WEHCO was surprised to learn that the ads were on the site, which Wal-Mart is providing in partnership with Oodle. According to Wikipedia, “Oodle is currently the largest classifieds aggregator, and aggregates listings from sites like eBay, rent.com, Myspace, as well as local listings from local newspapers and websites. ”
WEHCO and Wal-Mart representatives discussed Wal-Mart.com’s classified site before the decision was made to request removal of the ads from the site.
Wal-Mart noted that WEHCO’s ads would be exposed to a larger audience, and it was possible to direct a inquiry back to the newspaper’s Web site.
WEHCO noted that users could review the content of these ads on the Wal-Mart site without being directed back to the newspaper’s Web site. It also noted that, unlike some classified sites which concentrate on bigger cities, or certain categories of classifieds, the ads on the Wal-Mart.com site are listed for virtually all towns in the U.S., regardless of size, and all categories, from employment, real estate and autos to merchandise for sale. Whereas sites like Career Builder and Craig’s list have concentrated on larger markets, WEHCO is concerned this could be a significant threat to smaller market newspapers and their classified ads.
While WEHCO realizes it must compete for classified ads and audience, the company says it does not see the advantage in helping classified competitors, especially since classified content is a major reason for reading a newspaper or its Web site, and classified revenues are a major source of funding news gathering, reporting and journalism.
