What is OLX? OLX Review

Founded in 2006, OLX is a global online marketplace operating in more than 40 countries and is the largest online classifieds company in Brazil, India, Bulgaria, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Portugal and Ukraine.

About OLX

OLX Marketplace is a platform for buying and selling services and goods in categories such as electronics, fashion + products, furniture, home furnishings, cars and bikes.

OLX is based in Amsterdam and is owned by South African media and technology group Naspers. (Naspers acquired a majority stake in OLX in 2010 and acquired a 95% stake in the company in 2014.)

Supporting Countries

Brazil, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Angola, Argentina, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Mozambique, Nigeria, Oman, Panama, Peru, Poland, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Belarus.

Development of major countries

In India, OLX began advertising heavily in 2011. In 2013, the company said it had 60% of the online classifieds market share in India, with 80% of its users coming from mobile devices. Morgan Stanley called OLX "the undisputed leader in India" in a 2013 report. In 2014, OLX claimed to have 1.5 billion page views per month from India.

OLX became the vernacular for "selling" in India, with listings like "OLX Pe Bech De", "OLX Kar Do" and "OLX it". About 90% of sales come from used mobile phones and electronics, used household items and used cars, and used cars and bikes. As of 2015, used cars accounted for 45% of page views. In 2016, it was reported that 72% of all used cars sold in India were traded on the OLX site. In 2016, the site was selling 200,000 cars worth $1 billion per month.

In Brazil, OLX and bomnegocio.com merged in 2014 to create the country’s largest classifieds site. OLX began offering programmatic advertising in 2016 and has 43 million unique visitors and 3 billion page views per month in Brazil.

In Kenya, more than 10,000 farmers used OLX in 2016 to sell their produce and livestock, particularly chicken, beef and fresh produce.

In Nigeria, OLX launched in 2012 and said it had more than 3 million sellers and buyers in the country in 2015. The company purchased its Nigerian competitor TradeStable. In February 2018, OLX announced the closure of its Nigerian office and its complete withdrawal from Nigeria.

OLX is the most used classifieds app in Pakistan and one of the largest websites in Pakistan with over 7 million visitors per month.

In the Philippines, the Philippine classifieds website Sulit was renamed OLX in 2014. In 2015, OLX and Ayos Dito merged in the Philippines, redirecting Ayos Dito users to OLX.

In Venezuela, OLX ceased operations in Venezuela on September 11, 2018 due to complex political issues and lack of free trade.

Development History

-In 2006, Dubizzle, OLX and Sulit were established.

-In 2006, OLX acquired Mundoanuncio.com, a classifieds site for the Spanish-speaking market.

-In 2007, OLX invested in the Chinese classified website Edeng.cn.

-In 2007, Autovit.ro was acquired.

-In 2009, OLX was launched in India.

-In 2009, the company partnered with the social network Hi5.

-In 2010, OLX was acquired and launched in Brazil.

-In 2012, Dealfish was rebranded as OLX and Martin Scheepbouwer joined to lead the OLX Group.

-Initial investment in Avito in 2013.

- In 2014, 9 markets were renamed to OLX.

-In 2014, OLX had 11 billion page views per month, 200 million monthly active users, and 8.5 million transactions.

- In 2015, 10 Middle Eastern markets were rebranded as OLX; in the same year, OLX further invested in Avito and made its first investment in LetGo.

-In 2016, OLX Group was established.

-At the end of 2016, OLX launched Tradus, a heavy machinery classifieds website.

-In 2018, OLX invested in Frontier Car Group and acquired Properati. At the same time, a venture capital team was formed.