eBay's Chase for Brands

[chapeaunoir]

Some input from eBay Marketing on future directions - surprisingly honest about where the site stands and where they think they need to go (including to keep up with general etailing). 

Trying to Catch Up

[chapeaunoir]

I think I put this in the wrong section - should be 'news stories' - sorry about that!

[Pantlandia]

"One of the reasons why eBay is often forgotten is that few brands see it as a channel. Most items sold on the site are coming from the tens of millions of third-party sellers. Which by itself is not a problem, but has meant that few brands have a relationship with eBay in the same way the do with other marketplaces, especially Amazon."

This kind of stood out to me. Aren't 100% of the sales from 3rd party vendors? eBay is not set up like Amazon and both started with completely different business plan. eBay started out as a 3rd party selling site, Amazon started out selling stuff that they procured. Amazon slowly let others sell on their site (and I bet it's partially because they saw how eBay made money from it). eBay has yet to sell their own items. Even the big retailers handle their own transactions.

[SA]

I get what you're saying Jeremy. But on the customer side, they don't care who it comes from really. 3rd party, actual site, manufacture, etc.

It's about the bottom line and what is attracting customers to the site. It seems like it's brands. Sure, eBay has some brands on board, but not at the same rate Amazon does.

[chapeaunoir]

eBay has been discussing fulfillment by eBay (FBE) www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2018/4/1522801199.html and I think it may be dovetailing with this brand concept. I think eBay has already lost the battle with Amazon and these are misguided attempts at trying to reclaim their dominancy, but they can win the WAR by parlaying their own strengths, which is variety and not having to support physical infrastructure. Yet I can also see the necessity to attract a wider audience, and people know brands. Also, brands are able to actually develop markets through Amazon itself as well as Amazon being able to have white label brands (often as add-ons) under their own name (I buy quite a few of these for my computer resales) - it's a big driver. So I get eBay's stance on this as well.

I was very interested in Suzy Deering's comments because they show strong awareness, and now am curious where this is going. I just hope they can do something more innovative and in line with the site's strengths.

[val2525]

EBay can't even compentently train CSRs. No way would I let them handle and ship my inventory.

[kritter]

Apr 5, 2018 2:44:12 GMT val2525 said:

EBay can't even compentently train CSRs. No way would I let them handle and ship my inventory.

My thoughts exactly.  Talk about a recipe for disaster.

[val2525]

Now if eBay farmed the service out to a reputable company, I could see large sellers being interested.

But that also opens eBay up to sales tax collection. Well, sellers using that distibution center anyway. Not eBay directly since ebay isn't selling (amazon does).

[RetroMonde]

"Despite the $36 billion in sales in the US, three times that of Walmart e-commerce, it has lost relevance in the battle to dethrone Amazon."  IMHO that's a huge part of their problem- they're having an identity crisis. I don't think they have a clear plan but dethroning Amazon doesn't seem like a very plausible solution (tho Amazon is bound to shoot themselves in their own foot one of these days; no one reigns forever without f-n up occasionally). 

As Suzy Deering, eBay’s chief marketing officer, put it “We have all the things that so many brands want, but what we’re missing is the heart and soul.” The 10s of millions of sellers are full of heart & soul; we're what made eBay eBay. We're the strength that eBay wants to shove under the carpet. If they were really smart they'd figure out a way to showcase & utilize our "heart & soul" as well as nurture larger brands so we all fit together on one VENUE. I do think they forget they're a venue; the only thing they're selling anybody is 'real estate' to place our listings on and potential buyer's eyeballs that may lead to a sale eventually (if they don't hide our stuff for a myriad of reasons.  

And just exactly what do they mean by brands anyway? Are we talking "Coach", Gucci, Charmin or the zillion of off-shore sellers of stuff? Buzzwords just give me a headache. Sorry if I sound grouchy- only 4 days in but April's been a long month.

[SA]

I see it a bit differently.
Sure, a million independent sellers built eBay. But buyers are changing. And eBay can’t sustain the marketplace with just us. They can’t. Because it’s not enough to sustain what customers want.

By “brands”, it’s any brands. The North Face, Ann Taylor, Samsung, etc.

I think it would be great if we can get more brands on board! It will drive more traffic to the site. It wouldn’t scare me to have them here.

A great example: I just listed a bunch of Roxy. Guess who else sells on eBay? Roxy. Want to know what the difference between their item and my item? I have better keywords. I fill out all of the item specifics. I give measurements. I promote my eBay store/items.

[val2525]

I agree with Liz. I don't mind more brands on eBay.

I don't consider other sellers here to be my competition. My competition is anything that takes the buyer OFF of eBay. It's like the neighborhood mall. As long as the buyer is in the building, there is a chance they will come to your store at some point. Once the buyer leaves, though, everyone suffers because no one gets the sale. The more QUALITY sellers here, the longer buyers will be on the site and the better the chance of being seen.

A good example:
I used to pass on Avenue brand in plus size, it just didn't sell here. I even passed it up at $0.50 and $0.99, that's how badly it (didn't) sell. A few years back, Avenue started selling here. After about a year of their presence here, I noticed used and older stock NWT Avenue was selling. I now pick up every piece I can find (if condition and price is right). It sells now. Having Avenue selling here is beneficial to me. First, more buyers for Avenue (and indirectly for me!). They may want something current and new, but my stuff will come up in an Avenue search and they may see something of mine they like better. I get a sale. Second, they may like something Avenue has, but they don't like the price. They see my stuff, similar but better priced, and buy my stuff instead. It's a win/win deal. More Avenue buyers for me, another sales outlet for Avenue.

However - eBay had better make sure their distribution idea works flawlessly before they dump some mega sellers into the program.

[chapeaunoir]

I think eBay can utilize brand recognition without throwing the rest of us out - but they don't seem to have a very good concept of brand unity and the way merchandising actually works. Unless brands start dumping (i.e., penny discounting, which isn't common) their presence is more likely to raise prices for the secondary market and gather more revenue, and the secondary market can create interest for the primary market, but there seems to be an either/or mindset.

[thekloset]

good, thoughtful article.

But what they are missing are fundamental tools and services other platforms offer. Like landing pages, branding for listings, creative content like video, advertising services, etc. Or the things other marketplaces don’t offer - rich data and a way to talk to consumers directly.

back to that identity crisis.....

so these are tools that are important if you have a stand alone site.

they are, in fact, tools that will piss off you loyal seller base since for the most part they have been disallowed here (and in some cases highly punishable) in the interest of the venue. no one place is supposed to be better than the other, since its a venue. the avenue and the loft should sell right next to us on the level playing field and can do exactly that any day of the week right now.
but they should not have access to specialty tools that average jill doesn't have availed to them. i would have to guess that any incarnation of the types of tools i envision based on that description really wouldn't be useful or easily implemented by the small seller if they were even open to all--at least on a practical level.

if you want a landing page make a website. with a cart. done. every retailer should have one. its an ecommerce world.

i'm having a bit of a hard time seeing how that dovetails into the ebay model without serious cowtowing.  if you think there is resentment to the chinese sellers now, just wait if this comes to fruition. ANY time anyone is talking about pushing ANY sellers "below the fold" purposely and expecting them to pay for the privilege there is a problem.

all i know for sure is that every single time some retailer tries to grab a piece of the pie they flame out and burn because they cant meet the best practices of the venue. usually its due to fulfillment issues but sometimes its due to just not understanding the market or incompetence with the tools they do have.

toys r us comes to mind. ideeli is another glorious flame out.

you just cant BE everything to everyone.

i think its a very, very long road to get to what a retailer would want and expect and its the road paved to hell with what it would take to get there.

[SA]

Apr 5, 2018 1:54:28 GMT chapeaunoir said:

eBay has been discussing fulfillment by eBay (FBE) www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2018/4/1522801199.html and I think it may be dovetailing with this brand concept. 

I could be wrong, but this is just the hamster on the wheel in my brain spinning:

I follow eBay closely.  eBay for Business - eBay Newsroom - eBay - a handful of Facebook groups - eBay radio - eBay blog.  I think I remember hearing a peep about this when ecommercebytes ran this.  And that's it.  No other place have I heard it being brought up as a possibility or whispers of something in the works. It was just a survey.  I personally don't see it happening.  At least not like Amazon does.  Think about it: It pretty much already exists.  You can "consign" with eBay already in certain categories.  Which is basically the same thing.

[Deleted]

From the article, this:

However now increasingly brands do care about how they are represented on marketplaces, making them rethink the website experience, data sharing, and other features.

What benefit is Ebay to any other brand? They really have little to offer any company. 

Liz brought up a great point about Roxy. Why would I, as a buyer, go to Ebay to purchase Roxy? I can scroll through hundreds of sellers and buy Roxy, both new and used. Why should I specifically look for Roxy on there? If I want something new season - maybe a seller like Liz, who has good keywords and great ad, will catch my eye and I'll purchase.

I think they were left behind in that sense. Now Amazon - maybe I'll go there and look because I most likely will get the Prime shipping because I'm already a member. And with Prime I get movies, tv, a whole bunch of stuff. With Ebay, I may get something shipped when it's suppose to ship. 

What benefit are they to Nike, North Face, Coach, MK, etc....  and thousands more. Those companies are still trying to get fakes off the site.

And this quote: 


“Younger customers don’t have misperceptions of eBay - they don’t have any perceptions. We’re not even in their awareness at all.”



– Suzy Deering, eBay’s chief marketing officer

If they want to grow, then they need to continue to advertise.  Maybe they need to develop their own line of goods. IDK 

[RetroMonde]

ITA with Kloset- it's an identity or mid-life crisis. They've wandered around the past few years and allowed themselves to lag behind other venues for whatever reason and now they're playing catch-up. I WANT them to succeed and become a valued destination for all age shoppers and the really could do become that again. But (IMHO) they can't do that (or shouldn't attempt to) by just mimic-ing or becoming only a clone of Amazon or Walmart. I admit I don't understand the psychology of battling corporate giants that ALL want to be the ONLY number 1. But it seems to me that eBay's secondary market of used items is a tremendous asset that the other venues don't allow; they sould leverage that instead of seeming to be embarrassed about it.

I thought a lot about the comment Chief Marketing Officer Suzy Deering made about "heart & soul" last night. Really that's sorta BS if they wanna be Amazon or Walmart; corporate giants online aren't known for having an excess of heart & soul. That the CMO said that is evidence of the depth of their identity crisis. Perhaps they need to stop inventing robots like Cassini and whatever the new AI bot is and just concentrate on the core stuff like delivering a positive buyer AND seller experience. That's basic, isn't it? Won't happy buyers and successful sellers sorta start the whole symbiotic ball rolling again and give them some bargaining chips to entice more brands to the venue?

[SA]

Apr 5, 2018 16:53:27 GMT @dantes said:

And this quote: 


“Younger customers don’t have misperceptions of eBay - they don’t have any perceptions. We’re not even in their awareness at all.”



– Suzy Deering, eBay’s chief marketing officer

If they want to grow, then they need to continue to advertise.  Maybe they need to develop their own line of goods. IDK 

ADVERTISING ADVERTISING ADVERTISING!

In the right venues for the right audience.  Sponsored ads on FB.  Twitter. IG.  Pandora. Spotify. Netflix. Hulu. YouTube. 

[chapeaunoir]

I'm in eBay Expressions and I can't remember when exactly it was, but fulfillment by eBay came up in a survey a little while back. IAC, the fulfillment by eBay concept has been rolling around since at least @2014 (Doho's newspaper trucks?) and recurs every so often. I don't think they'll do it for pretty obvious reasons (infrastructure, logistics, parity), and their other fulfillment program(s) haven't really worked with the latest one being retired,  but I found it interesting that it popped up again with the product based search being rolled out because due to the reasons thekloset stated, I don't think brands will continue to use eBay to any great extent unless there's some kind of direct control, which is actual site fulfillment without 3rd party involvement. 

[somany]

I will admit I don’t understand all that is being said in the article but I can’t help but think that what ebay is saying here is entirely different than what they are doing.

The current drive is to give free shipping, free returns, lower your price to beat your competition (and then lower it again when they lower theirs), etc. What major brand in their right mind would bring their products here? Think about North Face, Levi, Nike, Columbia, Adidas and others who won’t even let retailers include their brands on the store coupons—what would be the draw to come sell on eBay? Ebay is doing the exact opposite of what it needs to be doing to attract brands by forcing its sellers to give away the store every time they make a sale.

[val2525]

“Younger customers don’t have misperceptions of eBay - they don’t have any perceptions. We’re not even in their awareness at all.”

Yet eBay should be in younger buyers minds. Many Millenials are into saving and recycling. Ebay needs more advertising, but the ads need to be targeted to specific demographics and then advertised on platforms that those demographics use. That means they may need 2, 3, maybe 4 campaigns running at a time with differing demographic approaches and appeals.

Right now, I get the feeling that eBay is using a one size fits all sort of ad campaign and going for the cheapest, widest reach they can get.

[Deleted]

Didn't eBay already try, and mostly fail, at getting brands onboard a few years back?

[chapeaunoir]

Apr 7, 2018 10:45:59 GMT @fashionboulevard said:

Didn't eBay already try, and mostly fail, at getting brands onboard a few years back?

I recall that and I'm not sure what happened, but there was also a 'fashion collective' which I think fizzled out. I just don't think people look on eBay for that kind of thing and other competing websites just do a better job at it.