Craigslist Launches App Nearly 25 Years After Founding

The venerable online classified section is looking for new ways to connect with its 60 million-plus users.

December 5, 2019

Need to Know

Craigslist, the online classifieds site, is launching an app nearly 25 years after being founded.
Despite its global scale and over 20 billion pages views a month, up until 2010 the site operated with less than 40 employees.
Although Craigslist does not publicly report numbers, an AIM Group analysis estimated 2018 revenue at $1.034 billion.

Analysis

After first launching in 1995, Craigslist became renowned as the source for online classified ads. Whether you were looking for a soulmate in its missed connections section or flipping furniture in the classifieds, Craigslist was reliable and had exactly what you needed.

Over the years the website has remained relatively unchanged. But this week the San Francisco–based company launched itself into 2019 with the unveiling of an official app. The announcement comes as a way to connect with its more than 60 million US users.

Much like the website, the app is free of bells and whistles and replicates the desktop experience exactly. With mostly text, searchable categories, and the ability to save searches, the app is currently ranked 73rd on the shopping app chart and has a 4.6 rating.

With a global focus shifting towards environmental consciousness, consumers are opting for used over single-use items and looking on sites like craigslist to find them. Despite marketplace threats from other classify-based sites like Facebook Marketplace and eBay owned Kijiji, AIM Media Group estimates that Craigslist brought in $1.034 billion in 2018.

“Craigslist is the No. 1 classified advertising site in the world, both by revenue and by traffic,” said AIM Group founding principal and executive editor Peter M. Zollman.

Seeing a similar growth trajectory, the secondhand fashion economy—a $24 billion market as of 2018—is projected to grow to nearly 1.5 times the size of fast fashion within the next 10 years. With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that the ‘For Sale’ section on Craigslist remains one of the most diverse on the site.