eBay Classifieds Group picks Manisha Seewal as CMO for 3 brands

EBay Classifieds Group has appointed Manisha Seewal to oversee Gumtree Australia, CarsGuide, and Autotrader. She will move to Australia next month. Seewal (pictured) was previously group CMO of used car marketplace Carro, a position she held since 2018. In her new role,  she will build on the strengths of each brand to cement Gumtree’s position as Australia’s favorite local marketplace and build a leading destination for buyers and sellers in the Aussie automotive market through CarsGuide and Autotrader, her LinkedIn said.

According to her, each brand is known for their respective strengths: Gumtree, as the marketplace empowering economic opportunity through responsible living; CarsGuide, as a popular automotive editorial guiding customers to confidently buy and sell cars; and Autotrader, as a renowned automotive marketplace. Citing statistics from Nielsen, she said Gumtree, CarsGuide and Autotrader have a total of 8.5 million users every month.

EBay Classifieds Group was officially acquired by global online classifieds specialist Adevinta in June this year to create a globally scaled, pure-play online classifieds leader with a diversified and complementary portfolio of assets and brands. Adevinta now benefits from a highly diversified portfolio of classifieds platforms across geographies and verticals, notably in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Canada and Brazil. Under parent company Adevinta, the new business direction will see synergies across Gumtree, CarsGuide and Autotrader realised through a combined ecosystem approach, allowing the brands to tap into new opportunities and achieve integrated outcomes, the company said.

At Carro, Seewal scaled up the marketing function across Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. She was also responsible for forming in-house marketing teams in those four markets which includes brand, PR, social, SEO, performance marketing capabilities and an entire creative hub. Last March, Seewal also started double-hatting as the CEO of Jualo.com, Indonesia’s third-largest C2C e-classifieds marketplace which was acquired by Carro in 2019.  Under her leadership, Jualo’s appeal grew especially amongst the younger Indonesians (age 18-24).

(Read also: Carro group CMO Manisha Seewal exits after 3 years with firm)

Mark Keho, MD for Gumtree Australia, CarsGuide and Autotrader, said Seewal offers highly relevant marketing experience in both horizontal and vertical classifieds businesses. Alongside her appointment was Daniel Evans who joined as chief product officer and Shannon Fitzpatrick who joined as director of commercial partnerships. According to Kehoe, the refreshed leadership team will guide the further integration of the business, with a focus on each brand leveraging from one another, realising synergies, and identifying growth opportunities.

He added that each team member is a leader in their domain of expertise and will support the transformation to a single business across the three brands.

“As we look to the future, we need the best in the industry to help drive our strategy and realise the potential of our integrated business. Seewal, Evans and Fitzpatrick all have a key role to play in that evolution,” said Kehoe.

“Each brings exceptional skills and experience to the business. Evans comes with a deep knowledge of product development in the transactional and mobile-first realm. Fitzpatrick understands the role of data and how to connect with audiences through solutions that are client-centric," he added.

Gumtree Australia, CarsGuide and Autotrader have since witnessed the benefits of business integration through its digital product development and the adoption of specific motors solutions from CarsGuide and Autotrader across the Gumtree platform. Likewise, Kehoe said it also seeing value in offering its motor dealers listings across all three sites allowing them to reach larger audiences. The appointments of Seewal, Evans and Fitzpatrick will also help to drive the business’ vision and strategy for 2022, spearheaded by Kehoe.

“As the needs of our stakeholders continue to evolve, so does our strategy. Online classifieds are being led by consumers looking for a seamless process to buy and sell, and also by advertisers seeking contextual solutions driven by data. Reinvigorating our leadership team means that we’ll be able to focus on enhancing our combined business offering to support these needs whilst continuing to provide Australians with the things they already love about our platforms," he explained.

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