eBay eyes more user-friendly website in bid to swell sales
“You’ll see more changes in the next 12 months on our site than you’ve probably seen in the last three or four years. eBay was so successful that we did not keep up with the user experience that was required,” she admitted.
Sellers have complained that eBay allowed the site to become cluttered with too many listings, resulting in fewer sales and driving shoppers to other retailers including Amazon.com. The company adjusted fees to try to increase revenue, which rose in the first quarter at its slowest pace in at least eight years.
“People come to eBay for fun, for value, and for those popular and pleasing and weird and wonderful items. And we got a little bit too much commodity-oriented.”
Shares in eBay, based in San Jose, California, rose 15 cents yesterday to $32.33 in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market and are little changed since the end of 2003.
One reason, said Whitman, is that investors are worried about slowing growth in larger markets, including the US and Germany. First-quarter auction revenue rose 23%, less than half its rate three years ago.
“Shoppers are not using eBay as often and as confidently as they used to,” said executive director of the New Jersey-based Professional eBay Sellers Alliance Jonathan Garriss. “Buyers have a tough time finding what they want. If you’re looking for an Apple iPod, you’re going to get 5,000 search results, and most will be accessories.”
To address this, eBay last year imposed higher fees to reduce the number of fixed-price listings because buyers couldn’t find the items. The goal was to increase the number of completed sales, boosting revenue for the company and its sellers, Whitman said.
Merchants on eBay can offer items sold through auctions or a more traditional store format, similar to most other retailers.