Rent com au : Launch of New Local Advertising Product

ASX Announcement

17 July 2017

Rent.com.au Limited (ASX: RNT) ("RENT" or "the Company"), Australia's Number 1 website dedicated to rental property, is pleased to announce the launch of its industry first "Local Ads" platform as an additional new revenue stream complementing its existing advertising products.

Key Highlights:

 Aimed at small business users targeting people moving to their suburb

 Enhances search experience for renters - provides exclusive local content

 Actively engage/reward renter community in promotion of "local ads" product

 Small business owner is in control - https://www.rent.com.au/local

Bringing Locals to Your Local

"This product is a little different, we wanted to be able to deliver relevant local content to our customers but also provide an opportunity for small businesses to reach out to people potentially moving into their suburb", said RENT Chief Executive Officer, Greg Bader.

"Like many of our initiatives, this came about from talking to our customers. In this instance, they just also happened to be operating a bar. The question of finding new customers arose, and particularly how businesses without a large advertising budget could reach the local new customers that are the lifeblood of any small local business. Social media is an obvious choice but unless a lot of time, knowledge and money is invested, many of those platforms are not as targeted as needed."

Any suburban small business operator will tell you that the locals are the ones that keep them in business. These are the customers that come in more than once a week and are the customers that support you in the less-than-busy times.

This is where RENT can really make a huge difference. With over 600,000 individuals, couples and families per month searching for their new home in suburbs right across the country, RENT can offer unparalleled levels of awareness to the very audience that is sought after by these small businesses - unheard of until now. The real advantage is that RENT's customers are people that are genuinely looking to move into the suburb and these are the sort of customers that local small businesses see as "gold".

In Control

The important components of this product are to keep the costs down and give total control back to the small business owner.

The platform RENT has created effectively cuts out the "middleman" and allows a local operator to create their own ad for display on rent.com.au. They control the image, the branding and the message. The local ad also includes a link through to the business's website or Facebook page which not only allows a customer to find out more information (menu, events) but also provides a handy boost to that business's web traffic and SEO and allows them to start building engagement with the customer.

Once the ad is created, they can choose what suburbs it is displayed in and for what duration. Pricing is just $49 per suburb per month.

"We are mindful of balancing the need to provide unique and relevant content, which includes local ads, with the main objective of our site which is to help more people into their new homes. For that reason, we have restricted the local ads to just two per suburb. This also helps in terms of creating a level of exclusivity for our early-adopting small business owners," commented Mr Bader.

"We have been trialling with two local businesses for a few weeks now (a local café and a new small bar). The level of "views" or" impressions" will obviously vary based on the popularity of the suburb searched and so forth but both have had thousands of impressions so far, with many people clicking through to find out more information".

Involving Our Renter Community

"With over 30% of our population renting, renters make up a sizable and influential community. The community aspect is important, there is a level of comradery around people renting and we see this initiative as one of many that will allow renters to share and recommend great businesses, services and experiences in their local area and we're prepared to reward them for that.

"If one of our renters recommends our local ad product to a small business, we will reward them with a $10 gift card per month for as long as that ad is active on our site. Now, we don't expect people are going to retire off their commissions but it is an example of us recognising and supporting our renters. If they take the time to share their favourite local with 1,000's of other renters the least we can do is shout them a drink at their favourite local," said Mr Bader.

A new Revenue Stream for RNT

"Whilst we do expect local ads to contribute to our revenue, we anticipate it will take some time to grow the local community of advertisers and advocates. With over 70,000 active listings spanning thousands of suburbs, there is potential for a significant new revenue line with this new product.

"This is about more than the dollars, it is another example of how the renting community can be supported and how the process can be made more relevant and useful. Ultimately RENT benefits because its community benefits," concluded Mr Bader.

ENDS

Our rental only positioning allows RNT to legitimately advocate for renting and renters.