Sensis to sell The Trading Post

The Australian Newsagency Blog picks up the news that Sensis might be selling the Trading Post.

This isn't before time. When Sensis purchased it, I was baffled as to how a classified listing service like the Trading Post would fit with the monopoly Yellow Pages business. It's difficult to think of a sector more different than Sensis' core business.

As it turns out, it looks like Trading Post hasn't delivered, or rather Sensis hasn't found those synergies. With the rise of free listing services like Craigslist and auction sites like Ebay, the Trading Post was always going to struggle anyway.

I say it's difficult to think of a business more alien to Sensis, but they did find one. They decided to become a competitor of ours by buying Invizage.

To say the Home and small business IT support industry is alien to Sensis is an understatement. The industry is fragmented and even players like Invizage wouldn't have 5% of the market. This on it's own would be alien to Sensis' management.

Selling and providing IT services is even more different to Sensis' Yellow Pages business. I actually feel sorry for the Sensis managers who found themselves having to get their heads around the cultural differences.

If the Trading Post is up for sale, then Invizage can't be far behind. Hopefully Sensis will stick to it's knitting of the Yellow Pages and find ways of leveraging the massive market power they currently have in this sector.