By Chuck Salter Published November 2007
Reprinted from: FastCompany.com
----------------------------------------------------------------With its buyers swamped by a sea of choices-and its growth rate slowing-the online giant gambles on helping shoppers find what they want.It was early in 2006, and Matt Carey, the new CTO of eBay, was attending his first focus group about the online shopping site. It was a memorable experience, to say the least. "It's hard to use," complained a longtime customer. She had been collecting antique glass on eBay for years. But lately, the treasure hunt was more frustrating than fun. "I get lost," she said. "I can't get back to my search results. I have to go all the way out and start over."
"This is not good," Carey thought to himself. This particular buyer was, as he puts it, a "dyed-in-the-wool, right-down-the-center customer." What she was describing is known by the pejorative "pogo sticking." To Carey, who had just moved to eBay after 20 years at Wal-Mart, it was the equivalent of "having customers not able to shop in your store because they can't find the aisles."
It is not news that eBay has lost the magic that made it an Internet darling a few years back. After peaking at $59 a share in late 2004, the company's stock plunged to $23 two years later. CEO Meg Whitman may boast about the company's latest stats--record number of users, revenue, and items listed for sale--but the fact is that the rate of growth at the company is slowing. EBay has tried to jolt itself by investing as much as $4 billion in Skype (which has yet to pay off) and $1.5 billion in PayPal (which has been far more successful). Yet 70% of revenue still comes from the core marketplace business. And as Carey recognized, the weakness there has become impossible to ignore.
How troubling is the slowdown? Despite the double-digit increase in listings and gross merchandise sales that the company reported last year, both of these key indicators have steadily decelerated over the past three years. In 2006, gross merchandise sales grew by less than 20%, the smallest rate ever. More troubling still, the number of active users--those who bid, bought, or listed at least once in the previous year--rose by only 14%, the slowest rate since 2001.
EBay is responding with a whole new strategic gamble--one some company insiders say is its most ambitious ever. The mastermind is John Donahoe, 47, whom Whitman brought aboard three years ago and installed as president of eBay Marketplaces (and as her heir apparent). His bold stroke--what he calls "our number-one strategic priority"--is recasting the site to focus primarily on buyers, not sellers.
Click here to read full article...NOTE: This article is long, but I found it VERY interesting and well worth reading. - TTW
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