eBay rebrands division to focus on mobile commerce
Two years after acquiring GSI Commerce, eBay has rebranded this unit as eBay Enterprise. This division is not one of the company’s three main business units and will be responsible for enterprise commerce solutions for brands and retailers. For the past two years, GSI Commerce has been working to create and develop online shopping sites and boasted of more than 1,000 clients worldwide before the eBay acquisition. Now, as a division of eBay, GSI Commerce will be responsible for promoting new initiatives, such as those in the mobile commerce space.
Company continues to show strong interest in mobile space
The interest that eBay has in mobile commerce dwarfs that coming from other companies. The company has devoted a great deal of its resources to promoting mobile commerce around the world and has done exceptionally well in this endeavor thanks to the backing of its subsidiary PayPal. The new eBay Enterprise will continue this work, but will be primarily focused on retailers and brands that are interested in engaging mobile consumers.
eBay Enterprise brings a more acute focus to company initiatives
With eBay Enterprise taking a more focused approach to the matter of mobile commerce, eBay may be able to make strong progress in this field. For the past few years, eBay’s focus on mobile commerce has been somewhat expansive. A more acute focus may help the company appeal more effectively to retailers and brands in particular markets rather than working to appeal to everyone everywhere.
eBay expects strong gains in mobile commerce by year’s end
The rebranding of GSI Commerce has provided eBay with some confidence concerning the results it expects to see this year n the realm of mobile commerce. According to eBay Enterprise, more than 30 eBay Commerce clients will have mobile commerce services available in their stores by the end of the year. PayPal is also expected to see strong gains in the mobile commerce field through its work with eBay Enterprise.
Retailer becomes more than mobile payments and e-commerce
Acclaimed online retailer eBay has established a formidable presence in the mobile commerce sector. The company has been one of the strongest supporters of mobile payments and has made extraordinary efforts to encourage consumers to use their mobile devices to shop online and purchase products. As eBay continues to assimilate mobile payments, the company is beginning to consider itself as something more than a simple retailer: eBay is beginning to envision itself as commerce itself.
Executive suggests that eBay represents commerce itself
The company’s Europe vice president of marketing, Alexander von Schirmeister, recently spoke about the company’s role in the retail sector. According to Schirmeister, eBay has begun to trannscend the boundaries of e-commerce, partly due to the company’s strong focus on the mobile space. Mobile payments have helped eBay break into new markets and engage a new generation of consumers in a more dynamic fashion. According to Schirmeister, eBay “is not m-commerce or e-commerce, it’s commerce period.”
Fluid nature of company makes it accommodating to the needs of consumers
Schirmeister notes that eBay has become capable of adapting to the different ways that people shop and pay for products so effectively that they can no longer be considered a company with a specific focus in terms of commerce. In the past, eBay had only been capable of accommodating the needs of online shoppers that used traditional desktop computers. As mobile technology grew more prominent, however, the company began seeing a transition in the world of commerce and adjusted itself accordingly. This has allowed eBay to put more focus on mobile payments, which are quickly becoming more popular around the world.
Mobile payments can help close the gap between online and offline worlds
Because eBay has begun to see its role in the retail sector evolve, it has been making moves to close the gap between the online and offline worlds. Mobile payments are expected to help significantly in this endeavor, as they allow the retailer to engage mobile consumers in the physical world without severing their ties to the Internet.
