Fish4cars, the Trinity-Guardian-Newsquest classified site, is supposed to make life easier for the Swiss Tonys of the world.
Sometimes, however, the temptation to slap one’s customers becomes very great.
So it was that Fish4 issued a press release this week claiming that second hand car dealers are wasting £37m a year on digital classifieds that aren’t accompanied by photos or basic information (such as a vehicle’s door count).
Now £37m is a big number: according to Fish4Cars, it’s around one-third of the UK market (we guess we’re talking about the UK market for online auto classifieds here).
“A large proportion of retailers aren’t using their resources in the most appropriate way,” said Fish4cars sales director Colin Mathieson. “They are making basic errors when it comes to their adverts.”
It’s rare for media owners to blame their customers en masse (and publicly) for poor response rates. Typically, the temptation only becomes overwhelming In the face of large amounts of unpaid bills.
Is it possible that Fish4 could be facing payment problems on one-third of its revenues? Surely not. . .
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