quicksales.com.au to power Tradingpost
carsales.com Ltd (ASX: CRZ) and Telstra Ltd today announce that the companies have entered into an agreement whereby Australia’s newest free classifieds business, quicksales.com.au, will licence the Tradingpost.com.au brand and operate the Tradingpost.com.au website.
Upon completion, the quicksales and Tradingpost sites will feature aggregated inventories, providing Tradingpost.com.au consumers with new ways to buy and sell. quicksales.com.au will provide all transactional and publishing infrastructure along with carsales.com Ltd's industry leading product capability and security measures.
carsales.com Ltd CEO and Managing Director, Greg Roebuck, said the agreement was positive for the local classified marketplace.
“Tradingpost.com.au, powered by quicksales.com.au, will tap into quicksales.com.au’s commitment to ongoing innovation. It will offer consumers more choice, but what is also key is that it will enhance the Australian-owned alternative in 'free to list' classifieds.
“Recent years have seen large overseas players like the eBay-owned Gumtree enter the local classified space. This transaction will re-invigorate Tradingpost.com.au and also bolster the operation of quicksales.com.au,” he said.
"The opportunity to combine an iconic brand like Tradingpost.com.au with the level of capability carsales.com Ltd is known for comes along very rarely. It's great news for the general classified space," Mr Roebuck stated.
Telstra Media executive director, JB Rousselot, said the partnership would deliver scale and growth opportunities to Tradingpost.
“Tradingpost is an iconic classified brand held dear to the heart of Australians and in a very competitive market we needed to identify growth opportunities. Importantly, Tradingpost will continue as a high-profile classified brand with the additional inventory and features from our partner, quicksales.com.au,” he said.
carsales expects that the agreement will be EPS accretive to it in FY13 and that its obligations under the agreement will be funded by its operating cash flow.
The agreement remains subject to the approval of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (“ACCC approval”). Subject to ACCC approval, it is anticipated that the Tradingpost.com.au site powered by quicksales.com.au will go live later this year.
About carsales.com Ltd.
carsales.com Ltd listed on the ASX in 2009 and is the largest online automotive, motorcycle, marine and industry classifieds business in Australia. Our sites attract more Australians interested in buying or selling cars, motorcycles, trucks, boats, farm equipment, construction equipment, caravans, etc, than any other classified business. carsales.com Ltd's first revenues were reported in the financial year 1998. The company is one of only a few to have made the BRW Fast 100 for five consecutive years. carsales.com.au is Australia’s number one automotive website and in July 2012 served more than 13 million sessions and over 340 million page impressions across its desktop and mobile sites.* The carsales Network of websites includes carsales.com.au; bikesales.com.au; boatsales.com.au; trucksales.com.au; quicksales.com.au, motoring.com.au and redbook.com.au.
*Source: Nielsen Online Market Intelligence, Automotive Information Report, July 2012 and Nielsen Online, Site Census, Mobile, July 2012