eBay CEO John Donahoe notes that last year, the e-commerce was worth $5 billion. Now, he states that there is a $8 trillion to $10 trillion opportunity. “What’s happened over the last 12 to 18 months is that the line between e-commerce and retail is coming down,” said Donahoe, “It’s not just blurring. It’s falling down like the Berlin Wall.”
Before 2011eBay was a competitor for larger retailers primarily focused on promoting relationships with small and medium-sized businesses. But with several acquisitions in the last year that has formed eBay’s X.commerce platform (comprised of primarily mobile commerce startups and their technologies), eBay is going from what Donahoe described as from “defense to offense.” “We want to become the partner of choice for retailers of all sizes to compete in this new commerce world,” Donahoe affirmed.
Donahoe explained that eBay is responding to the following requests from retailers:
• A multi-channel platform because customers want a seamless experience between online and offline shopping
• A way to handle demand generation (stemming from sources such as Facebook, LivingSocial and Groupon) and also drive traffic into stores (online and offline)
• A way to go global
Donahue explains, “We are positioning the company as a technology partner for those retailers and we will not compete with them. We’re positioning to help provide data for them.” PayPal, an eBay company, is also part of ebay's retailing push with its new mobile commerce and digital wallet solutions, with a Facebook Connect-like integration seen on online stores and then mobile apps for shopping in brick-and-mortar locations.
Thus, eBay is working to cover all bases of the commerce scene going forward. Ebay will be going up against stiff competition in Amazon and Facebook and seems to be playing catch-up rather than being out front leading. What do you think about ebay's chances of becoming a e-tailing platform for large retailers?
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