Mascus celebrates 10th year on-line

The on-line marketplace for construction machinery, 7588 Mascus, is now celebrating its 10th anniversary. Founded in Finland, Mascus is now operating in 39 countries in 38 languages and with 46 domains. The Mascus service at present has over 2 million users every month and carries over 170,000 adverts on-line. Its growth has been in parallel with that of other on-line equipment sales outlets, such as those for 714 IronPlanet and Ritchie Brothers.

While 8031 Ritchie Bros has carried out equipment auctions for many years, the firm has taken advantage of the Internet to boost international sales. Mascus opened its first overseas offices in UK, Poland and Sweden in 2004, and signed its first licensing agreement in Norway the same year. Mascus is now present in 39 countries including USA, Australia, South Africa and countries throughout Europe with key licensing deals already in place for Turkey and China and further expansion into Brazil, Russia, India, Mexico and Middle East planned during 2011. "Establishing licensing agreements with strategic partners has been a key part of our evolution," said internationalisation director Tomasz Odrobinski. "Our multi-local concept means that dealers get the benefits of local market expertise and increased local market exposure coupled with access to a vast international marketplace, without being hindered by language barriers." "The Mascus concept has proved to be incredibly robust.

It's clear that we meet a real need for dealers and users alike to be able to access a truly global marketplace," said Mascus managing director Fredrik Larsson. "I believe our success over the past decade is down to three main things: our commitment to internationalisation, our continual investment in delivering a better user experience and the development of our product portfolio to provide targeted services for our customers." Since its launch Mascus has changed its platform twice, including a major re-launch in October 2010, which added innovative search functionality. Mascus has also provided a wider product portfolio, including the Mascus Locator, a heavy industry trade directory covering everything from maintenance and spare parts to financing and legal.

Launched in 2008, the Locator now has over 25,000 listings. Mascus provides web services including integration with dealer's websites, technical support, web pages and tools for managing stock online.