Daily Finance writer Anthony Massucci has written a wonderful piece describing the challenges faced by eBay, which commanded an enormous share of the online marketplace ten years ago but has seen its fortunes decline ever since.
There’s a lot to summarize here, but I found the following section regarding the failures of eBay’s online search function fascinating–
Investor Sandi Lynne says that while eBay’s Internet payment service PayPal is adding revenue and the company is selling off its Web-calling service Skype, eBay needs to focus on improving the search function on its site. “If I’m searching for something specific, it gives you too much stuff in addition to what you asked for,” says Lynne.
When she searched for a Mercedes X600 on eBay Motors, she got the Mercedes emblem, the wheel rims, the original owners manual, yet she wanted only a list of the available cars. “That’s why eBay is doing worse that ever before,” she said. “The more you try to refine the search, the more likely you are to have it tell you your search yielded no results. Amazon’s search is the opposite.”
Many outside the e-commerce sector underestimate just how much benefit (or harm) can be conferred upon a company by its search results. Whether Donahoe can turn the ship around at eBay remains to be seen– selling off Skype, a deal which never made sense to begin with, was certainly a good first step. Taking on opponents like Amazon and Walmart will not be an easy fight.
via Massucci’s Take: EBay’s plan to be more retailer than auctioneer is one risky bid — DailyFinance.
