ebay evolves case study answers

Snapsolve any problem by taking a picture. Try it in the Numerade app?

• Digital Marketing Strategy and Planning
• Content Marketing
• Digital Experience Management (Desktop/mobile website)
• Email Marketing
• Google Analytics
• Marketing Campaign Planning
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Social Media Marketing
• Agency growth
• Business-to-Business
• Charity and Not-for-profit
• E-commerce / Retail
• Managing Digital Teams
• Managing Digital Branding
• Managing Digital Transformation
• Managing Lifecycle Marketing
• Managing International Marketing
• Startup and Small Businesses

eBay marketing strategy case study

A case study focusing on eBay marketing strategy: The facts, figures, and strategy behind their highest quarterly revenue yet

2021 eBay marketing strategy update: E-commerce giant records highest quarterly revenue Q1 2021

Ebay has had a fascinating year. The quarterly revenue chart below depicts both highs and lows for this company in the last 12 months. Plunging to a low revenue of US $2,129 million in quarter 1 of 2020, the company then rocketed to it's highest recorded quarterly revenue of US $3,023 in quarter 1 of 2021. That's YOY growth of US $894 .

Moreover, ending the year on a high, Ebay finished 2020 with it's highest annual net revenue so far, at US $10,271 million . This demonstrates that e-commerce is still a growing sector, despite the initial market uncertainty during the onset of the pandemic. Lessons learnt from studying Ebay marketing strategy - react to market challenges to create new opportunities, to stay ahead in a competitive environment.

EBay ended 2020 with 185 million active buyers, up 11 million from the end of 2019. EBay acquired 3 million new shoppers in the second half of the year, even as panic-buying essentials slowed down and stores opened back up, leading experts to believe eBay’s turnaround may last post-pandemic:

“EBay is proving that it has the ability to sustain the gains it is seeing from COVID,” says Ygal Arounian, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. “We expect these trends to increasingly become ingrained in consumer behavior, which will support eBay in 2021.”

Free digital marketing plan template

Our popular marketing planning template is structured across the Smart Insights RACE Framework. Join Smart Insights as a Free Member to download our digital marketing plan template today

Access the Free digital marketing plan template

2018 stat update: Over 50% of purchases on eBay in the UK from mobile

At the end of 2017 eBay had 168 million 12-month active buyers, an increase from 90 million active in 2010. Nearly two-thirds of transactions are now international. The challenge of growing the business can be seen by the near static GMV in the last three years. Globally 58% of GMV is now transacted on smartphone.

Updating eBay brand positioning using traditional media

In an interview with eBay UK marketing director Gareth Jones, explained that:

“We don’t want to be defined by that online car boot sale reputation anymore. We need to get people to consider eBay in a completely different way. The UK is the petri dish for testing a new approach to rebuilding the brand globally. It is all about a shift away from the marketplace and over to being the ultimate shop”. 

He is candid that a past focus on prioritising digital channels has had a “small impact” on changing eBay’s perception. Despite stating we’re in an age of digital-based marketing, he believes TV is the best channel for brand building. This is based on regional tests that proved TV is the best place to get people to reap-praise eBay as a brand:

“TV is still on fire and a wonderful medium to get neurons into people’s brands in order to rewire their perceptions. If you ask someone where they are shopping on Black Friday then TV is the best place to put eBay at the front of their consideration set.”

It’s hard to believe that one of the most celebrated dot-coms has now been established nearly 20 years. Pierre Omidyar, a 28-year-old French-born Software Engineer living in California coded the site while working for another company, eventually launching the site for business on Monday, 4 September 1995 with the more direct name ‘Auction Web’.

Legend reports that the site attracted no visitors in its first 24 hours. The site became eBay in 1997 and by 2012, it had 112 million active users globally defined as users who have bid, bought or listed an item during the preceding 12 month period, with the total worth of goods sold on eBay $60 billion, which is equivalent to $2,000 every second. Total revenue was $8.7 billion.

eBay's Mission

eBay describes its purpose as to ‘pioneer new communities around the world built on commerce, sustained by trust, and inspired by opportunity’.

eBay’s 2016 report describes the company’s view on current marketing approaches of exploiting Big Data and Artificial Intelligence.

To deliver the most relevant shopping experience, we continue our efforts to better understand, organize and leverage eBay’s inventory. With our structured data initiative, we are able to begin organizing our vast inventory around products rather than listings and aggregate insights into supply and demand. We continue to broaden the coverage of structured data, which enables us to create and start rolling out new consumer experiences that are modern, simple and differentiated. One of our goals is to deliver a more personalized shopping experience by determining what products to show our consumers and highlight the incredible price and selection advantages that eBay often provides across categories.

eBay's Revenue model

The vast majority of eBay’s revenue is for the listing and commission on completed sales. While it is best-known for auctions,  80% of UK sales now coming through new items  of which the majority are fixed price. UK marketing director Gareth Jones told Marketing Week he wants to focus on top-of-the-funnel consideration: " it wants British consumers to see it as the first choice for buying new items as opposed to its historic online car boot sale reputation ".

For PayPal purchases an additional commission fee is charged.

Margin on each transaction is phenomenal since once the infrastructure is built, incremental costs on each transaction are tiny – all eBay is doing is transmitting bits and bytes between buyers and sellers.

Ebay marketing strategy proposition

The eBay marketplace is well known for its core service which enables sellers to list items for sale on an auction or fixed-price basis giving buyers the opportunity to bid for and purchase items of interest. Software tools are provided, particularly for frequent traders, including Seller’s Assistant, Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro, which help automate the selling process, plus the Shipping Calculator, Reporting tools, etc.

Today over 60% of listings are facilitated by software, showing the value of automating posting for frequent trading.

An example of a new Shopper feature which is part of its OVP is the eBay ShopBot on Facebook Messenger.

This uses artificial intelligence to provide a personalized shopping assistant that helps people find the best deals from eBay’s one billion listings.

According to the SEC filing, eBay summarises the core messages to define its proposition as follows:

For buyers:

• Convenience.

In 2007, eBay introduced Neighbourhoods where groups can discuss brands and products they have a high involvement with.

For sellers:

• Access to broad global markets
• Efficient marketing and distribution
• Opportunity to increase sales.

In January 2008, eBay announced significant changes to its marketplaces business in three major areas: fee structure, seller incentives and standards, and feedback. These changes have been controversial with some sellers, but are aimed at improving the quality of experience.

Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs) enable sellers to be reviewed in four areas: (1) item as described, (2) communication, (3) delivery time and (4) postage and packaging charges. This is part of a move to help increase conversion rate by increasing positive shopping experiences.

For example, by including more accurate descriptions with better pictures and avoiding excessive shipping charges. Power sellers with positive DSRs will be featured more favourably in the search results pages and will gain additional discounts.

Risk factors

Fraud is a significant risk factor for eBay. BBC (2005) reported that around 1 in 10,000 transactions within the UK were fraudulent; 0.0001% is a small percentage, but scaling this up across the number of transactions, this is a significant volume.

To counter this, eBay has developed 'Trust and Safety Programs’ which are particularly important to reassure customers since online services are prone to fraud.

For example, the eBay feedback forum can help establish credentials of sellers and buyers. Every registered user has a feedback profile that may contain compliments, criticisms and/or other comments by users who have conducted business with that user. The Feedback Forum requires feedback to be related to specific transactions and Top Seller status was introduced in 2010 to increase trust in the service.

There is also a Safe Harbor data protection method and a standard purchase protection system.

The fees model that eBay uses is often changed and this can cause problems with users, but the impact is calculated that it does not affect overall sales. In their 2012 SEC filing eBay note: 'We regularly announce changes to our Marketplaces business intended to drive more sales and improve seller efficiency and buyer experiences and trust. Some of the changes that we have announced to date have been controversial with, and led to dissatisfaction among, our sellers, and additional changes that we announce in the future may also be negatively received by some of our sellers. This may not only impact the supply of items listed on our websites, but because many sellers also buy from our sites, it may adversely impact demand as well'.

In common with other global platforms like Amazon, Facebook and Google, eBay note the potential threat of the shift to tablet and smartphone platforms noting that one risk factor is: 'Our ability to manage the rapid shift from online commerce and payments to mobile and multi-channel commerce and payments'.

There is also the common risk factors for online pureplays of retaining an active user base, attracting new users, and encouraging existing users to list items for sale, especially when consumer spending is weak.

Competition

Although there are now few direct competitors of online auction services in many countries, there are many indirect competitors. SEC (2012) describes competing channels as including online and offline retailers, distributors, liquidators, import and export companies, auctioneers, catalogue and mail order companies, classifieds, directories, search engines, products of search engines, virtually all online and offline commerce participants and online and offline shopping channels and networks. In their SEC filing, eBay states that the principal competitive factors for the Marketplaces business include the following:

• ability to attract, retain and engage buyers and sellers;
• volume of transactions and price and selection of goods;
• trust in the seller and the transaction;
• customer service; and brand recognition.

Amazon is one of the biggest competitors since it also has marketplace sellers integrated into its products listings. It’s latest SEC filing notes: Consumers and merchants who might use our sites to sell goods also have many alternatives, including general e-commerce sites, such as Amazon and Alibaba, and more specialized sites, such as Etsy.

Competitive factors today are listed as:

• customer service;
• brand recognition;
• community cohesion, interaction and size;
• website, mobile platform and application ease-of-use and accessibility;
• system reliability and security;
• reliability of delivery and payment, including customer preference for fast delivery and free shipping and returns;
• level of service fees; and
• quality of search tools.

Before the advent of online auctions, competitors in the collectables space included antique shops, car boot sales and charity shops. Anecdotal evidence suggests that all of these are now suffering. Some have taken the attitude of ‘if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’. Many smaller traders who have previously run antique or car boot sales are now eBayers. Even charities such as Oxfam now have an eBay service where they sell high-value items contributed by donors. Other retailers such as Vodafone have used eBay as a means to distribute certain products within their range.

Objectives and strategy of eBay

The overall eBay aims are to increase the gross merchandise volume and net revenues from the eBay marketplace. More detailed objectives are defined to achieve these aims, with strategies focusing on:

• Acquisition – increasing the number of newly registered users on the eBay marketplace.
• Activation – increasing the number of registered users that become active bidders, buyers or sellers on the eBay marketplace.
• Activity  – increasing the volume and value of transactions that are conducted by each active user on the eBay marketplace.

The focus on each of these three areas will vary according to strategic priorities in particular local markets. eBay marketplace growth was driven by defining approaches to improve performance in these areas.

• First, category growth was achieved by increasing the number and size of categories within the marketplace, for example Antiques, Art, Books, and Business and Industrial.
• Second, formats for interaction. eBay Stores was developed to enable sellers with a wider range of products to showcase their products in a more traditional retail format including the traditional ‘Buy-It-Now’ fixed-price format.

eBay has constantly explored new formats, often through acquisition of other companies, for example through the acquisition in 2004 of mobile.de in Germany and Marktplaats.nl in the Netherlands, as well as investment in craigslist , the US-based classified ad format. Another acquisition is Rent.com , which enables expansion into the online housing and apartment rental category. In 2007, eBay acquired StubHub, an online ticket marketplace, and it also owns comparison marketplace Shopping.com .

Finally, marketplace growth is achieved through delivering specific sites localized for different geographies as follows.

You can see there is still potential for greater localization, for example in parts of Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Asia. Localized eBay marketplaces:

• South Korea
• Switzerland
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Philippines
• United Kingdom
• United States

In addition, eBay has a presence in Latin America through its investment in MercadoLibre.

eBay marketing strategy for growth

In its SEC filing, success factors eBay believes are important to enable it to compete in its market include:

• ability to attract buyers and sellers;
• customer service; and brand recognition.

This implies that eBay believes it has optimized these factors, but its competitors still have opportunities for improving performance in these areas which will make the market more competitive. According to its 2010 SEC filing: Our growth strategy is focused on reinvesting in our customers by improving the buyer experience and seller economics by enhancing our products and services, improving trust and safety and customer support, extending our product offerings into new formats, categories and geographies, and implementing innovative pricing and buyer retention strategies.

Updates on eBay marketing strategy information

• eBay company pages
• eBay SEC filings
• eBay Youtube commercial strategy

Found our eBay marketing strategy blog useful? Keep up to date with the latest trends and innovations with expert advice and real-life case studies so you can win more customers. Get started today.

By Dave Chaffey

Digital strategist Dr Dave Chaffey is co-founder and Content Director of online marketing training platform and publisher Smart Insights. 'Dr Dave' is known for his strategic, but practical, data-driven advice. He has trained and consulted with many business of all sizes in most sectors. These include large international B2B and B2C brands including 3M, BP, Barclaycard, Dell, Confused.com, HSBC, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, M&G Investment, Rentokil Initial, O2, Royal Canin (Mars Group) plus many smaller businesses. Dave is editor of the templates, guides and courses in our digital marketing resource library used by our Business members to plan, manage and optimize their marketing. Free members can access our free sample templates here . Dave is also keynote speaker, trainer and consultant who is author of 5 bestselling books on digital marketing including Digital Marketing Excellence and Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice . In 2004 he was recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of 50 marketing ‘gurus’ worldwide who have helped shape the future of marketing. My personal site, DaveChaffey.com, lists my latest Digital marketing and E-commerce books and support materials including a digital marketing glossary . Please connect on LinkedIn to receive updates or ask me a question .

Turbocharge your results with this toolkit containing 9 resources

• E-commerce design pattern guide
• Google Analytics for e-commerce template
• E-commerce statistics benchmark
• View the Toolkit

The E-commerce/retail toolkit contains:

FREE marketing planning templates

Start your Digital Marketing Plan today with our Free membership.

• FREE practical guides to review your approach
• FREE digital marketing plan templates
• FREE alerts on the latest developments

Solutions to your marketing challenges

• Digital Transformation
• Email Marketing and Marketing Automation
• Managing Digital Marketing Teams
• Marketing Strategy and Planning
• Multichannel lifecycle marketing

Expert advice by sector

• Business-to-Business (B2B)
• Charity and Not-For-Profit
• E-commerce and Retail
• Sector Technology Innovation
• Startups and Small Businesses

Improve your digital marketing skills with our FREE guides and templates

Join the Conversation

Recommended Blog Posts

What is customer lifecycle marketing?

Create a co-ordinated ‘always-on’ digital marketing strategy for the whole customer lifecycle to boost conversions and retention It’s no secret that engaging your customers is crucial to achieving continued sales, and it’s also well known that it is usually far …..

Personalized marketing in a competitive environment for brands and e-commerce retailers

Personalized marketing, as we know from our experiences as brand-lovers and as marketers, is the make or break of any e-commerce marketing strategy in a competitive environment Personalized marketing is all about offering improved user experience (UX) by serving relevant …..

E-commerce conversion rate benchmarks – 2024 update

E-commerce conversion rate and lead generation landing page stats for desktop and mobile devices for benchmarking averages across different industries As you will know, conversion rates are often used as a KPI to review the effectiveness of e-commerce sites. Naturally, …..

Provide details on what you need help with along with a budget and time limit. Questions are posted anonymously and can be made 100% private.

Studypool matches you to the best tutor to help you with your question. Our tutors are highly qualified and vetted.

Your matched tutor provides personalized help according to your question details. Payment is made only after you have completed your 1-on-1 session and are satisfied with your session.

California University of Management eBay Evolves Case Study Questions

User Generated

Mathematics

California University of Management and Sciences

Description

Case Study 11: eBay Evolves

Textbook (Laudon & Traver, 2019), Pages 766-769.

Answer all the 4 case study questions listed on Page 769.

Unformatted Attachment Preview

Explanation & Answer

Hello, here is the answer. Running Head: EBAY EVOLVES 1 Case Study 11: eBay Evolves Name Institution EBAY EVOLVES 2 1) Contrast eBay’s original business model with its current business model. Initially, eBay's business model was primarily concentrated on auctions. Besides, it incorporated two distinct revenue models: Advertising Revenue Model and Transactional Revenue Model. The former involved acquisition of fees from investments while the latter comprised of Low sales directives- High inventory cost. The current business model, however, is primarily concentrated on the establishment of fixed prices on goods. Also, its revenue collection methods have modified to include acquisition platforms such as Star Hub,...

24/7 Study Help

Stuck on a study question? Our verified tutors can answer all questions, from basic  math  to advanced rocket science !

Similar Content

Related tags.

problems and solutions alternative hypothesis Thinking Strategically sample critique , Indigo Inc measurement probability Confidence intervals problems and solutions literature technological advancement

Les Miserables

by Victor Hugo

by Cormac McCarthy

Sharp Objects

by Gillian Flynn

The Elegant Universe

by Brian Greene

Steppenwolf

by Hermann Hesse

by William Shakespeare

by Glennon Doyle

Killers of the Flower Moon

by David Grann

We Were Eight Years in Power

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

working on a study question?

Studypool is powered by Microtutoring TM

Copyright © 2024. Studypool Inc.

Studypool is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university.

Ongoing Conversations

Access over 35 million study documents through the notebank

Get on-demand Q&A study help from verified tutors

Read 1000s of rich book guides covering popular titles

Sign up with Google

Sign up with Facebook

Already have an account? Login

Login with Google

Login with Facebook

Don't have an account? Sign Up

Review Case Study 11.5 – eBay Evolves in the textbook. Answer the four questions at the end of the case study. Then, create a presentation for this case study.

Requirements

• Provide an overview of the case.
• Include answers to all questions at the end of the case study.
• Present 8-10 slides, not including the title and reference pages.

Order NOW to get 15% Discount!

Try it now!

Get 20% Discount on This Paper

How it works?

Follow these simple steps to get your paper done

Place your order

Fill in the order form and provide all details of your assignment.

Proceed with the payment

Choose the payment system that suits you most.

Receive the final file

Once your paper is ready, we will email it to you.

Our Services

Help in Schoolwork has stood as the world’s leading custom essay writing services providers. Once you enter all the details in the order form under the place order button, the rest is up to us.

Essay Writing Services

At Help in Schoolwork, we prioritize on all aspects that bring about a good grade such as impeccable grammar, proper structure, zero-plagiarism and conformance to guidelines. Our experienced team of writers will help you completed your essays and other assignments.

Admission and Business Papers

Be assured that you’ll definitely get accepted to the Master’s level program at any university once you enter all the details in the order form. We won’t leave you here; we will also help you secure a good position in your aspired workplace by creating an outstanding resume or portfolio once you place an order.

Editing and Proofreading

Our skilled editing and writing team will help you restructure you paper, paraphrase, correct grammar and replace plagiarized sections on your paper just on time. The service is geared toward eliminating any mistakes and rather enhancing better quality.

Technical papers

We have writers in almost all fields including the most technical fields. You don’t have to worry about the complexity of your paper. Simply enter as much details as possible in the place order section.

• Arts & Humanities
• Communications

ebay inc. case study

Related documents.

Add this document to collection(s)

You can add this document to your study collection(s)

Add this document to saved

You can add this document to your saved list

Suggest us how to improve StudyLib

(For complaints, use another form )

Input it if you want to receive answer

• Free Case Studies
• Business Essays

Write My Case Study

Buy Case Study

Case Study Help

• Case Study For Sale
• Case Study Services
• Hire Writer

Case Study Questions on eBay

Contrast Ebay ‘s original business model with its latest proposed business model. EBay’s original business model was to attract sellers to auction goods, products, and collectibles whether they’re brand new or pre owned. They relied heavily on the sellers to gain their income. Now, eBay’s business model has changed quite a bit. The majority of sellers are now big retailers selling out of season or overstocked products at a fixed price. Also, they rely heavily on papal for revenue since you absolutely must have a papal to purchase from eBay as all transactions go through them.

A portion of the fees goes to eBay.

We Will Write a Custom Case Study Specifically For You For Only $13.90/page!

What are the problems that eBay is currently facing? How is eBay trying to solve these problems?

A problem that eBay is currently facing is the continued growth of Bill Me Later. It increases overall risk for the company putting downward pressure on stock price. Expanding into loans is coupled with the risk of default and regulatory issues. One of eBay’s solutions Is expanding the market place and mobile app technology. They have increased the marketplace by having diverse sections such as autos, electronics, clothing, etc.

Also, eBay’s mobile up has received millions of downloads along with millions of listings. The more they list and sell, the higher the revenue.

Are the solutions eBay is seeking to implement good solutions? Why or why not? Are there any other solutions that eBay should consider?

I don’t necessary believe that their solutions are good. Technically, they’re Just forgoing the risk of BPML by expanding areas where they can sell. What happens when they reach the ceiling of expansion? One solution that I would suggest is to getting rid of BPML. Although they account for 14% of all sales, the risk Is greater than their results.

Who are eBay’s top three competitors online, and how will eBay’s new strategy help It compete? Will eBay be providing a differentiated service to customer?

The top three competitors are Amazon , Google Search, and scraggliest.

Their new strategy helps broaden their reach making them customers go to store to search for anything. Mobile app Is also top notch as It has different APS for different goods such as fashion app, motors app, and even Redresser checking app. I’m assuming eBay would provide differentiated service to customer as they probably have different reps for the different departments that they have.

Related posts:

• EBay owns the company called Papal Case Study
• SWOT Analysis of EBay U.S and EBay Asia
• Case Study on EBay
• Case Study Ebay
• Case Study EBAY
• eBay Blackthorns Case Study

Quick Links

Privacy Policy

Terms and Conditions

Testimonials

Our Services

Case Study Writing Services

Case Studies For Sale

Our Company

Welcome to the world of case studies that can bring you high grades! Here, at ACaseStudy.com, we deliver professionally written papers, and the best grades for you from your professors are guaranteed!

[email protected] 804-506-0782 350 5th Ave, New York, NY 10118, USA

Acasestudy.com © 2007-2019 All rights reserved.

Hi! I'm Anna

Would you like to get a custom case study? How about receiving a customized one?

Haven't Found The Case Study You Want?

For Only $13.90/page