London Mobile App Developers Behind Gumtree Launch Expansion

January 28, 2016 - 2 minutes read

If you’ve ever lived in the UK, chances are you’re familiar with Gumtree — and if you aren’t, the mobile app developer’s behind the iconic classifieds service want to get you familiar fast.

Launched back in 2000 by London mobile app developers Simon Crookall and Michael Pennington, Gumtree started out as a way for UK transplants from Australia and New Zealand to connect with the community to find jobs, housing, consumer goods, and everything else traditional classifieds listings offer.

Fast forward to 2016 and Gumtree’s founders are looking to ambitiously expand the Gumtree mobile and desktop apps, positioning Gumtree as UK’s Craigslist with a 2.0 twist. Like Craigslist, Gumtree is free, ubiquitous, and does a bustling trade in vehicles and job placement. Unlike Craigslist, Gumtree is “easy on the eyes,” easy to navigate, and centered on UI/UX familiar to mobile audiences. It’s no accident — Mobile app developer’s at the company have worked tirelessly to keep Gumtree modern and simple. The apps also feature “premium” features familiar to regular mobile app users, such as “boosted” ads and paid-access pages for special interests.

Gumtree’s new interface and branding will include an updated logo from the graphic designers behind the recent Airbnb rebrand, with a mind towards removing the association with Australia the company’s old branding encouraged. Said a Gumtree spokesperson in an interview with VentureBeat, “We’ve got 15.3 million customers every month, but our ambitions are a lot bigger than that — we want to be a brand that everyone is using.”

Gumtree is an eBay company, and while eBay’s withdrawal from Craigslist could signal a lack of faith in the US-based classifieds service, the London mobile app developer’s at Gumtree don’t seem to have their sights set on competing with Craigslist in the US market. At least for the time being, Gumtree’s expansion efforts are focussed solely on the home front — something we can be sure that Craigslist is thankful for.