Abstract

The case is about India-based online classifieds portal Quikr’s expansion through acquisitions to fulfil its plans of becoming a sector leader. Founded as a classifieds platform, Quikr had identified five business segments – Cars, Homes, Jobs, Automobiles, and Real Estate – for its verticalization push. The company had focused on these segments in order to explore new sources of revenue and users. Over the years, Quikr had expanded inorganically by acquiring several companies. However, Quikr’s acquisition strategy did not work out as well as the company expected. Like many other e-commerce platforms, the company was struggling to monetize its platform and was concentrating on businesses that were losing less money. It faced tough competition from the other players like OLX, which listed refurbished products on its platform. Even after a decade of existence, Quikr’s revenues were only Rs1.99 billion. It needed, therefore, to consolidate its position before thinking of other acquisitions, opined experts.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Evaluate acquisition as a growth strategy.
• Understand inorganic growth strategy.
• Appraise the online classifieds market in India.
• Explore verticalization strategy in classifieds listings.

Keywords

E-commerce platform; Organic growth; Acquisition; Online ad-based listing; Full-stack transaction business; Vertical strategy; Aggregation-based business model; Valuation; Gross merchandise volumes; Expansion vs. consolidation; inorganic growth