Zimexapp Is The Newest Pretender To Classifieds.co.zw Throne

There have been many classifieds websites that have tried to come and steal Classifieds’ thunder but none of these have made a big impact.

The classifieds website that has come closest to Classifieds.co.zw is Ownai but I was pretty confident that even they have not surpassed Classifieds. Once I checked on Similar Web my assumptions were confirmed with Ownai being ranked 138 in the country and classifieds.co.zw being ranked 24^th. Anyway, we are not here to talk about Ownai playing second fiddle or Zim classifieds being top dog. We are here to talk about Zimexapp, a new classifieds website and how it aims to be better than Classifieds.

Free advertising

The advertising on Zimex is free and there is no limit. On Classifieds there is a limit of 5 free ads but to get unlimited ads you have to pay a monthly fee of $10. By making adverts free Zimex ensures that businesses won’t have to think about much when advertising on the site. Businesses want to have the wisest reach and with ads being free on Zimexapp there is no reason for someone who’s selling a product not to put up their advert on the site.

Store Fronts

One of the more enticing features I came across on Zimex app was the store front which enables sellers to have their entire listing in one place. This will be particularly handy for those who actually sell products but don’t have a website because of either cost or lack of know-how. All your products will appear in your ‘shop’ and as a business owner who’s starting out and who doesn’t have capital, Zimexapp will be more welcoming and you can put up an unlimited number of ads for free.

On this Store Front you can also put your company logo, a description of the business along with the products listed. The only problem is that all of this is available on Classifieds. Zimexapp just offers a cleaner presentation but the concept isn’t too unique.

A cleaner interface

Zimexapp has a very clean interface and though it’s clearly less busy compared to Classified’s, one thing to keep in mind is the fact that Zimexapp is yet to secure any advertisers and because that’s the case it would be fair to compare both platforms once the advertisers have come on board.

Where’s the x-factor?

A classifieds platform is a classifieds platform so there’s not much you can do to make it stand out. Though Zimexapp is still in its beta stages, the man behind the project –Washington Mukombodzi- says it’s particularly targeted at informal traders. In our communication we were wondering why he would make such a platform and he responded:

I dealt a lot with cross border traders and small shop owners and found out many times they have unique and cheap goods but no targeted place easy for them to advertise. Many times SME’s have cheaper products but fail to market them online. Their main sphere of influence is around few customers mainly relatives and friends, my aim is to broaden that sphere of influence. I have searched online and many times get few results of informal traders advertising products, my hope is Zimexapp will change that. For example little information is available online about mbare musika traders, machipisa furniture makers etc.

Zimexapp is clearly targeted at SMEs and informal traders so it will be interesting to see how it fares in the sea of classifieds websites.  With sites such as eMbare also looking to be the place for farmers advertising there is definitely some stiff competition for Zimexapp to contend with.