January, 2012
21.01.12. eBay Lead the Way as UK eCommerce Sales Hit £50bn
UK eCommerce sales realised a 14% increase in 2011, with online giants eBay and ASOS posting fantastic results for the year. Kelkoo, who announced the findings also expect the same level of growth in 2012; music to the ears of those businesses who have focused on establishing themselves online.
The high street again took a battering in 2011 with a number of established shops falling by the wayside; the most recent being Peacocks which filed for liquidation in January. Thorntons and TJ Hughes were amongst the others who ran into trouble in the last year.
eBay’s vision of being able to shop anywhere and at anytime is fast becoming a reality, with the future of the high street again being called into question.
eBay saw fantastic growth all of the way through 2011, however, it will have been buoyed significantly by $8.5bn being cleared in their bank in October – the final instalment from their sale of Skype to Microsoft. eBay relinquishing their final stake in Skype saw a 354% hike in profits compared with the final quarter of 2010; even with this apart, it’s difficult to argue with their success in 2011.
eBay has not been the only significant success story on the web. Many independents have enjoyed huge growth in 2011, as shopping online is better facilitated. Fashion giant ASOS saw profits rise 10% in the final quarter of 2011, with an astonishing overseas growth of 93%. Christmas is naturally a busy time for online retailers and consumer confidence will have been increased by the lack of extreme weather conditions which played havoc with deliveries in the run up to Christmas 2010.
Surveys have shown that UK shoppers are leading the rest of Europe in online shopping, with internet sales responsible for 12% of average expenditure. Each person in the UK spent on average £1,500 online last year on 39 items.
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13.01.12. eBay Predict $8 Billion Turnover in Mobile Commerce for 2012
EBay CEO John Donahoe recently announced that they expect eBay Mobile transactions to top $8 billion in 2012. These bold predictions are based upon eBay’s huge successes, brought about chiefly through their mobile application which saw over $5 billion delivered by the platform in 2011.
The growth in mobile has clearly taken even eBay aback with them effectively ripping up all predictions of growth in the first two quarters of their financial year. This is obviously great news for eBay who will now be relishing their move into Mobile through a significant aquisition strategy.
eBay has long flirted with mobile; most significantly through their purchase of Red Laser. The application was merged into their own offering; allowing users to scan barcodes on everyday objects and seeing what prices they are available for online. Although the idea behind the technology might be to scan everyday desirable objects, we’re sure that eBay will be turning a blind eye to those users wandering shops, armed with an iPhone and scanning everything in sight. (In fact I saved over £400 on a fridge freezer from a major electrical store).
Perhaps one of the most stunning statistics of all is the acquisition of PayPal’s regular mobile customers. PayPal now boasts over 17 million regular mobile shoppers, a figure up from 8 million only 6 months previous. Surely, this offers the most positive indication yet that mobile shopping is now well established and here to stay.
One thing is for sure; it will be interesting to see what new technologies eBay bolts into its mobile offering in the coming year. Surely, photo recognition of products can’t be far around the corner for the Auction Giant.
