Classifieds website filling a vital niche Sunday, August 02, 2009 By Cheryl Rickard When Geraldine and Fred Karlsson were moving to Ireland from Sweden in 2004, the process of selling their furniture and buying new pieces sparked a business idea.
Before moving, they had managed to sell all their furniture through a Swedish website in a matter of days. When they got to Ireland, however, they couldn’t find any local websites that listed items such as furniture for sale, along with detailed photos and descriptions.
Seeing a gap in the market, they launched Donedeal.ie, a classified ad website, in 2005.
Users of the website can post detailed ads - including photos and videos - for €3, and can either pay through PayPal or have the charge placed on their phone bill.
‘‘We found existing sites and papers for classifieds to be a lot of hassle, mainly because there were no photos, and what was being sold was described in only a few words,” said Geraldine, who won marketer of the year at the Irish Internet Association awards this year.
A native of Wexford, she has a computer science degree and worked in computing with ESB International before becoming a consultant. She moved into business analysis and project management, and has worked for banks and IT companies, such as Microsoft.
Fred began writing code for computer games at the age of 15. After studying computer science at Lund University in Sweden, he moved to Ireland in 1997 and worked in software and IT. He met Geraldine in Dublin and they moved to Sweden for a number of years, before coming back to Ireland. Both had jobs in Wexford, but now work full-time on Donedeal. ie.
‘‘A lot of people thought we were crazy to leave our jobs, but we decided it was a once in a-lifetime opportunity,” said Fred.
He looks after the technical side of the business, while Geraldine handles marketing and public relations. ‘‘We have made sure to clearly divide the work between us, to have clear roles and avoid stepping on each other’s toes,” according to Fred.
At the moment the company employs one other person, but the pair plan to hire three more staff before the end of this year.
The couple were newcomers to marketing and have a limited budget, which has forced them to be creative, according to Geraldine.
She said they had worked hard to achieve results from internet searches and search engine optimisation. They send a monthly e-zine to customers and have a blog. They also have help from marketing company Angel Marketing.
She attributed the Irish Internet Association award, which was decided by a public vote, to the customers of the business. ‘‘While the award is a fantastic achievement, the effort that our customers made is very moving and makes our business very worthwhile.”
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