Karachi : As the year 2020 comes to an end OLX, Pakistan’s no. 1 online the marketplace reflects on data-driven insights related to a wide range of product and services categories. It is important to analyze how the trend of various items and services exchanged through the OLX platform shifted, specifically during times when strict lockdowns seized operations of small-scale business in Pakistan.

Due to COVID-19, online exchange of goods and services gained popularity. Since the SOP’s restricted movement, the services category experienced a boost of 99% in 2020. The demand for subcategories of movers and packers, tax services, security, car rental, web development and online education and classes skyrocketed, resulting in an overall impact on the services category, hence helping a large number of small businesses and individuals to sustain their livelihood.

Since traditional retail markets were closed, 11 from 14 categories on OLX witnessed an exponential growth of more than 100 percent, as compared to previous years. These categories included pets (205%), mobiles (187%), bikes (160%), fashion and beauty (157%), electronics and home appliances (146%), business, industrial and agriculture (141%), vehicles (136%), jobs (135%), books, sports and hobbies (126%), kids (117%) and furniture and home décor (100%)respectively.

Goods valuing Rs. 2.2 trillion were traded through OLX,with the vehicles category contributing a massive share of Rs. 0.9 trillion to the total value. The top three integral car brands on OLX were Suzuki, Toyota and Honda with more than 250,000, 130,000 and 91,000 vehicles listings, respectively.

Similarly, the top three hot selling mobile brands this year were Samsung, Apple and Huawei with more than 490,000, 440,000 and 214,000 mobiles listings on OLX, respectively.