eBay Spain comes of age in October this year. Although, to be more precise, at an international level the famous marketplace kicked off just 25 years ago. It is currently present in 183 countries and it is so successful because from the beginning it has been concerned with being at the forefront of consumer trends and needs, always prioritizing security in transactions.
Therefore, as a tribute, we do a review of all history of one of the most important platforms without its own inventory worldwide that today continues to enjoy very good health.
eBay Spain, an eCommerce with more than 2.5 million users where mobile is king
As is the case in other countries, eBay Spain is the second marketplace largest in the country after Amazon, with a among Spanish buyers. It has more than 2.5 million users and sells an average of 12.5 million items each year. Not only that, it makes more than 54 million articles available to consumers and its app has been downloaded in Spain more than 4 million times.
And in these marketplaces, mobile is already king: one out of every two purchases on the platform eBay is done from smartphones.
History of eBay: a project to promote safe buying and selling on the Internet
eBay has been consolidated as one of the most important eCommerce in the world for several years, but it was born as a very risky project. Pierre Omidyarits founder, inaugurated the platform under the name of Auctionweb and its objective was to create a market that would promote secure exchange between users over the Internet. It was 1995, and we must bear in mind that then the distrust of users with new technologies was normal.
But these beginnings went well. In less than a year, sales of goods and services on the platform had reached more than €7 millionand in just two 2 years a million products had already been sold on its marketplace (the item “1 million” It was a Sesame Street jack-in-the-box, by the way.) During this time, AuctionWeb is officially renamed eBay.
In 1998, eBay already had 30 employees and half a million users, mainly in the US. It was an important year because went public and made its first acquisitions (Jump Inc, Up4Sale). On the other hand, it was introducing new tools with the aim of personalizing the marketplace as much as possible to improve the user experience.
2002: eBay Spain finally arrives
The following year, in July 1999, eBay opens up to the world and launches its eCommerce in Germany, Australia and the . In Spain would not arrive until 2002which is the time when eBay makes the most important acquisition in its history: buys PayPal for 1,360 million euros. Its market was growing and it needed an innovative payment system that was secure and hassle-free to finally hit the ground running.
eBay history: it becomes the main online platform for ticket sales
Between 2004 and 2007, eBay carried out other strategic transactions such as buying rent.com, Gumtree… or Skype, acquired in 2005 for €1.92 billion (eBay would end up selling it four years later, after failing to exploit the synergies between the two companies). Special mention deserves the acquisition of the ticket sales platform stubhubwhich at that time raised eBay as the main online ticket sales platform.
This same company bought in 2016 the Spanish ticket bis to be able to expand in Latin America, southern Europe and Asia. However, in 2019, .
eBay launches its app and incorporates other features
In 2008, he finally launches his app, coinciding with the arrival of John Donahoe as CEO – replacing Meg Whitman who had been there since 1998-. It should be noted that eBay was one of the first companies in history in launching an eCommerce app for iPhone.
On the other hand, during this period and following years, eBay is concentrating on incorporating new functionalities such as “Bill Me Later” (to make payments more flexible), “Top Sellers” (top sellers) or Magento Y Zong to improve the capabilities of your eCommerce even in its mobile version. At this time he also released ebay enterprise (purchased as GSI Commerce) to help merchants optimize sales regardless of channel.
The end of the story of eBay and PayPal as a single company
Although Paypal was the preferred payment system for users, eBay decides to separate from PayPal in 2015. From the marketplace itself they argued that the change, which involved PayPal’s IPO, sought to offer lower cost to sellers and more payment options for buyers. The truth is that this movement was also intended to give Paypal greater independence to specialize in its sector.
Finally, in 2018 PayPal was replaced by the German platform Adyen as your main payment method partner.
eBay has focused on Artificial Intelligence
In recent years, eBay has focused, above all, on innovative technologies. In recent years, new tools based on the machine learning Yet the Artificial intelligence in order to optimize the resources of the platform to the maximum. For example:
- expert maker (2016)
- new home page (2017) to further personalize the shopping experience
- Image Search Go Live (2018) to be able to search for products with images and not words
- Tool for sellers to choose the best plan to ship your products (2018)
Main goal for the future: an increasingly personalized user experience
Currently and for the future, eBay wants to continue betting on these new technologies to continue to be recognized as a pioneer marketplacein the same way that it revolutionized secure online payments at the time.
Thus, its goal is to continue revolutionizing online shopping and for users to have an increasingly personalized user experience.Such as Maite González, Marketing Director of eBay Spain last november “We care about experiences tailored to each shopper because we know that a technology-loving millennial and a 50-plus gardener have different needs. And we understand that the key to trading of the future is personalization.”
All without neglecting SMEs and offering a unique inventory that is characterized by having exclusive items at a good price.
Image: Depositphotos
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