SYDNEY: After more than 40 years, The Trading Post will appear in print for the final time on 29 October as the company focuses exclusively on its online and mobile products.
The Trading Post’s parent company, Telstra-owned Sensis, confirmed the decision to discontinue the print edition, saying it was the result of the significant shift by consumers to buy and sell goods online.
“With print classifieds' usage declining significantly across ad volumes, circulation and readership, it's unviable to continue producing the weekly print publications,” said Telstra media’s head of classifieds Michael Padden.
“It is an increasingly competitive market so Trading Post’s success as an organisation depends on making sound business decisions that set it up for the future.”
Tradingpost.com.au has seen ad revenue increase by 30% over the past two years, in stark contrast to print advertisement revenue which has significantly declined in the same period.
The closure of the print operations will result in 279 positions being made redundant across nine locations at the end of October, although an online face-to-face sales team and support team will be retained.
Padden said the company will look to place affected employees within Telstra and Sensis and will offer redundancy packages if suitable opportunities cannot be found.
The Trading Post was first launched online in Sydney and Melbourne in 1994, and was fully purchased by Sensis in 2004 from Trader Media.
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