eBay CEO Jamie Iannone wants to “reinvent the future of ecommerce for enthusiasts – only at eBay,” he told Wall Street analysts during Wednesday’s 2nd-quarter earnings conference call. The slogan, which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, was featured in an accompanying slide deck.
Iannone told Wall Street he has now set his sights on an even more ambitious vision than when he joined the company 3 years ago when he had announced his “tech-led reimagination” vision for the company.
Iannone told analysts to expect a “comprehensive overhaul” of eBay’s user experience and design that would be rolled out in phases over the course of 2023 and beyond.
In fact, the CEO said eBay had begun rolling out changes already – “in recent months” – by testing a “more modern and intuitive View Item page” that offers “a streamlined appearance, larger and higher resolution images, and an optimized information hierarchy.”
Early tests indicate a measurable uplift in GMV versus the current design, he said. The new design is meant to appeal to Gen Z shoppers.
Over the next few quarters, eBay will continue to roll out an evolved look, feel, and experience, including updates to the View Item page, header, homepage, search results, and other landing pages.
eBay is also investing in new capabilities for search including deep learning and visual similarity “to improve ranking and retrieval, reducing queries with low or no results to surface more of our amazing inventory for customers.”
Iannone said his ecommerce reinvention strategy would rest on three pillars: Relevant Experiences, Scalable Solutions, and Magical Innovation.
The CEO touted a feature recently launched that offers sellers the ability to add AI-generated item descriptions, calling it an early version of its “magical listing” experience powered by AI. About 30% of users tried the feature and 90% of them accepted AI-generated descriptions. Iannone said 80% were satisfied with the feature, among the highest customer-satisfaction rate for any new feature launched in recent memory.
He said sellers have told eBay that the AI feature would unlock more of the unique inventory in their closets, and he said that on average, description lengths doubled when sellers used the new generative-AI feature. “But we are just getting started,” Iannone said.
Iannone also provided some information about international sellers in response to an analyst’s question about China dropshippers. “We’ve been working with some of our sellers to be forward deploying of our inventory, which has just helped diffuse some of that supply chain pressure,” and he said eBay was making it easier for sellers to export items throughout the globe.
The webcast is available on the eBay Investor Relations page.
Ebay unfortunately lost their way – i was selling 12k a month until ebay decided that my items were expired – I sell coffee that are past the best by dates – They taste fine and the buyers were happy to knowingly receive either discounted or discontinued coffee at a great price.
Ebay decided I cannot sell an item that is past a best by date – I showed them the manufacturer says it is safe to consume, The USDA writes its just a recommendation but it is still fine – ebay did not want to hear any of that. Ebay has to realize they are not an Amazon they are a yard sale and they can make billions doing that – Instead they are not a yard sale and not an Amazon hence they are becoming extinct by the day
instead of magical innovations fix all the daily bugs / glitches….now that would really be magical
His magic nonsense is obviously not working, the stock price today is the same as it was 3 years ago, around $45. It shot up to $80 during COVID, but the bubble burst fast.
*** Because the consumer is not shopping online ***
During Covid, consumers stayed home and shopped like crazy, and all of these online storefronts made good money during Covid. However, latest data says the consumer is spending on vacations and experiences while ALL of online sales have slowed “considerably” which has taken down the stock price for many.
Etsy is another example. During Covid, Etsy peaked at $300/share but is now trading at $100. Ebay may not be to blame for their temporary shortfall. It’s the consumer who has decided to ditch online spending for a life outside the house.
READ: The site is getting ready to be even more buggy than it is now. The entire site is held together than masking tape, they can’t afford duct tape.
When it comes to listing, I do not believe in magic.
I build descriptions from attributes from a catalog and properties based on the condition of the item. Building relevant titles no longer than about 60 characters requires domain knowledge to identify the most important elements of the description or enough experience to identify and prioritize common keywords in titles. A title for a collectible stamp can be based mostly properties from a stamp catalog and attributes like a certificate, cancel, or condition. A cover title would likely include the town, state, usage, and attributes relevant to setting the price of the cover.
While AI may help sellers based on their own inventory and knowledge, it seems unlikely that crowd-sourced AI descriptions would correlate very well with sale prices or values.
Quote: “eBay to Overhaul Site and Make it ‘Magically Easy’ to List”.
hahaha that was funny.