In a presentation at the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in San Jose, Gary Briggs, chief marketing officer at eBay said online retailers should think more outside the box.
“eBay Says Online Retailers Need To Innovate”
“Online retail is rapidly maturing but we are not doing enough to innovate,” Mr. Briggs said. “I am offering a call to action to the industry to innovate more.”
Mr.Briggs pointed out that online spending is often less than traditional retail spending. He also said retailers need to create their own ideas and mimic what others have done.
“There is a lot more to offer than just free shipping,” Mr. Briggs said. “Free shipping is important but when I go to Web sites and look at how the marketing is done, there has to be more than free shipping to compete.”
Mr. Briggs said that brands should give up control and listen more to the consumer in order to innovate.
He cited the example of eBay Motors. eBay saw that users were selling cars on the site but a category did not exist. Users were listing cars in categories like toys, and sales were not increasing. Since the addition of eBay Motors, the online retailer has sold 2.5 million cars a year.
“Our system of innovation is more than what is inside the four walls of our company,” Mr. Briggs said. “We are trying to let the users help us shape how we create our Web site and offer products to customers.”
