The short summary of this week: Etsy Searches again, PayPal rumors squashed Amazon and eBay disappoints. Etsy is yet again testing their search and PayPal integration with Amazon finally becomes a no-show. eBay’s results were disappointing to the say the least but the results provided an insight into the marketplace operator not seen in previous quarters.
Etsy initiated some tests of its search feature this month, but it will be difficult to see since some shoppers will be included in the testing and others will not. The tests will tailor search results to individual shoppers based on their history on Etsy, explained Jaime DeLanghe in an announcement on Thursday. The goal of the testing, she explained, is to identify signals that best match individual shoppers to individual items. I think the simple truth is that Etsy is stuggling to generate enough revenue and these search tweaks/tests are indicating that the New York based marketplace is struggling to make headway. Read more here.
A few months before eBay split with PayPal, former CEO John Donahoe implied Amazon might be interested in offering PayPal on its marketplace. But 6 months after the eBay-PayPal breakup, Amazon quashed the idea. Amazon Executive Patrick Gauthier told Cnet on Monday, “Amazon starts with the customer. If our customers were asking for it, it would have been on Amazon already.” Gauthier was General Manager of Emerging Retail Services for 2 years at PayPal before jumping to Amazon in January 2015 to become Vice President of External Payments. This rumour has been developing ever since eBay and PayPal split. The only problem is that Amazon has a seperate business that is aimed at being a PayPal competitor. Read more here.
While its marketplace division stalled on growth, StubHub produced more than $1 billion in GMV, a 30 percent increase from the year prior. EBay’s total GMV for Q4 were $21.8 billion. Overall, without taking currency changes into account, eBay’s GMV for Q4 were up 5.1 percent in Q4. eBay’s GMV for all of 2015, however, fell 1 percent to $82 billion. To say that eBay is grinding to a halt would be an understatement and the last quarters results highlights the impact that PayPal had on eBay finances. Most interesting is that another marketplace StubHub is on an accelerated growth run. Read more here.
Till next week.
Every week, Hendrik Laubscher will be providing third party sellers with a selection of news stories that they need to be aware of. As a Prosper Show participant we strive to ensure that you can focus on your business while we handle all the industry news.
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