Allied Press’s Gamble Appears to Pay Off

Allied Press’s Gamble Appears to Pay Off

Back in September 2014, Allied Press Ltd. acquired 80% of a relatively unheard of South Island website called Post a Note.co.nz. At first it seemed like just another desperate attempt to take down TradeMe. Many questioned why Allied Press, one of New Zealand’s oldest and most conservative businesses, would wade into such an unlikely battle. But now as the dust clears, it seems that was never Allied’s plan, and since the acquisition, the site has grown considerably.

“Trademe is great at what they do, our plan with Post a Note was never to go after the auction marketplace. When it comes down to it, we are just a newspaper company and we understood the simplicity of Post a Note, which is why we partnered with them, ” says Matthew Holdridge, Post a Note board member and Commercial Manager at Allied Press.

Since the acquisition, the site seems to be thriving with an eclectic mix of listings on the site, possibly aided by the fact that Post a Note doesn’t charge for people to buy and sell on the site. I asked Nathan Weathington, Post a Note’s general manager, about their growth.

“There are a lot of different ways to measure it, but in general, we’re up close to 500% since Allied came on board. That being said, we still have a very long way to go.”

Having started on the South Island, and with Otago based Allied Press behind them, it appears they’ve made serious inroads into Christchurch, Dunedin, and most of the towns in between. They’ve expanded to Auckland now, but the site appears to be in its infancy in our urban centre.

“We pick the fights we can win, and that gives us the momentum to tackle larger projects. This is a marathon, we have to pace ourselves.” commented Weathington.

Other free classified sites such as Gumtree and Craigslist have unsuccessfully tried to crack the New Zealand market. eBay owned Gumtree recently closed their New Zealand operations and many have questioned Post a Note’s viability.

“Being New Zealand owned and focused has helped us get over the hump. The Post a Note community continues to help with the design of the site, these global brands might not know that people in Clyde don’t live in Alexandra. We do.”

There are many challenges to launching a web company in New Zealand, I asked Nathan what he sees as their biggest challenge.

“Our main challenge is explaining to people what we actually do. With so many failed attempts to compete with Trademe in the media, people wrongfully assume they know how Post a Note works. But with more and more people coming to the site, or using similar free classified sites overseas, this is becoming less of an issue.”

Post a Note is not a dominant force in the market yet, but they’ve made it further than most. This might be a company to keep an eye on.

ENDS

© Scoop Media