By Laura Stevens
EBay Inc. wants people to think of it as a first stop for all
online shopping, not as an auction house of stuff from grandma's
attic.
The e-commerce site is trying to redefine itself to capture new,
younger consumers who shop on their phones and don't have time to
scroll through thousands of listings. It is rolling out improved
search features and personalized recommendations and reviews. A new
ad campaign stars a supermodel, and wine is now available.
EBay should have already shed its old-school reputation, the
company says: 80% of the items on the site are new, and 86% are
sold at a fixed price. But it faces stiff competition from
Amazon.com Inc. as well as traditional retailers that now excel in
e-commerce.
"We asked ourselves why we exist as a brand, how we personify
ourselves and what it is we offer," said Karl Isaac, eBay's vice
president of global brand. EBay aims "to start closing the
perception gap."
The first effects of its revamp could be on display Wednesday,
when eBay is expected to report a 4% increase in third-quarter
revenue to $2.19 billion, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson
Reuters.
Auctions are an outmoded fad of the early internet, with most
sites abandoning that method in favor of setting a fixed price,
said Stanford University economics professor Liran Einav, who has
studied eBay.
Shopping online has become more functional compared with during
the early days of eBay, which started in 1995, because people now
have many more ways to spend time online, from video streaming to
social media. The volume of pricing information online also makes
it easy to know an item's value, making auctions less compelling.
"People got excited about bidding and winning and losing, and it's
not as fun any more," he said.
Over the years, eBay has repeatedly tried to reinvent itself as
online shopping matured, including by luring big brands to sell on
the site. It is also facing stiffer competition, as major retailers
from Target Corp. to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have amped up their
e-commerce businesses. EBay competes with Amazon to attract sellers
to its site.
But the stakes are higher for eBay now. It has been struggling
to find its footing after splitting from PayPal Holdings Inc. last
year, following a contentious battle with activist investor Carl
Icahn.
The split from PayPal caused a period of soul searching at eBay,
said Mr. Isaac. With a largely new slate of executives, the company
spent months outlining responses to key trends changing its
business, including a growing shift toward shopping on phones and
the availability of data.
In one of the biggest changes, eBay is cataloging its listings.
The move, which requires sellers to input more information to
better organize products, should help eBay appear higher in
Alphabet Inc. unit Google's search results. That has been a
challenge for eBay because individual listings change so
quickly.
It also means that instead of a list of 65,000 individual
digital camera offerings, the site can now display cameras grouped
by brand, price and deals to better direct shoppers unwilling to
scroll.
EBay is also adding more personalized recommendations based on
previous purchases. The site should recognize if a shopper would
prefer a $7 scarf versus a $70 scarf, for example.
Some of the changes benefit sellers. A new one-stop platform
tells sellers what items are selling well on the site or running
low. EBay has also added branded boxes and tape, increasing its
visibility in a crowded market.
For Cyndi Zlotow, who has been selling on eBay for 14 years from
near Chicago, the changes are working. Over the past couple of
months, she has seen an increase in new buyers of the as many as
2,000 new and used fashion items she has listed.
Still, "I think there is a hurdle that eBay has to overcome with
their brand," she said, adding that some shoppers still overlook it
as an option, including her millennial children.
Last month, the company launched a new social-media advertising
campaign featuring young supermodel Karlie Kloss, who outfits her
apartment with items bought on eBay such as a Bluetooth speaker and
a KitchenAid stand mixer.
EBay has a strength in that many millennials are open to buying
vintage or used offerings, said Ken Seiff, managing partner at
early-stage retail technology venture capital fund Beanstalk
Ventures and a former retail executive. "But that's not the direct
message of eBay's new marketing campaign," he said.
Jason Burke is a frequent eBay buyer, most recently purchasing
three '90s-era T-shirts, a bolo tie and some old videogames via
bidding or fixed-price sales. The 34-year-old comedian and writer
said vintage clothes are cheaper on eBay than at stores near where
he lives in Brooklyn.
But even the self-described eBay lover buys new iPhones from
Apple Inc. and uses Amazon to purchase items for his dog and
staples for around the house.
EBay is "just not where I think to go for something brand new,"
he said.
Write to Laura Stevens at laura.stevens@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 19, 2016 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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