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No chance of lemons Interview of Stefan Haubold

Global Co Founder & Managing Director, Carmudi.com
The used car sales business is huge worldwide. In the global list of emerging markets for automobiles, China is still at the top, while the Indian subcontinent promises to be the next region to receive an influx of private four wheeled transport. It's a good time to be in the car business and be located in Dhaka, and a customary' look through the classifieds sites will yield proof of that.
Yes, the tax structure for automobiles in Bangladesh is steep and discourages import of cars into the country; but it's still a thriving business for reconditioned car importers. Moreover, the used cars business is also on the rise, as a large part of the car-owning population frequently rotate and change their cars, trading in old cars for newer ones. There's a scope for making a good amount of business from this area. We caught up with Stefan Haubold, co-founder and managing director of CarMudi.com, to talk about the emerging car market in Bangladesh, and CarMudi's experience in operating here for the past few months.
Where does CarMudi come in? A subsidiary' of Rocket Internet, a Germany based global online business promoter, CarMudi.com is currently operating in 11 countries (6 of them in Asia alone).
As Mr. Haubold says, "CarMudi is going to markets where there is a huge potential. Look at Bangladesh. 160 million people, and if we consider just a tiny fraction of that number to be potential car-owners, that's a huge market right there. Best part is, that number can always rise, with the country' moving forward and with the GDP is rising at almost 6%."
Operating in a country' like Bangladesh is bound to throw up some hurdles. When asked about the challenges the CarMudi team have faced while operating here, Mr. Haubold had this to say: "Internet penetration is low, and most of the internet users are using it through mobile devices. But we're focusing on capitalizing on that. We are ambitious, patient, and we want to be the top in this market, we want to win the market. CarMudi has a good team which works hard in trying to accomplish that."
What sets CarMudi apart from all the other classifieds sites and the traditional way' of selling cars?
"If someone looks at the classifieds section of a paper, he or she can see maybe 10 cars. Go to a used car showroom and you can get about 50 cars. Go to CarMudi.com and you can have access to about 10,000 cars, all from the comfort of your home. You have access to all the details, like mileage, specifications, contact info of the seller, and you can compare the price with the rest of the cars on sale."
One of the main drawbacks of an online classifieds site is clutter. More
often than not, if you search for a particular car model, the entire range of models from that particular manufacturer is hurled at you, a volley of paid likes and promoted ads taking away valuable time as your search for the car you want. How does GarMudi.com deal with clutter? As Mr. Haubold says, "We deal with clutter by focusing on the user experience when they go to the site. Its all about customer satisfaction, if you can find the car you're looking for, we've done our job. We make sure our site puts the most relevant search results on top."
INTERVIEW BY SHAER REAZ