Gumtree is aiming to return to its “former glory” as it embarks on a strategic turnaround, aiming to boost consideration and “retain and regain” users in a competitive market.

Launched in 2000 as a London-based classified site aimed at Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans settling in the UK, Gumtree was acquired by eBay in 2005 and remained under its ownership until 2020. In October 2024, it was sold to private equity firm Ocean Link and its portfolio company 58.com.

The new ownership has sparked a major reinvestment in the platform. According to the brand’s chief consumer officer Kim Faura, who joined the business in December, the business has increased marketing investment by more than 50% and onboarded over 100 product and tech engineers.

“The view from the very start was that by investing in product, technology and marketing, we could see the brand grow and recover to its former glory,” Faura says.

A business in decline

He acknowledges the brand has long been in decline. “Gumtree hasn’t been growing for years, but we’re starting to see that trend reverse. It takes investment.”

Though private, and without published financials, Faura says the business peaked around 2013–14 but has seen a steady drop since due to underinvestment. The last major rebrand and campaign was in 2016, when it set a goal of surpassing Facebook and Google as UK’s biggest digital brand.

“The main reason why Gumtree has not been scaling over recent years is because there’s been underinvestment, both in product and marketing, and that has resulted in the decline,” he explains. “The drop in awareness and consideration that we’ve seen in recent years has made a significant impact on the business metrics as well.”

Gumtree also faced increased competition, particularly in verticals like property and automotive, from platforms such as Rightmove and Carwow. As it looks to be the “go-to” marketplace for second-hand buying and selling, it also has platforms like eBay, Facebook Marketplace and Vinted to compete with.

Meanwhile, it had been “too anchored” in its origins, which has limited its ability to grow. However, he claims there is still “appetite” for a business like Gumtree to “re-establish itself as a strong brand”.

Next year’s objectives will be far greater than this year’s. It will no longer be about stabilising the business and seeing growth. We will want to see double-digit growth.

Kim Faura, Gumtree

“Its origins have been incredibly helpful to grow and develop it into where it is today, which is more like a community feel. There’s a very local aspect to Gumtree,” he notes. “But we’ve been hearing from our own users that there is an intent to go broader than that.”

The brand has traditionally focused on local, face-to-face transactions, but as part of its broader vision to “modernise” the platform and “meet evolving user expectations”, it is exploring ways to make the platform for “secure and effortless” including, the potential to support payments and shipping directly on the platform as a transactional platform.

“We’re starting to get closer to a transactional type of website. We’re putting a lot of focus, both in product and technology, but also in marketing, to make the most of this new vision,” he says.

Finding its footing

Faura claims Gumtree maintains 80% brand awareness and attracts 400 million sessions annually, and is a “very trusted” name. However, re-engaging its core age demographics – millennials and Gen X – is key to its next chapter. He concedes the brand previously chased Gen Z despite a mismatch between platform offerings and that audience’s interests.

To support the shift, Gumtree has appointed Splendid Communications to deliver strategy and video content across Meta and YouTube, especially via home-focused creators.

“We didn’t see as strong results [from Gen Z] as we do see from 30- to 60-year-olds,” he explains. “That is because of what Gumtree has to offer our users. A lot of our activity is around furniture, like sofas or tables. We also have very strong presence among motorists, property, pets and jobs.”

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In the second half of 2025, Gumtree will launch what Faura calls “the biggest campaign the country has seen in years”, spanning above-the-line activity and digital. In the lead-up, the team is focused on ensuring the “right” creative and media mix, particularly across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

“This is our first test in a very long time to see how that will work for us,” he says. In Q1 2026, Gumtree plans to more than double its August marketing investment.

“The campaign that we’re going to see from August is just at the beginning,” says Fauna. “Next year’s objectives will be far greater than this year’s. It will no longer be about stabilising the business and seeing growth. We will want to see double-digit growth, and that will require significantly more resources and much larger campaigns.”

He says the turnaround is already underway, but acknowledges that reversing years of decline will take sustained effort across product and marketing.

Data-driven approach

Gumtree’s business model relies heavily on sellers promoting listings and third-party advertising revenue, but “if there’s no buyer demand, that all suffers”.

“The key objective is to stimulate demand and consumer growth, and we expect that, as a result, it will feed the flywheel of Gumtree,” he explains.

Faura joined Gumtree after working as a strategic consultant for the business. He explains that his unique title reflects Gumtree’s dual-sided platform model- balancing the needs of both consumers (buyers) and businesses (sellers).

While chief operating officer Andy Harper leads the seller side, Faura oversees marketing, consumer strategy, ATL, CRM, performance marketing, business intelligence and design. He says that Gumtree is taking a “highly data-driven” approach, with business intelligence embedded within the marketing function.

“We’re very experimental and data-driven in our approach. So that’s why business intelligence is so anchored within the marketing team,” he explains.

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Looking ahead, Faura sees Gumtree evolving into a fully data-driven organisation, with plans to share some of its internal insights publicly.

“We can evaluate trends like how many cars are being sold by brand and city, or what types of sofas and furniture are being sold from the home. There’s a lot of data that’s been held and kept within Gumtree, and we believe society can benefit from knowing it,” he says.

That data also presents new monetisation opportunities, especially for advertisers. When asked about the opportunity to expand into retail media, Faura says it’s a possibility, but focus remains a key challenge.

“As a horizontal player, there’s always something to focus on. You’re always seeing something that could be done better, like the jobs vertical or the property vertical, and that’s part of the challenge.

“But at the same time, we need to go vertically deep, and we have been too shallow, vertical by vertical, just trying to be very vanilla. But it’s true that leaders in property or motors or jobs have much better capabilities, and that’s what we’re working on.”