Further News
+ A few social commerce tips for the holidays.
+ Can online shopping distract work performance?
+ A lesson in social commerce is teaching the world how to save.

Looking Back on eBay Ink
December 1st, 2010: Cyber Monday sees @ebaymobile jump 146%. New eBay interactive web app shows global mobile shopping trends #eBayMap. In step with pretty much every story I’ve been reading over the past few days, eBay shoppers also went mobile on Cyber Monday (why are we still calling it that by the way? I mean, isn’t every day “cyber day” now? Seems so retro… like an Atari game or something… But I digress.) Specifically, U.S. mobile commerce sales jumped 146% year over year, with California, Nevada, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Florida leading the way as the top mobile commerce shopping states. Mobile shopping peaked between 5 pm and 7 pm PST. Spokespeople for the company have said on more than one occasion that eBay mobile is expected to generate more than $1.5 billion in gross merchandise volume in 2010, compared to $600 million in 2009.

What I’m really fired up about playing with is a new interactive infographic app available at ebayinc.com/mobilecommerce that captures eBay mobile shopping trends from Nov. 22 through Nov. 29 within the top 20 eBay product categories across eBay’s leading m-commerce markets.

Check out this demo video showing it in action:

eBay Ink Weekend Roundup is a summary of news and updates around eBay, PayPal, Social Media, Technology and E-commerce. Let us know what interests you.

· eBay Mobile announced that the amount shoppers in the U.S. spent via eBay Mobile more than doubled this Thanksgiving over last year

· PayPal Mobile announced a six-fold (511%) increase in global mobile payment volume when compared to Thanksgiving 2010

· GSI Commerce announced a more than four-fold (345%) increase in U.S. mobile sales this Thanksgiving compared to 2010

“Across eBay, PayPal and our GSI retail customers, we saw mobile shopping surge on Thanksgiving evening as people showed a clear preference to shop on their own terms from anywhere at any time,” said Steve Yankovich, vice president, Mobile, for eBay Inc. “Mobile is one of the many ways that eBay Inc. is enabling a new retail, changing the ways consumers shop and pay, and finding the gifts and goods they want at the right price.”

Mobile shopping highlights from eBay Inc. include:
Thanksgiving (Nov. 24, 2011, 12:01 a.m. – 11:59 p.m.)

eBay Mobile (U.S.):
· The busiest eBay Mobile shopping hour on Thanksgiving was between 6 and 7 p.m. PST
· Shoppers in the U.S. purchased more than twice the amount of items via eBay on mobile devices this Thanksgiving compared to last year
· The amount shoppers in the U.S. spent via eBay Mobile more than doubled this Thanksgiving compared to last year

The five most popular categories shopped via eBay Mobile, excluding vehicles (by GMV), were:
1. Clothing, Shoes & Accessories
2. Computers & Networking
3. Sporting Goods
4. Jewelry & Watches
5. Cell Phones & PDAs

The five most popular categories shopped via eBay Mobile, excluding vehicles (by number of sold items) were:
1. Clothing, Shoes & Accessories
2. Cell Phones & PDAs
3. Jewelry & Watches
4. Collectibles
5. Toys & Hobbies

The top items purchased via eBay Mobile in specific categories were:

Fashion:
1. Toms Classic Shoes
2. UGG Australia Classic Short Shoes
3. Tory Burch Tumbled Shoes
Electronics:
1. iPhone Accessories
2. Apple iPhone 4 – 16GB – Black
3. Apple iPod Touch 4th Generation 8GB
Toys & Hobbies:
1. Traxxas Slash 4X4 Ultimate 6807 Radio Controlled Truck
2. Webkinz Reindeer
3. Team Associated SC10 Radio Controlled Truck

Shoppers in these five cities spent the most via eBay Mobile on Thanksgiving (by GMV):
1. New York
2. Los Angeles
3. Casa Grande, Ariz.
4. Houston
5. Miami

Shoppers in these five cities made the most purchases via eBay Mobile on Thanksgiving (by sold items):
1. New York
2. Chicago
3. Houston
4. Los Angeles
5. Miami

PayPal Mobile (Global):
· Thanksgiving 2011 resulted in 511% more mobile payment volume compared to Thanksgiving 2010
· There was a 350% increase in the number of customers shopping through PayPal mobile on Thanksgiving 2011 compared to last year

Shoppers in these cities made the most mobile purchases through PayPal on Thanksgiving 2011:
1. New York
2. Houston
3. Los Angeles
4. Miami
5. Chicago

GSI Commerce Mobile (U.S.):
· GSI Commerce reported a 345% increase in U.S. mobile sales this Thanksgiving compared to 2010

Cheers,
RBH

Leveraging the RedLaser technology to predict top trending hot holiday gifts based on shoppers’ scans mobile buying history, eBay is using those mobile customer insights to deliver deals on popular items.

Top scans using RedLaser (Nov. 1 – Nov. 16)
· Apple iPad Wi-Fi + 3G
· Samsung i9100 Galaxy S II
· Apple iPhone 4
· Sony PlayStation 3
· Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3)
· Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Blu-ray and DVD)
· Cars 2 (Blu-ray and DVD)
· LeapFrog LeapPad Explorer Learning Tablet
· Transformers Dark of the Moon Action Figure Ultimate Optimus Prime
· Keurig Special Edition Brewing System

The top five toys purchased on eBay from a mobile device or tablet (Nov. 1 – Nov. 14)
· Lego: The most popular Lego themes purchased via mobile in this time period were Lego Star Wars, Lego Harry Potter, and Lego Castle
· Webkinz: The most popular Webkinz purchased at the beginning of the holiday season was the Webkinz Reindeer
· Radio Controlled Cars: The most popular brand of RC Car purchased was Traxxas, followed by RC Cars from HPI Racing
· Diecast Cars: Hot Wheels was the most popular brand of diecast car purchased via eBay on a mobile device. Hot Wheels were followed by Action Cars diecast cars and Ertl diecast cars
· Cuddlee Pets Plush Pillows

eBay predicts this holiday to be the biggest mobile shopping season to date and Black Friday the largest barcode scanning day of the year. I’ll be sure to share more data with folks as I get my hands on it. Happy shopping/selling all!

Cheers,
RBH

Take it away, Julie!

As you’ve probably heard about or seen, the popular Zhu Zhu Pets have taken over the world. Okay, well not the world but at least these endearing and fine-furred friends have become the hit toy this holiday season, attracting more than one million searches on eBay over Thanksgiving weekend alone. It’s been a breakout hamster hit reminiscent of toy crazes of yesteryear, such as Tickle Me Elmo and Cabbage Patch Kids. A shortage of the Zhu Zhu Pets led to an increase in listings on eBay which grew at 10% per day.

Did you know that more than 100,000 Zhu Zhu Pets were sold on eBay in the first week of December (from November 30th to December 6th)? If you’re still not convinced, take a look at some of the statistics:

• On December 8, there were 39,994 listings for Zhu Zhu Pets
• Chunk is the most desired Zhu Zhu Pet character according to price points on eBay. At his highest price, Chunk is listed for $61 with other characters’ highest prices ranging from $42.29 to $58.

Pictures are worth a thousand words – especially when they are cute and techno. And I couldn’t summarize it any better than this map. Here’s a visual indicator of all U.S.-based transactions that occurred on eBay from November 1 to November 30, 2009.

I wonder if I’ll find a Mr. Squiggles, Chunk, Pipsqueek or NumNums under my tree on the 25th?

- Julie Haddon

Communities that made the most purchases on eBay

Black Friday:
• Santa Clara, CA (ZIP 95054)
• Miami, FL (ZIP 33166)
• Alpharetta, GA (ZIP 30022)
• Martinez, CA (ZIP 94553)
• Prairie Grove, AR (ZIP 72753)

Cyber Monday:
• Prairie Grove, AR (ZIP 72753)
• Miami, FL (ZIP 33166)
• Alpharetta, GA (ZIP 30022)
• Santa Clara, CA (ZIP 95054)
• Martinez, CA (ZIP 94553)

One of the more interesting stats to note is that Prairie Grove, Arkansas, with a population of just 2,540, bought more items on eBay than any other U.S. ZIP code on Cyber Monday.

Heat Maps
eBay is visualizing the almost 2.5 million Black Friday and Cyber Monday transactions made across the country in two “heat maps.” The interactive maps display activity from buyers and sellers over the 24-hour periods of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Zoom down to a single ZIP code to see the range of transactions on eBay throughout the U.S.

On Saturday, I profiled the eBay “heat map” for Black Friday… ebayholiday.com/black-friday

You can now view the Cyber Monday equivalent to contrast and compare the transactions… ebayholiday.com/cyber-monday

You can view the full release here.

The maps have also been developed as widgets, making it easy to embed on blogs and Web sites. To learn more about the widgets and get the code for use on your site, click “Share This” on the application or visit:
http://apps.facebook.com/ebaycybermonday
http://apps.facebook.com/ebaymapping

In related news, PayPal announced earlier today that for the third consecutive year, “PayPal saw double digit growth in online sales, or total payment volume (TPV), on Cyber Monday.”

Cheers,
RBH

The first features eBay CEO, John Donahoe, discussing eBay’s take on Black Friday activity in the marketplace and PayPal‘s role in that. He also talks about m-commerce, and the early successes of the eBay Mobile application…

The second features PayPal president, Scott Thompson, discussing the 20% growth in PayPal traffic on Black Friday when compared to one year ago. He also discusses mobile payments:

Cheers,
RBH

Essentially, eBay has created a transaction map of the United States that spans the duration of yesterday’s Black Friday shopping activity on the site. The map is a visualization of U.S.-based buyer and seller transactions over that 24-hour period.

The visualization is based on raw data that includes eBay sales and purchases occurring in approximately 33,000 U.S. ZIP codes. To best represent large population areas and to condense data for a seamless display, ZIP codes were grouped to create 3,118 distinct areas. The methodology used to create these areas was based on the distance from the center of one ZIP code to adjacent ZIP codes. Those with a distance of less than .35 (latitude or longitude) between them were combined into an area.

The size of each point on the map corresponds to the number of ZIP codes encompassed within that area. In other words, the more ZIP codes included in an area, the larger the point on the map. The color of the points ranges in intensity, and areas with lower transaction totals appear in yellow while those with the highest number of total transactions appear in red. The spectrum of color can be most easily understood by comparing points on the map to the Activity Level Indicator, found just beneath it.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to be hanging anymore “latitude or longitude” references. For now, I will tell you to go check out the map. It’s a pretty compelling, visual display of a day’s transactions in the eBay marketplace.

Even more interesting will be to see if we can make this a regular feature. It takes some fairly detailed transactional data to come up with such a high-level but targeted visual map. Crucial data for sellers looking to see geographical purchasing behavior patterns partnered with peak purchasing times (down to the second).

You can also add the map to your website or blog as a widget. To learn more about the widget and get the code for use on your site, click “Share This” on the application or visit apps.facebook.com/ebaymapping.

Cheers,
RBH

According to PayPal, there were 34% more transactions than 2007 and there was a 26% increase in online payment volume on Black Friday.

I found all of this information at the “eBay Holiday Media Source”. The site has been up for a few weeks now and is aimed at providing press and media with information, stats and news around eBay’s holiday offers, traffic, promotions and tips. This weekend, they posted the following media release with data coming out of Black Friday.

All great info of course but I’d like to see more. Especially more than just consumer electronics. Let’s see all the categories. Which are up? Which are down? How did Fixed Price fair vs Auctions? I’ll dig around to see if can find out more on that front.

I also saw that the Nielsen Online Holiday Shopping Index had eBay as the top online retail destination on Black Friday with 9.8 million unique visitors (Nielsen also had eBay as the top online retail destination for the month of October). However, with a number of conflicting traffic reports out there for online retail traffic that cropped up over the past week (some blogs were citing ComScore numbers, others use Nielsen as a benchmark), I want to see more information behind the figures before drawing any definitive conclusions.

In related news, eBay President of Marketplaces, Lorrie Norrington appeared on Fox Business News yesterday alongside Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne to discuss Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the rest of the holiday shopping season.

Cheers,
RBH

Radio Advertising
Then, this morning as I’m driving to work, Santa Claus starts talking to me through my radio telling me about all the great deals at eBay… Sure sounds like an advertisement to me. It turns out there are two other radio spots that have been running in lead up to the holidays. You can listen to them HERE and HERE.

PR Updates
So I went back and looked at emails that I get on a weekly basis from our consumer PR team and there’s a heck of a lot of PR and promotion going on out there. (If you’re interested in me sharing more of what those individual TV, radio and magazine/e-zine spots are, I’m happy to provide here but it will make for a long blog post). I will provide just a couple of examples though…

For one, Griff has made a number of TV appearances recently talking about deals on eBay. This morning he was on CNBC talking about trends in online consumers and in addition to being likened to Santa Claus at the beginning of the interview, he was also quick to point out that “eBay sellers have come to the rescue [of buyers], by offering the best possible pricing online.” You can view the interview HERE.

eBay $1 Holiday Doorbusters
• Forbes.com featured a story on the trend of online retailers offering deals and promotions before Black Friday, and reporter Elizabeth Woyke noted that deals can “always found on eBay” and included information about the “Holiday Doorbusters sweepstakes.” Furthermore, she reported that from November 24 to December 8, several lucky shoppers have the opportunity to purchase iPod nanos and Nikon Coolpix cameras for $1.

• Daily Candy, an influential, daily e-mail newsletter and website featured a sponsored link in their weekly Deals email. The post highlights the $1 Holiday Doorbusters initiative and includes a link to the Doorbusters Web site: http://www.ebay.com/doorbusters. Add-ons include additional eBay banner ads and placements on their website.

• WHP CBS 21 (Harrisburg, PA) featured a segment on eBay’s $1 Holiday Doorbusters. The reporter noted that eBay is “hitting the ground running” by offering 100 items for one dollar on its Web site starting now through December 8. Several of the items include GPS devices, digital cameras and a brand-new car or plasma TV.

• KOLO-TV CH 8 (ABC-Reno) announced on its 5 p.m. program that eBay unveiled its $1 Holiday Doorbusters promotion. The segment noted that items including toys, electronics, sporting goods and jewelry, will be posted randomly on the site each day of the promotion, as well as one luxury item per day.

• The following online outlets have also featured featured information on the Doorbusters promotion: The Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, Wichita Business Journal, AuctionBytes (includes a link to http://www.ebay.com/deals), Centre Daily Times (includes a link to Doorbusters landing page), San Jose Business Journal, Tech Journal South, Atlanta Business Journal, The Motley Fool, FayObserver.com, ABC15.com (Phoenix, Arizona)

• The following Coupon Web sites have featured information on the Doorbusters promotion: Fat Wallet, GottaDeal.com, DealLighted.com, DealsSmart.

• The following blogs have featured information on the Doorbusters promotion: Bargain Finder Pro, Bargain Hunter, 9 Malls Blog (includes a link to Doorbusters landing page), Buffalo News.

Like I said, there are a large number of examples like this illustrating exactly how eBay is promoting the marketplace both in the press and through advertising. Again, this blog is not intended to be a platform for me to regurgitate kool-aid (ouch… not a good visual) but if folks are interested in me breaking down factually (and without spin) where and how the marketplace is promoted online, in print and through radio/TV, I’m more than happy to.

For those American readers out there, I wish you a very safe and a very happy Thanksgiving with both family and friends. I’m very excited to celebrate Quincy’s first Thanksgiving (and to enjoy three NFL games on turkey-day… despite the seemingly poor match-ups). I also look forward to coming back on Monday refreshed (and turkey-filled) and ready to hit the ground running again with Ink.

Cheers,
RBH