Doing a little research on internet before deciding to buy certain products is not uncommon for most of people nowadays. One of startups that aware of this trend is Mobiloka, a marketplace for secondhand cars which started operating since last June 2014. Considering that there are tons of players in this segment, what does Mobilika have in advance?
Deasy Indradjit, Mobiloka’s Co-Founder and Daily Head of Content, told DailySocial that her startup aims to give customers secure, easy, and convenient services. “We offer an informative, trusted, and credible website. Not only talking about trade, we also provide latest information on automotive, including car’s test drive review, automotive events, tips and suggestion, and review and assessment,” she stated.
She further explained the main three features of the service. The most fundamental one is definitely the search engine, in which customers may look for their desired cars based on their preference. In this regard, several categories, i.e brand, model, series, year, price range, and condition, are there to ease costumers finding their dream car.
The customers may also compare the cars, save their search result, and subscribe for email alerts. It seems that simplicity and functionality are what the platform’s developer focuses on, since the customers can directly access features which are relevant to their needs right from the very time they open the main page.
Based on our simple test, the website has quite huge and complete database. When we typed “Toyota Alphard matic” and “BMW” in the search box, the website responded by giving hundreds of listings. “We have reached around 40,000 views, and almost 7000 listings. One of our offline user acquisition method is indeed coming to dealers in Jakarta, approaching car-lover communities, and many others,” Indradjit stated.
The second main feature of the website is dedicated for the sellers. They only have to input their car’s brand, model, series, and year, and click the “Sell Now” option afterward. The page will then be automatically directed to another page, where they have to complete their car’s identity, such as its condition (new or secondhand), color, kilometers, documents, and others. Then, they need to complete the post by simply uploading their car’s image.
The third feature lets customers to estimate the price of their dream car. By this feature, they can get the latest market price of the car. Besides giving price estimation, the feature also lets customers to estimate the insurance program that they want to take. To support this function, Mobiloka has partnered with ACA Insurance. Unfortunately, when we tried accessing this feature, it gave us nothing but a blank result. This should be fixed as soon as possible.
“The point is, besides providing useful and informative features, we put simplicity and functionality at the first place. We are aware that doing trade on cars could be tiring and intimidating, that’s why we are here. We look to ease customers and facilitate them with useful and informative features,” Indradjit stated.
[Header illustration: Shutterstock]
