1st, 2nd or 3rd wave?
Much like how the industrial revolution was a result of constant development over 50 – 100 years divided in waves, the e-commerce revolution also have the same characteristics. The development of new e-commerce has happened in different waves. Each wave has some unique characteristics. The aim for us is to determine which wave craigslist is a result of, and explain why.
The first wave emerged in the late 90s. The second wave emerged early 2000 and lasted until mid-20s. Everything after that until present day is considered a result of the third wave. Looking at Craigslist from a timeline-perspective, this tells us that the company is a part of the first wave. This is only one of a variety of characteristics that makes Craigslist a part of the first wave.
The first wave was strongly dominated by U.S companies. As mentioned in the company introduction, Craigslist was developed and started up in the US. The company started its company with the intent of helping the San Francisco Bay area community. As popularity grew, they expanded to other communities in other cities. It was not until later on in Craigslist’s existence that they expanded to other countries. As of today they serve over 700 cities in 50 different countries. Even though they serve such a huge variety of communities, the US communities still serve as their main market in terms of usage. The graphs below compare the usage between Craigslist and two other huge e-commerce companies that emerged in other waves.

Also, the revenue-model Craigslist used, and still uses, resembles the ones used by first wave companies. The first wave companies relied on simple forms of online advertising as a main revenue source. Craigslist revenues come only from charging for paid job ads in several cities. As mentioned in the company introduction they charge different fee’s for different cities (San Francisco: 75$, New York: 25$.) by only relying on this revenue source, they are bypassing other possible sources of ready revenue from charging for other ad categories.