Most people in the United States are familiar with Craigslist, an online classified ads website where people can buy and sell in their local community. But many of us in the United States aren’t as familiar with Avito, a classified ads website based in Russia.
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While Avito is based in Russia, it was interesting to see a report by SimilarWeb that showed it had displaced Craigslist as the world’s most visited classified ads website. According to SimilarWeb, Craigslist is the oldest classifieds website on the internet and has held the top spot for years, so that is a significant accomplishment.
Avito hit over 279 million website visits in November, with users spending an average of 12 minutes on the site. The site also hit a record with 86 million active classified ads, a number that Craigslist does not disclose. The CEO of the online classified ads website said this about his company:
“Avito is a unique phenomenon in Russia: it has become a household name, like Google worldwide. Avito has also become a lifestyle for many Russians, and there is even a new profession born from activity on our platform, called an avitolog. This has all become possible because Avito is the country’s largest and most secure platform for meeting a wide range of everyday needs, from buying and selling goods and cars to finding a job and services, renting a home, and much more.
“Avito has not only become a go-to destination for every Russian, but a key platform for the development of small and medium businesses, as well as larger enterprises. Our focus on delivering value for our customers, as well as our constant innovation, have enabled us to become number one in Russia – and now, in the world. But we’re not stopping there, and we’ll continue to move forward and develop new models to drive our leadership in Russia and globally.”
Vladimir Pravdivy, CEO of Avito
The company also took 14th place in SimilarWeb’s global e-commerce and shopping websites ranking and was named first among Russian online marketplaces. In October, the Avito mobile app took the top spot in Russia across multiple rankings of domestic shopping apps by the analytical service App Annie. App metrics have shown that the company is leading the pack in the number of active users, the total number of sessions, time spent by users on the app, and the total number of downloads since the app’s launch.
While we cannot use Avito here in the United States, we found it interesting that the site pushed the U.S.-based Craigslist out of the top spot. It shows how quickly markets can grow, and even Goliath falls at some point.
About Avito
Avito is the leading classified ads service in Russia, with nearly 50 million monthly users and more than 86 million active advertisements posted on its platform. Founded in 2007, Avito has developed into a large and unique online service with a wealth of untapped opportunity.
It is recognized as a household name around the country for offering safe and convenient transactions for private individuals, as well as small and medium-sized businesses. Users can find and sell a wide range of products, in addition to listing jobs, services, real estate and more. And by giving a second life to used objects, Avito users help the environment: the company estimates that in 2020, goods exchanged on the platform saved approximately 18 million tons in greenhouse gas emissions, or enough material to create 23 new landfills.
Avito is an integrated service, offering delivery through its Avito Delivery (Dostavka) that enables users to make purchases across all of Russia. Avito was ranked as the most visited classified ads website in the world in November 2021 by website analytics platform Similarweb.
SimilarWeb
What do you think of Craigslist losing its top spot? If you’re a Russian reader, what do you think of Avito? Please share your thoughts on any of the social media pages listed below. You can also comment on our MeWe page by joining the MeWe social network.
