To cope with the "Chinese-style" internal circulation, eBay plans to invest heavily in live shopping and AI

According to Business Insider, on August 1, eBay CEO Jamie Iannone revealed the platform's next development strategy in an interview. With sales GMV and active users declining, as well as strong competition from Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Temu, eBay plans to bet on live shopping and AI.

According to eBay's second-quarter financial report, its revenue increased by 5% to $2.5 billion (about 2.3 billion euros) compared with the same period last year, but the total GMV of merchandise sales fell by 2% to 16.5 billion euros. At the same time, eBay's active users also fell by 3% to 131 million in the second quarter.

eBay's main competitors in North America have always been large e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Walmart. However, as Chinese B2C platforms that focus on low-priced goods such as Shein, Temu, and TikTokShop sweep North America, local e-commerce platforms are facing huge competitive pressure against the backdrop of rising inflation and interest rates.

In this regard, eBay CEO Jamie Iannone revealed that the company's next plan is to bet on artificial intelligence and live shopping to achieve seller and user growth, while continuing to focus on its key category markets. Facing the offensive of Chinese e-commerce platforms, Iannone said that eBay's current scale is sufficient to withstand competition.

Continue to focus on key categories and buyers

Iannone rejoined eBay as CEO in April 2020. At the beginning of his tenure, he implemented a strategy in which the platform will invest more in key categories, including sneakers, handbags, watches, stickers, and auto parts.

In addition, eBay also focuses on "high-frequency buyers", which refers to buyers who buy at least 6 times a year and spend more than 3,000 euros on average. eBay data shows that there are about 16 million such sellers, contributing 70% of eBay's sales, and 90% of buyers purchase key categories of goods.

In order to continue to attract such buyers to purchase key categories, eBay has launched a series of initiatives.

For example, eBay has launched an Authenticity Verification Program for sneakers, which employs experts to verify that products are authentic, and is expanding the program to other categories, such as watches and bags, as well as markets outside the United States.

eBay has also launched a new program called Brand Authentication, which works directly with brands to ensure that the second-hand goods they sell on its platform are authentic. Earlier this month, eBay completed its acquisition of Certilogo, an AI-based clothing authentication company, and the authentication program is expected to expand to the clothing category.

Iannone said eBay hopes these measures will improve buyers' trust and attract more new buyers. According to him, eBay's measures have been effective, with the number of new customers increasing for two consecutive quarters.

The next step will be to invest heavily in live shopping and AI

eBay CEO Jamie Iannone revealed that eBay plans to bet heavily on new technologies such as artificial intelligence and live shopping. Currently, eBay has integrated OpenAI technology through Microsoft Cloud to promote its Listing automatic editing technology, which can create product descriptions based on the title, category and other data entered by the seller.

The next version that eBay plans to launch is image recognition technology, which can generate listings based on pictures provided by sellers, helping sellers reduce the work of listing products.

According to Iannone, eBay also plans to increase its investment in live shopping. Currently, more than 100 sellers have tried eBay's version of live shopping, with total sales exceeding US$1 million.

Although live shopping is still in its infancy in the United States, and many large platforms have also cancelled this feature, such as Facebook and Instagram, the market continues to grow. As Iannone said, the first batch of sellers who piloted eBay live broadcasts have achieved good results.

When asked about new competitors such as TikTok, Shein or Temu, Iannone said eBay will continue to focus on implementing the above strategies to compete with its competitors.

He also mentioned that 85% of eBay's traffic is currently free or organic, which means that most buyers enter its platform through Google searches. Platforms such as Shein or Temu are still investing heavily in marketing, so eBay's market position will not be shaken in the short term, but it will not slack off.

Editor✎ Ashley/

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