Embrace a Digital Legacy: Exploring the Oldest Dutch People's Marketplace Online

Marktplaats.nl is a Dutch online classifieds website founded in 1999

Yes, together with Prince's fifth studio album, 1999 (what a year)! Marktplaats.nl Growth after the launch continued throughout the early 2000s, and by 2004, it had become the largest online marketplace in the Netherlands. The acquisition by eBay in 2004 helped Marktplaats to expand its reach and services, and it continued to grow in popularity in the following years. As of 2021, Marktplaats remains one of the most popular online classifieds platforms in the Netherlands, with millions of registered users and a wide range of items for sale.

Marktplaats.nl had about 15.000 ads on their website at the start of 2000, with a new ad placed every 53 seconds. The average daily volume currently = 300.000 in categories such as clothing, collector items and cars. Marktplaats.nl has more than 9 million ads at any given moment online. Know that the Netherlands have roughly 14.6 million adults living in the country, including Dutch citizens and foreign residents who legally live and work in the Netherlands. That's a lot of people buying and selling stuff. 

Livingroom

Why van Gogh?

I started in 2004, supporting the design team with offline advertising for Automotive and Services (freelance). And honestly, there was no Brand identity then, just a poorly spaced logo in Times New Roman. And three pastel colours, I'll get back on that later, but hold the thought Van Gogh. Yes, in my eyes, back then, purely functional. However, Marktplaats grew organically, something we all want if we start a new product/brand. They got it, launched the right idea at the right time. Hah! And the right country, Cu'z you probably know "Dutch people like to trade". We invented the modern stock exchange not for nothing (Amsterdam, Netherlands 1602, ask chatGPT ;-)

 

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Okay, about the colour scheme of MP, why the pastels and why talk about it... Well, most designers like to know the origin of a brand; you need to feel the reasoning to walk the straight and narrow path. Why did someone create this or that, right? Because, at that time, I could not feel it. Particularly, and mainly because I need to take that pallet on off-line media, brochures, flyers and Abri's. So I started asking who created this design and if there was a brand book. How flexible are we with the brand, meaning – it's just four years old (minor adjustments can do a lot)? But no, it was kinda locked. However, I discovered that the founder(s) wanted a website that could be open on a computer screen for a full day. "That's a principle, which is not a bad idea; why not? It's good for business." Thus let's use colours from a proper painting. Art hangs on the wall in most living rooms, day in and day out. Let's use the Living Room of Van Gogh! 

PS. Rumour says
"that in the early days, the founders of Marktplaats.nl created one, jep, uno advertising poster from a homepage screenshot! They felt the need because a new competitor started under the name Speurders, and they were advertising massively in the Netherlands. So, the founders of MP thought, let us make a poster like Speurders. But let's use our homepage because that's how people recognise us. So, they did, not knowing there was a distinct ad on the screenshot from a user that sold used ladies' panties... With that knowledge, and knowing that eBay Inc. acquired Marktplaats in 2004 for €225 million (approximately USD 290 million at the time) is hilarious to me.

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