Shop Talk

from MediaFile:

Mobile sales are helping eBay, but is it enough?

eBay said Wednesday that the value of goods sold in the U.S. through its mobile applications surged 133% to $100 million during the month before Christmas. Globally, the growth was even stronger: Up 166% to $230 million worth of goods.

That is good news from one angle. eBay is having success using mobile devices to sell goods during the busiest retailing period of the year. But it obscures another fact: Mobile sales may be a growing market, but it's a tiny portion of eBay's overall sales. And overall sales don't appear to be growing nearly as fast.

eBay's Gross Merchandise Volume (the total value of all goods sold through eBay) was $48.3 billion in 2009, excluding car sales, and that figure is likely to top $50 billion in 2010. The $230 million GMV of mobile sales is equal to only 0.5% of eBay's total GMV last year.

Put another way, the volume of goods sold through mobile devices during the holiday season is about 6 percent of the average volume of goods sold each month on eBay.

Overall, eBay's holiday business grew but not as fast as other online retailers. According to ChannelAdvisor, a software company working with online retailers, eBay's holiday business increased 11% during the busy Thanksgiving weekend, lagging the 68% growth rate for Amazon and the overall e-commerce growth rate of 27%.

eBay has a chance to use the growing popularity of its mobile apps to boost that growth rate in coming years. But if it wants to grow as fast as the rest of the e-commerce industry does during the Christmas season, it needs to find some additional incentives.

Slump means market share gains in E-commerce

We know the U.S. recession is gloomy for retailers, online stores included, but at least a third of these e-commerce sellers say they’re taking greater market share amid the slump. 

That’s according to Shop.org and Forrester Research in a marketing study based on their annual State of Retailing Online report. Shop.org is a division of the National Retail Federation.

The survey of 117 online retailers showed that, despite the economic downturn, some 46 percent of respondents said they would spend as planned on their web businesses, with no scale-back of original budgets. Moreover, a quarter said they’d spend even more than originally planned, while fewer than a third said they’d spend less.

“As weak retailers disappear from the eCommerce landscape, companies that remain do have an opportunity to capture orphaned shoppers,” the report said.   Online retail has continued to outperform the brick-and-mortar retail environment, which has been hurt by lower mall traffic as shoppers try to avoid all but the most necessary shopping trips.      Analysts have pointed to Amazon.com as the online retailer finding the most success getting consumers to shop. With a strategy of lowered prices, increased selection and a discount shipping program, the Seattle-based e-commerce giant has managed to beat sales forecasts in its last two reported quarters.       In January, Forrester forecast a 11 percent jump in total U.S. online sales to $156 billion, representing 6 percent of the overall retail pie.      With a renewed push for customer acquisition — and retention — some 88 percent of retailers listed email communications as a high priority for 2009, higher than paid search, which is more expensive.      And, demonstrating the rise in popularity in sites like Facebook and Twitter, some 11 percent of retailers said that social media was an effective acquisition tactic.

(Reuters photo)