eBay Expands MAGIC Presence
Online auctioneer eBay Inc. is using technology to grab a bigger piece of the apparel market. The San Jose, Calif.-based company has been integrating its site with a number of tech partners to facilitate the selling and buying process and attract more consumers and sellers.
EBay has become a place for resellers and discounters to clear out big lots of excess inventory, especially since the company opened up a “big lot” section late last year. It has helped boost apparel sales by 90 percent between holiday 2001 and 2002, with a whopping $420 million. The company estimates it now has 11 percent of the online market in sales for apparel, footwear and accessories. By partnering with the resellers, eBay’s product mix went from 15 percent new clothing 18 months ago to 55 percent in 2003. eBay projects that apparel will become a $1 billion business in the next 18 months.
At the recent MAGIC International show, the auctioneer presented a slate of seminars and indicated it will be investing big in apparel in the coming months. “Apparel will be a major focus for us,” said Tia Miller, senior director of clothing, shoes and accessories for eBay. “Here at MAGIC, we have a presence at three venues [WWDMAGIC, Off-Price Specialist and the Las Vegas Convention Center] for the first time. We’ll be increasing marketing by fiveor sixfold and will be doing print campaigns in Vogue, In Style and others,” she said.
Aside from grabbing the consumer’s attention, eBay has been working on improving the logistics of its site. It has relied on a number of technology partners, as well as its in-house tech wizards.
Within the past year, eBay has acquired online wire-transfer service Paypal Inc., integrated page counters from Andale Inc. and given vendors access to solution providers that oversee sales listings. It has also integrated tools like Turbo Lister, which allows sellers to place numerous auctions simultaneously, and self-service image listers, which places pictures on the site without third-party downloads.
In addition, companies such as Fountain Valley, Calif.-based CAM Commerce Solutions, which markets Retail Pro and Retail Star software, have developed modules to link up with eBay to sell apparel.
“It’s worked out well,” said Chester Ritchie, vice president of marketing for CAM. “Many of our customers have found it improves their margins [compared with] liquidating product through traditional means.”
With the potential to grow a $22 billion market over the next five years, apparel sales expects to be the largest online category in retail, according to financial industry think tank Forrester Research. —Robert McAllister
