Thousands of eBay sellers logged-in to attend eBay Open Online last week. Traditionally an in-person event, eBay Open Online went virtual which allowed for many more of our sellers to tune in to hear exciting announcements, seller tips and much more. In fact 88% of the attending sellers were first time participants.
The virtual event kicked off with eBay CMO & VP, Seller Community, Andrea Stairs, laying out the visions of what this year’s eBay Open Online will look like.
“Our main goal for the next three days is to connect with you and provide the education, inspiration, and motivation you need to help run and grow your businesses on eBay. And to provide updates on enhancements we’re making across the marketplace.”
During the first keynote discussion of the event, eBay CEO Jamie Iannone reflected on the previous year’s successes and shared how eBay is committed to empowering our sellers to thrive on our marketplace.
“From that very first day when you open your virtual doors on our platform, we are there with you every step of the way. We don’t compete with you. We partner with you. We celebrate with you. And we help you build brands to perfectly fit your unique personalities and inventory with our tools, support, advocacy, and outreach. Everything we do is with you in mind.”
Iannone reiterated the need for tighter feedback loops between sellers and eBay, unveiled new purchasing protections for sellers, and teased a new eBay Ads Promoted Listings feature offered by eBay Ads.
Watch his full keynote in the video below or on the eBay for Business YouTube page.
With so much great content being shared, it was impossible to attend every session. We therefore wanted to summarize the top announcements and themes that were presented during last week’s events. Here’s 8 key takeaways you might of missed from eBay Open Online:
- Alex Kazim, VP & GM Global Advertising at eBay, announced Promoted Listings Advanced, a new cost-per-click (CPC) model of Promoted Listings currently in beta. The new product lets sellers determine exactly how much each keyword and click is worth to them. Watch the full announcement on the eBay for Business YouTube page for Kazim’s full breakdown of Promoted Listings Advanced.
- Over 1M sellers used eBay Ad’s Promoted Listings Standard in Q1 2021.
- Pete Thompson, eBay SVP and Chief Product Officer, discussed a slew of platform upgrades for our sellers. You can watch his full breakdown by visiting the eBay for Business YouTube page.
- Forrester kicked off their first session answering a question every seller has on their mind: “Are all the gains that eCommerce had gathered in the last year going to stick?” The short answer is yes. eCommerce grew by 30% during the Pandemic, and eCommerce accounted for 20% of all retail sales in 2020. That percentage is expected to grow 8% by 2024.
- According to Forrester, eBay grew by 3% in 2020 and is now home to over 1.7B listings. Due to this growth in volume, eBay sellers need to put in the work to create marketing strategies and provide shoppers with reason to choose their products over others.
- Social issues, or “corporate social responsibility” matter more to consumers than ever before. Consumers want to purchase from sellers delivering value beyond the product they sell. According to Forrester, the top three categories consumers care about are a commitment to information confidentiality and data privacy (40%), giving back to the local community (39%), and environmental protections/position on climate change (35%). You can dive deeper into the study by watching the full session on the eBay for Business YouTube page.
- Tell your stores’ story. Both Forrester and eBay executives pressed the importance of how sellers present their stores and listings to consumers. Tom Pinckney, Head of eBay Stores, went into detail about how eBay is creating a modern online marketplace storefront experience for sellers to do just that. You can watch his video on the eBay for Business YouTube page.
- Forrester reports 41% of consumers want to buy from entrepreneurial startups. They want to buy from local sellers or sellers who feel authentic.
The wealth of information divulged during eBay Open Online was incredible. Sellers can visit the eBay for Business YouTube page to watch videos of all the great discussions from the virtual event. Thank you to everyone who attended, and we hope to see all of you at the next eBay Open.