eBay Beats Forecasts with 23 Percent Growth in Q2


E-commerce remains an important component of online business, and eBay is one of the most successful companies in the industry, so much so that experts have often considered its success an indicator of the overall market. Here’s more about its growth and what it may mean overall.

E-commerce Explosion

Taking giant steps. E-commerce giant eBay showed a 23 percent increase in revenue, reaching $3.4 billion in the Q2 ahead of projections. The biggest part of that growth occurred in eBay’s Marketplaces, which grew by 15 percent to $16 billion internationally. TechCrunch

Shop ’til you drop…the phone. Another substantial part of eBay’s growth also came from what the company’s CEO John Donahoe calls a “staggering surge” in mobile shopping. In January, eBay was anticipating $8 billion in gross mobile sales over 2012 on either smartphones or tablets. Mobile shopping may be important to your e-commerce sales this year, too. All Things Digital

Options Abound

There’s success in simplicity . Famed VC Fred Wilson maintains the real success of e-commerce, and especially mobile e-commerce, lies in its simplicity. Wilson said he has seen the same thing in the companies where his firm invests its funds that eBay’s numbers are showing–that mobile commerce is exploding. A VC

PayPal takes a swipe at mobile. Mobile shopping is expanding beyond Ebay’s core e-commerce business. PayPal, the online payment solution eBay acquired in 2002, anticipates $10 billion in mobile payments this year, some including the company’s PayPal Here option, which allows small businesses and other users to process credit and debit transactions via smartphone or tablet. Fierce Mobile Content

Tools & Tactics

Bill Me Later, Please! Another new feature PayPal’s introducing will likely have great impact on e-commerce for small businesses as well. Bill Me Later offers credit to online shoppers, allowing them to pay later, usually by a  few months, while paying the merchant immediately. Bill Me Later is not only likely to increase Pay Pal’s revenue, but also revenue for online merchants who use PayPal to receive payments. Reuters

Lending sellers a hand. The e-commerce explosion is attracting financing options for online merchants, too. Online lender Kabbage is offering that financing primarily to online businesses selling through eBay, Amazon, Yahoo!, Shopify and Etsy. Time

Savvy strategies spur growth. Just like brick and mortar retail, e-commerce requires a strategy. Here are some tips for growing your e-commerce business, whether you use eBay or other sites and tools to reach your customers. Share your own strategies for e-commerce below. Practical E-commerce

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  1. The best way to sell on eBay I have heard is to setup a backend by collecting buyers email. I’m guessing those numbers don’t get tracked though by eBay. Thanks for the post!