AmericanListed
AmericanListed is a privately held local classifieds company based out of New York, NY, USA and Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded in 2007 by Thomas Westling and Jani Välimaa in Stockholm, Sweden and opened the New York office in 2009. The AmericanListed website hosts user-generated classified advertisements. AmericanListed uses the hyperlocal approach to its classified advertising marketplace.
Background
Thomas Westling began the website after he was unable to search local classified sites easily for a Corvette in New Jersey. He found that many of the sites had confusing layouts, were difficult to navigate and simply didn’t provide the opportunity to connect with people in his community. After returning from his trip to New Jersey in 2006, Thomas and his friend Jani Välimaa began developing the site he envisioned – a pure local classified web site with listings for every city in every state, no matter how big or small they might be. After two years of developing the site, AmericanListed was launched.
Classified Advertisements
Classified advertising differs from standard advertising or business models in that it allows private individuals (not simply companies or corporate entities) to solicit sales for products and services.
- In 2003, the market for classified ads in the United States was $15.9 billion (newspapers), $14.1 billion (online) according to market researcher Classified Intelligence. The worldwide market for classified ads in 2003 was estimated at over $100 billion.
Hyperlocal Segmentation
The term 'hyperlocal' is usually defined by three characteristics.
- Entities and events that are located within a well defined, community scale area.
- Primarily intended for the consumption of residents in a very specific geographic area.
- Content is created by residents of the location.
AmericanListed was one of the first classified websites to focus their content offering using the Hyperlocal approach.
AmericanListed Events
- 2007: Thomas Westling and Jani Välimaa found AmericanListed.com
- 2010: AmericanListed.com announces HyperLocal approach