eBay: the Decline of the Auction Era
“The eBay logo is known the world over, so changing it was not a decision made lightly. The time felt right,” Devin Wenig, president of eBay Global Marketplaces, wrote in an email to employees.
The article details how eBay is slated to roll out its new logo across the company’s websites beginning in mid-October. The former logo – quirky, slightly off balanced lettering in the iconic red, blue, yellow, and green – had been implemented for the past seventeen years. Devin Wenig, the president of eBay Global Marketplaces, stated “The eBay logo is known the world over, so changing it was not a decision made lightly. The time felt right.”
Right for what? The change to sleeker, more streamlined logo (though remaining in the same color scheme) coincides with eBay’s transition from the traditional auctions and collectibles and more toward full-priced, buy it now merchandise. The cause of this shift is cited as an evolution to compete with other agencies such as Amazon, which has been growing at a faster rate than eBay. It is on this point that the article stops, just short of providing more information about the disparity between the auction vs. fixed price systems.
It is important to note eBay’s unique approach to auction-style bidding: it is not a first-price or second price sealed bid or a Dutch (descending) bid, but rather a variation on the English (ascending) auction. The catch is that rather than bidding until no one is willing to pay a higher price, the auction ends at a pre-designated time leaving the possibility for clever buyers to “snipe” the item at the last minute.
In reaction to such a response, the buy-it-now feature of eBay has risen to the forefront of the company’s strategy. Auctions now account for just 31 percent of all sales on the site and are no longer at the heart of the company’s business model. So what changed? The consumers. As people become more informed or willing to hunt for lower prices elseware, the decline started to appear.
Of course, it would be unreasonable to write off eBay as finished: online auctions (and auctions in general) are still a game people are willing to play, and thus won’t be expiring anytime soon. The dynamics have just changed due to the online auction boom and bust. It’s legacy: forever altering how things are bought and sold.
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/ebay-gets-a-facelift-after-17-years-20120914-25vyr.html#ixzz26ZdL13AP
– Mar