John Donahoe, President and CEO of eBay Inc., attended the 42nd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, this weekend. In addition to speaking on a panel, he sat down with Pete Cashmore, Founder and CEO of Mashable.com. Check out their discussion (complete with his snazzy snow boots), here:
About the World Economic Forum (WEF)
The WEF is a Swiss non-profit foundation committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. The purpose of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting is to ensure that leaders exercise their responsibilities – jointly, boldly and strategically – to improve the state of the world for future generations.
Apologies for the delay here. I realize I’ve been back in the Bay Area for 24 hours but had to focus on eBay Q4 2011 earnings yesterday, meaning that my NRF 2012 recap post got put on hold. Without further ado, here you go folks…
Overview: Connected devices make what was once a solitary trip to the store a more socially connected event. Smartphones don’t serve as just another marketing vehicle—they can be a platform to combine the digital and physical worlds. As shoppers go through the process of discovering new products, testing them and reflecting on their purchases, they share these thoughts with their social networks and influence perception among their peer group. This session will examine why retailers must embrace and facilitate this sharing of information, and how retail outlets need to evolve to create experiences that drive sales in-store. Retailers will learn how to integrate mobile and social media strategies into a cohesive business model that enhances marketing and merchandising.
It was an engaging discussion with some key trends running through the presentations. It was something we heard from eBay Inc. CEO, John Donahoe last week and from Don Kingsborough on Sunday: The rules of technology are being rewritten and the rate of change is incredible – particularly in the world of retail and commerce. Again, the emphasis was made on the need for the education of – and adoption by – merchants. It was also agreed that when it comes to all the huge amounts of data coming in through social channels, the key is prioritization and delegation.
eBay Inc. at NRF 2012: Show Floor
PayPal Shopping Showcase
On my last day in New York I was lucky enough to check out the PayPal Shopping Showcase (and unlucky enough to get into a physical altercation with a NYC taxi cab on my walk over… but that’s another story).
From the PayPal Blog:
Imagine a digital wallet that stores all of your gift cards, loyalty points and offers and then automatically applies the stored money and savings for you at the point of sale. Imagine purchasing an oversized item from the aisle and having it shipped directly to your house in a matter of clicks. At the Shopping Showcase, we’ll be showing merchants and select members of the media a complete set of solutions that do all of this – and so much more
You can check out all my photos of the PayPal Shopping Showcase in eBay Ink at NRF flickr set.
It has been a whirlwind 10 days covering both CES and NRF but it’s good to be back at HQ and working on some cool social projects for 2012. Will keep you all posted.
The National Retail Federation (NRF) 2012 is in full swing here in NYC. It’s my first time attending this show and I’ve been trying to do my best to see everything on display on the expo floor while also attending panels on which we have eBay Inc. representation.
The first was yesterday’s panel: Making Dollars – and Sense – in Mobile Payments Moderator: Sahir Anand, The Aberdeen Group Panelists:
Bruce Yen, Guess? Inc.
Don Kingsborough, VP/GM, Retail & Prepaid, PayPal
Doug Kilgour, Sr. Biz Development Executive Isis Mobile Commerce,
Mung Ki Woo, head of mobile, Mastercard
“Retailers are focusing on mobile payments because a lot missed out on ecommerce and they don’t want to miss out on new commerce.” #NRF12
Overview: The mobile payments space comprises two different systems: 1) payments using the mobile network, and 2) contactless payments. Payments and the services mobile payments enable at the store level can serve as a powerful and disruptive force in the retail environment. This session reviews the latest in this rapidly evolving technology and business, and details the newest players in the mobile payments ecosystem.
“Retailers should create a unique customer experience, rather than wait for an industry standard” Mung Ki Woo, Mastercard #NRF12#eBayatNRF
The engaging discussion covered similar themes addressed in last week’s CES mobile panels, and I was fortunate to catch up with PayPal’s Don Kingsborough earlier today to chat about those themes:
“Is the mass consumer ready for mobile payments in 2012?” All 4 panelists answered with one word. “Yes.” #NRF12#eBayatNRF
Look for more updates soon. Remember to follow @ebayinkblog for all the live-updates from the conference and to follow the discussion you can check out #NRF12 and #eBayatNRF. You can also check out the eBay Inc. at NRF overview.
Cheers!
RBH
I sat down with eBay CEO, John Donahoe, this morning at CES to chat about the eBay Inc. portfolio of business and technology – and how our different solutions complement each other. We also discussed the shift in consumer behavior in both the offline and online world.
Follow @ebayinkblog and see the eBay-related discussions coming out of CES this week using #eBayatCES hashtag. You can do the same for conversations coming out of NRF 2012 using #eBayatNRF.
Cheers,
RBH
Congratulations to Dane Glasgow, VP, global product management, eBay Marketplaces and Rob Veres, senior director mobile/general manager, RedLaser, eBay Inc., for being named to SV / SJ Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Rising Stars 2011.
They’ve both been here on eBay Ink multiple times in the past so it was great to be able to sit down with them this week and talk about the accolade. Even more interesting was learning how eerily linked their paths have been over the years… beginning with their freshman year in college (stick around for the end of the interview to also find out possible connections to the movie Mannequin and Jessica Simpson).
I took the above photo of eBay Mobile’s VP, Steve Yankovich, being interviewed by CNN yesterday afternoon. Below you can see the resulting piece on CNN that highlights the new iPad feature, “Watch with eBay“.
PayPal Press published the second in its Official Insider guide series earlier this month. The PayPal Official Insider Guide to Mobile Profits is authored by the editor of the series, Matt Jones, and I was fortunate enough to sit down with him last week to discuss his book and what the series of books means for SMBs online.
As posted on the PayPal blog, this book helps merchants learn how to partner with PayPal to:
* Maximize payment opportunities in the open mobile marketplace
* Apply mobile website and app building best practices
* Integrate PayPal Mobile Express Checkout and payment software systems
* Master mobile consumer shopping behavior, technology, and payment trends
* Profit with custom, efficient PayPal Mobile payment options for your business
Soon to be released as the newest application within the RedLaser family, RedLaser 3.0 will combine the local functionality of Milo, the payment functionality of PayPal and the barcode scanning technology of RedLaser to bring it all onto your handheld device. I sat down with Rob Veres, Sr. Director of RedLaser, eBay Mobile, at the X.commerce Innovate conference last week to chat a little more about the app:
Milo: By integrating Milo into the application, offline inventory will now easily be accessed via mobile devices. Consumers will now be able to buy whatever they want, whenever they want, and either pick it up in store or have it delivered to their house.
PayPal: In app check-out for both online and offline inventory via PayPal will now be a part of the app.
Using RedLaser 3.0, users will also be able to create categorized shopping lists to streamline research. They’ll also be able to create and share items, websites, or personal contact information using the built in QR code generator.
The first partner to utilize the product offerings is Toys “R” Us and you can see the demo they showed at Innovate 2011 by watching the keynote below. Start watching from the 1:06:30 mark to see the demo.
I had the good fortune to welcome Scott Parent to the eBay Partner Network blog at the beginning of May and now I have the even better fortune of getting to hang out with him tomorrow and chatting about social. It has been far too long. I’ve been asked to join him as an interviewee for eBay Partner Network TV. I wanted to check out some of the interviews ahead of time and have to confess that I can’t believe I haven’t shared this resource with you sooner. There is some really compelling content here for folks and I wanted to make sure people were aware of it.
Check out some of the past interviews they’re profiling on their site:
That headline might be a bit misleading to be honest. After all, eBay’s Certified Provider program has been around since 2004 so tagging anything “all new” can be a bit confusing. However, eBay is re-launching the existing program with all new criteria, requirements and benefits in an effort to make Certified Provider the stamp of seller tool quality on eBay. There’s even an all-new Certified Provider Program landing page.
The following criteria will be used to determine eligibility for the new program moving forward:
** Marketplace Impact: We select eBay developers who are impacted the most by eBay changes and who can make the most impact on your business.
** Customer Satisfaction: Don’t take our word for it. We gauge customer satisfaction through annual customer surveys and ongoing product review.
** Feature Support: Certified Providers must support the features you need the most to be a part of the program.
I figured it had been a while since we sat down with someone here at eBay for a “5 Minutes with…” feature so managed to chat with Laura Della Torre of the Seller Experience team who works with eBay’s top developers. Here is a short interview with Laura discussing the new program and how it differs from what we first introduced 7 years ago.
Cheers,
RBH
Full Name: Laura Della Torre Nickname: LDT Official Title: Sr. Manager, Certified Provider Program What You Really Do: Bring developers along the eBay ride. Education/Schooling: BS in Design at UC Davis Interests: SCUBA, Skiing, & photography Favorite Quote: Everyone has a photographic memory, but not everyone has film. ~Author Unknown Most memorable eBay experience: Taking our Certified Providers out on an “Appreciation Event” at eBay Live Las Vegas Most recent eBay purchase/sale: Battery case for iPhone 4 Favorite Album(s): Whatever’s on my iPod today Favorite Movie(s): Whatever’s on my DVR today What You Wanted to Be Growing Up: I’m never going to grow up
Fill in the blanks:
I should have slept more yesterday.
I wish that I could have a sabbatical every year.
The first thing I do when I get to work is check my email to see how I can help our Certified Providers today.
