Results Count ... everything else is conversation.: eBay - The other ecommerce giant who is reinventing retail

Why do today's most innovative retailers seem to start with a vowel?

Image: Renjith Krishnan; Freedigitalphotos.net

The hottest retailers on the planet seem to start with an "A". You can't scan the weekly headlines without seeing Amazon. While Amazon dominates the west, the "A" player of the east that is growing just as fast is Alibaba. However, the unnoticed innovator of the new omni-channel world of retail starts with an "e". eBay has been around so long that is often thought of a just that "auction site". But, eBay has been quietly innovating in ways that position it as a leader in omni-channel integration that will be required for the future of retail.

eBay – That auction site that is growing into omni-channel

If you ask most consumers what eBay is, they typically would say: "oh that auction site". Make no mistake about it, eBay is the world's largest auction site. You can find everything from expensive technical products, to cheapest everyday household items up for auction. The genius of the auction dynamic is incredible website traffic. In order to win an auction with the low bid, the "lookers" and bidders check back on items up for auction MANY times.

eBay rarely gets the press of Amazon. But, eBay has spearheaded innovations that have become both the glue and the currency of ecommerce. In order to solve the real buyer/seller concerns for secure payment for auction items, eBay helped launch PayPal. PayPal not only secures payment, it enables consumers to make payment from a bank account without having to own a credit card. PayPal has been so successful as a secure currency, PayPal is now accepted for payment at many traditional bricks and mortar retailers.

Buy-it-Now … eBay crossed the chasm to full e-commerce retailing

Image: Stuart Miles; Freedigitalphotos.net

While you can get a great deal on eBay auctions, the process of an auction is not for everyone. As a photographer who values high end lenses, I have made a number of purchases through eBay auctions. And, while I got a great deal on my "Great White" (big Canon telephoto lens), it took an incredible amount of time. To get the best deals, you literally have to online the last few minutes to win the bid, which is impossible when traveling. I lost a number of auctions by merely a few dollars and cents, which meant going back and starting all over again on another auction. Plus, it takes a while for the seller to ship.

Enter the solution to auction bidding frustration: "Buy-it-Now". The game on eBay was to play the last second waiting game—bid in order to get the best price. By introducing another option of "Buy-it-Now", it enabled time starved buyers an option for instant gratification on items they deemed to have "good enough" price. Buy-it-Now accomplished another significant thing. It attracted many more sellers posting new goods with attractive prices.

Buy-it-Now literally enabled eBay to be become an ecommerce mall for both large and small sellers to reach international buying community on a site with incredible traffic. Today, many established bricks and mortar retailers such as Target, Best Buy and Toys "R" Us use eBay selling sites within the eBay umbrella to sell excess inventory and new items to attract consumers with products and pricing that might be disruptive to their mainstream business or their own ecommerce sites.

eBay continues to evolve to engage consumers any time everywhere

eBay's PayPal and Buy-it-Now are now "old news" and passé. There's an old saying in business that especially applies to retailing today:

"Even if you're on the right track, you still get run over if you are not moving …"

What has eBay done lately to innovate and differentiate? eBay would probably point out a host of innovations on their website and infrastructure, which creates ease of use. I would testify to the quality eBay's mobile app. It literally lets consumers search, bid or purchase any time everywhere.

The best are disruptive … eBay's recent disruptive innovation pilots

Let it not be said that eBay is not at the forefront of testing new concepts to reach today's new mobile omni-channel consumers. Recent innovations not only have tremendous potential for eBay, but collaborative benefits with traditional store based retailers as well.

PayPal's new networks with retail stores

We have posted previously about pilots in major cities like Amsterdam. While strolling through The Nines district in Amsterdam, consumers were able to scan QR codes in store front windows to purchase items that they wanted. Purchases made on mobile phones were delivered to consumers in special packaging at their homes. All of this was powered and sponsored by a PayPal network among the retailers.

eBay's HUGE touch screens - Shopable windows in the mecca of NYC retailing

eBay's shoppable windows in New York City are perhaps an even more impressive integrated retail implementation that literally grabs attention of shoppers. The window displays were fitted with screens 9 feet across and 2 feet high. These are TOUCH screens! Shoppers can literally touch the screens to purchase the products, and have them delivered via courier within an hour! Payment of course will be through eBay's PayPal, of course.

eBay's Differentiation Strategy – Collaboration with retailers

Amazon is also aggressively inviting retailers to sell under their tent as "associates". But, there have been many articles and complaints by retailers that when Amazon finds a profitable category, it exploits it with Amazon direct sales undercutting Associate sellers. eBay's recent moves indicate a radically different strategy from that of Amazon's continued expansion of just ecommerce.

eBay is collaborating with traditional retailers in multiple omni-channel execution. Not only does eBay encourage retailers like Best Buy and Toys "R" Us to open "shops" within the eBay ecommerce market place, they are aggressively partnering with retailers to benefit traditional bricks and mortar stores. eBay's touch screens in store windows can offer significant advantages and benefits for traditional stores:

Driving traffic back to stores and store merchandising displays
Creating new consumer excitement and engagement with retail stores
Expanding the retailer store assortment capability from hundreds of SKUs to a virtual shelf with unlimited choices and thousands of options of colors and styles
Significantly reducing inventory size, costs … and ultimately store size
Potential for same day deliver or even faster than Amazon

eBay's new omni-channel partnering strategy offers tremendous competitive advantages for retailers. eBay can quite literally launch them into a competitive omni-channel presence, especially mobility. According to Steve Yankovich, head of the New Ventures group, which helped develop the shoppable touch screen windows:

eBay's "shoppable windows" are an extension of the shift to mobile shopping. This extends the boundary of the store. Suddenly the physical store, by virtue of online technology, extends to any space that's interesting to use."

Watch for the "Wall as a Mall" … it is a Store of the Future

The store of the future will NOT be just a revision of the traditional store, or just Amazon. It will be a hybrid that creates the seamless experiences mobile omini-channel shoppers prefer, and models that enable a seamless virtual shelf expansion from the store.

In talking about the eBay shoppable touch screen application in NYC, William McComb from Kate Spade coined the term "Wall as a Mall". eBay is literally creating unique competitive strategies in forming partnerships with retailers to compete more cost effectively in urban markets where retail space is scarce and very costly.

eBay is not just your old auction site anymore! eBay is now a major force and the "technological glue" driving the omni-channel retailer store of the future.