eBay Betting on Classifieds in the US
Only a few weeks after launching Kijiji in the US, eBay has now announced that another one of their classified's brands, Gumtree, will also launch in the US. Gumtree, the leading online classified's platform in the UK, Australia and South Africa, is now launching in three US cities (Boston, Chicago and New York). If we add eBay's 25% stake in craigslist, this means eBay is now riding three horses in the online classified's race in the US. This could be a clever strategy if we see the classified's business move toward a "winner takes all" scenario like online auctions.
eBay Hosts Free Listing Day to Boost Listings
My previous post showed the grim listings data coming through from eBay. In an effort to halt the listings decline and perhaps even give it a nice boost, eBay are hosting an almost unprecedented free listings day (Scot Wingo, author of eBay Strategies, claims the last time we saw a promotion like this was in 2002!).
A few rules apply, but I expect this promotion will have a very pronounced effect on this week's listings - good and bad. On the good side, we will obviously see a much-needed pickup in listings. On the bad side, the quality of listings is likely to be lower, with the incentive being on quantity rather than quality.
Finally Some Changes at eBay Express
eBay Express launched over a year ago and was the subject of a massive TV advertising campaign. And yet the little evidence coming through is that it has failed to attract a critical mass of buyers. So it is refreshing to read eBay's announcement Tuesday that they are working to increase the breadth of product on eBay Express. eBay points out that from earlier this year they already added items on Half.com to eBay Express, and in late August, the same will be true for qualified listings from Shopping.com.
I think this is an excellent announcement. If buyers start seeing different product sets on eBay Express than they do on eBay, they will be more likely to visit one or both sites independently of the other. The strategy to continue to differentiate eBay Express from eBay is, in my opinion, the right one to follow.
