As eCommerce Grows in 2020 is eBay Losing Relevancy?

Perhaps unsurprisingly thanks to the impact of Coronavirus and more people having to stay at home, there has been a boom in eCommerce, which has resulted in the eCommerce market reaching a level that was not forecast until 2022.

The team over at eMarketer have put together a fantastic article outlining “US Ecommerce Growth” for 2020 and they have put together some fantastic insights.

The Gap Between Walmart & eBay is Growing

Most interesting to us however is the news that back in February eMarketer and MarketWatch reported that eBay has fallen from the number 2 spot and Walmart has taken its place.

We have been commenting for years now around the confusion that eBay has been facing in recent history around its place in the eCommerce space.

Turning it’s back on the unique auction model that served it so well, and instead chasing big brands and retailers to open eBay Stores and the ‘Buy Button’ checkout experience.

Unfortunately eBay has always been at a disadvantage when it comes to logistics as unlike Amazon and Walmart, they are purely a marketplace and not a retailer.

In the latest report dated October 2020 we can see that Walmarts percentage total has increased by .5% compared to eBays .2%

“There will be some lasting impacts from the pandemic that will fundamentally change how people shop”

“For one, many stores, particularly department stores, may close permanently. Secondly, we believe consumer shopping behaviors will permanently change. Many consumers have either shopped online for the first time or shopped in new categories (i.e., groceries). Both the increase in new users and frequency of purchasing will have a lasting impact on retail.” – Cindy Liu, eMarketer senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence.

Whilst it is great to see that eCommerce is seeing even larger growth it does beg the question, how can eBay find it’s place in the 20’s eCommerce landscape and how do they try and reclaim that #2 spot.

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