about shared passions and interests, and about fair merchandise exchange within our target market.
We are taking the best of the auction sites, the best of the classified ad sites, the best of brick and mortar consignment shops, and the best of group membership sites and bundling them into a service that is uniquely suited to fit the designer children’s clothing and merchandise re-sale market.
If you have growing children, and you want to dress them in quality designer clothing at a fraction of retail costs, then Loobalee is a perfect fit for you. YOU are our target market.
– Suzanne Rielle, Co-Founder, Loobalee.com
