28/09/2017
eBay Looking to Increase Customer Fulfilment
The online marketplace giant, eBay, have today – 28th September 2017 announced their intentions to improve customer fulfilment. This is a nod in the direction of those who say that the customer experience in becoming increasingly important in both attracting and keeping customers. Following research where they have been questioning their users about the options and services that they offer and how these can be changed to make them happier, eBay have come up with a number of changes.
Whilst eBay is essentially a marketplace which creates contact between buyers and sellers, it seems that they are becoming increasingly concerned with facilitating search, making items for sale more prominent on the internet and making sure that customer service and the overall customer service is second to none.
Stock
Although eBay still haven`t divulged what changes that they are considering making, it seems that one area that may change is in the holding of stock. It seems like they are thinking about holding a certain amount of stock from sellers in a central location (much like the Amazon model). Unlike Amazon, however, this could provide certain logistical problems which Amazon don`t have as they have always had this process in place.
It appears that eBay have already had a taste of how this service could work through their Global Shipping Programme (GSP), which has been working successfully for several years. In the programme, sellers can sell their products to buyers who are abroad. The product is sent to a central depot in the Midlands, and, when an extra fee is paid to eBay for administering it, the product is then sent on to the buyer overseas. The only responsibility of the seller is to ensure that the item gets to the central depot.
These changes are in direct competition to Amazon, and whilst it involves releasing some of the control of your products and passing it over to eBay, can have a very positive effect on sales. To be able to get goods to buyers quicker – and possibly cheaper due to the logistical benefits that this would hold – this has the potential to be a very positive change for eBay sellers and buyers.
It also creates competition with Amazon – which can also only be a good thing in terms of the quality of services that are being offered as well as the pricing.
The changes which are being proposed by eBay can only be positive in a world where they seem to be losing the `online marketplace` battle against Amazon. By focusing on the customer experience and fulfilment, they show to be taking a step in the right direction.