According to a report in TechCrunch, Gartner analyst Gene Alvarez says, “eBay is now not just a marketplace. Acquiring GSI, Milo, and Magento has given the firm a broad set of ecommerce capabilities.” Clearly, with these latest acquisitions along with the purchase of Hunch, Svvply, Card.io (PayPal) and others, eBay has proven that the firm has a broader vision for its future beyond simply auctions. eBay is also stepping into the mobile phone market. The company has instructed all its engineers and managers to give first preference to mobile among all other products they deal in. Working on to give users the best experience on mobile, eBay is adopting strategies to endorse and put up products around mobile. According to eBay vice president of Mobile Steve Yankovich, eBay started investing in mobile web and native apps in 2009. The idea seems to have gone down well with reports of over 100 million mobile apps being downloaded on various smartphones. These apps include the basic buying and selling marketplace app, barcode scanning app Red Laser, dedicated apps for verticals (i.e. eBay Motors, fashion) and more. eBay is working to add compelling features to its mobile apps. The firm recently added geofencing to its Red Laser apps that lets retailers deliver deals and information to consumers based on their proximity to a store. In November last year, eBay bought Hunch service, which offers a “taste graph” of personalized recommendations based on users’ interests. Following this deal, eBay bought personalized shopping site Svvply, to advance more personalized experiences and merchandising options on eBay.com, which will offer users more personalized shopping experiences. eBay is trying to keep a track on user shopping behavior and therefore, the firm launched a Setify, a service like Pinterest, which lets users track, flag, like and collect various products. With this service, eBay can multiply the number of user events or signals the business can use to score products and serve recommendations.
