Further News
+ Cyber Monday continues to be the biggest online shopping day of the year, hitting $1.25 billion in the U.S.
+ Top e-commerce experts weigh in about significant trends from last year, and what they expect to see in 2012.
+ ForeSee’s 2011 Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction index shows online shoppers wanted more than price.

Posts From the Week
Scott Thompson to become CEO of Yahoo!

Looking Back on eBay Ink
January 5, 2011: eBay Ink #SMSellers make predictions for eCommerce in 2011. Thanks so much to all the eBay sellers who took the time to send the following answers over the holiday break. Much appreciated and I can’t wait to work with them and more in the coming year.

“What are your 2011 predictions for ecommerce, social and mobile commerce?”

In addition to addressing integration of social and mobile commerce and video’s continued growth in the ecommerce space, Cliff sees reason for concern when looking at product shipment expectations of the consumer. I would add that a recent “local” focus by online marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon will also factor into the way online sellers offer products to consumers over the coming months…

Cliff Aliperti (@IEphemera)
“Nothing earth-shattering. Further growth and integration with an edge toward established brands such as eBay and Facebook. Video will continue to grow in importance. The greatest concern is in shipping physical goods, an area falling outside of our control where I believe continued price increases combined with little increase in service and an increased customer demand for instant satisfaction spells potential trouble.”

John Lawson is a bit like a shark and I mean this as a wholehearted compliment. Sharks need to keep moving or they cease to exist. I get the impression that he’s so incredibly focused on following his own advice and business mantra that when an email from me pops up in his inbox it simply distracts him from continuing to move forward (I’ll keep them to a minimum in 2011). As such, he takes a business-as-usual look at the year ahead (just keep moving)…

John Lawson (@ColderICE)
“Prepare for the increase of opportunity and competition:
** eCommerce (i.e. making sales via the web) will rise rapidly in 2011 and with it your opportunity to capitalize on the increase.
** With the increase of web consumers will come an equal increase in competition.
** Shore up your current customer base and use that information to market to other growth prospects.”

Marlene breaks down the question into three parts… because it was, after all, a three part question. I’d love to dig deeper on the “search by reviews” point she makes (almost like a Yelp! for eCommerce) and partner that with the personalization aspects and you have a key trend for the future…

Marlene Gavens (@TheSavvySeller)
“** eCommerce = “ratings and reviews” will become the way to search for items vs. search engine results or price.
** Social commerce = it will become more personalized (i.e. asking for friends’ opinions during the purchase process).
** Mobile commerce = this will be the year that there’s an increased awareness and use of QR codes.”

Danna and eBetsy both take the viewpoint that we’re just on the verge of something much bigger; that until now, we’ve simply been scratching the surface. I agree that there is lots to be excited about over the next 12-24 months…

Betsie Bolger (@eBetsy)
“I see mobile ecommerce continuing to boom, with new technology like augmented reality for eBay Classifieds coming down the development pipeline to astonish and amaze us. As for social ecommerce, given eBay’s investment in brands4friends and the ongoing rise of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, I have to believe that there’s more to come in that area as well. All in all, an exciting ride ahead for ecommerce merchants overall!”

Danna Crawford (@PowerSellingMom)
“More mobile apps will be available helping to make life easier as a shopper and an online seller. I predict social sites will continue to grow keeping up with the mobile momentum as it sets the pace for an amazing future. I feel we are just babes in learning!”

Finally, Hillary echoes some of the same sentiments of John and Marlene around more and more business coming online and the potential positives and negatives associated with it…

Hillary DePiano @hillarydepiano)
“While the down economy may have sped up the process, I really think 2011 will be bad news for brick and mortar stores as the last holdouts switch to shopping online. While this may seem like good news for us e-sellers, it will mean a lot more crowded marketplace and one filled with inexperienced sellers that may cause us in the old guard problems. As for social and mobile commerce, to me they both go hand in hand with traditional ecommerce and should only continue to rise over the course of the year.”

Lots to ponder as we start to tackle the year head-on. What are your thoughts? Do you agree with some of the above? What else do you see coming to the forefront in eCommerce over the next 12 months?

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.

I was having lunch with members of the PR team on Thursday and the subject of a new partnership with Buy.com came up. I was told I’d have information by the weekend so I could draft a post for Ink. Two hours after lunch, Randy Smythe of My Blog Utopia contacted me asking if there was any reason for the apparently sudden surge of Buy.com postings to the site. As you can see from his post, he has certainly done his homework and, for the most part, he sums it up very well.

In a nutshell, yes, eBay has entered into a partnership with Buy.com that will see them move all of Buy.com’s new and in-season inventory onto their eBay store in the coming weeks. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed publicly but the messages I’m hearing echo recent themes coming out of eBay presentations focusing on a better buyer experience and moving toward a more retail-like experience. eBay spokesperson, Usher Lieberman, provided Randy and I with the following:

“eBay is aggressively using price as a lever to improve the value and selection on eBay.com. Consistent with our goals, we have entered into a partnership with Buy.com to bring their new-in-season merchandise onto eBay.com. We expect to learn a great deal from this partnership and we will build upon the results.”

In order to protect sellers from being crowded out of search results, Buy.com merchandise will be limited to a single-listing per SKU and, even though Buy.com will be competing for eye balls in the same way as all of eBay’s sellers (through DSRs), I must point out the fact that this deal is “economically feasible” for both parties.

That said, I do want to address previous comments on Ink — and Randy’s assessment of it in his post (copied below) — regarding Pierre Omidyar’s recent indication of what he meant by a “level playing field.”

From Randy’s post:
I’m all for allowing sellers to negotiate volume deals with eBay, I had asked to negotiate my fees every year I sold on eBay and was always told “that is not going to happen,” but in light of eBay founder, Pierre Omidyar’s recent quote about “the level playing field” you can see that this announcement will not sit well with eBay sellers.

Pierre said, in a recent quote from a video clip “What I meant by level playing field is that everyone should be given an equal opportunity….. I didn’t want to have sort of artificial barriers placed on newcomers and to have people by virtue of their stature outside of the eBay community somehow be treated better—special deals behind the scenes because they’re a big retailer and we want to get them to come on eBay, that kind of stuff. That would have been—is—a disaster. That is what I meant by level playing field.”

It’s my assertion that Pierre was talking about the conditions and approach to the Marketplace at the company’s founding. It has obviously evolved since then and it’s pretty clear that eBay has been, and continues to, expand and experiment with new pricing and business models on the site. Again, all geared at providing the best possible buyer experience. (I know, I know, there is PR-hack / kool-aid speak in that sentence… I just can’t help it sometimes).

I’ve been informed that we are not, at this time, extending the “deal” to top sellers and that any partnerships will be assessed on a one-off basis with hand picked partners. Personally, I think that top sellers that have put the sweat equity into helping make eBay what it is today – that have consistently provided excellent service for their customers – should be included for consideration when the time comes.

Cheers,
RBH