Lady LUX

After 17 years, eBay has given the online site a makeover with new enhancements appealing to buyers and sellers. EBay executives revealed the new online and mobile features Wednesday morning during a presentation at Highline Stages in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District.

Among the new improvements were “Feed” and a smartphone and tablet application called “eBay Now.” The site has also incorporated technology and imaging to streamline navigation and offer larger pictures. Page layouts for searching or product information will also be consistent across all media platforms. Additionally, the auction site has linked eBay accounts with PayPal to create seamless and fast checkouts.

As reported by WWD.com, Devin Wenig, eBay’s president, said the changes reflect how consumers shop. “We’re at a real inflection point,” he said, noting that the advancements in technology, such as speed, have given consumers “unprecedented access to things they want.”

The new feature “Feed” allows consumers to curate their own experience and find new items that are geared toward them. EBayers who opt-in to “Feed” can search and collect items using a visual page that is similar to Pinterest. “EBay Now” offers same-day service for consumers in San Francisco. Purchased items from the site’s retail partners, including Finish Line, Macy’s, Target and Walgreens, are delivered within an hour.

Richelle Parham, chief marketing officer for eBay North America, noted that the site has over 100 million active users, translating to more than $2,100 worth of goods purchased every second. In the move towards mobile devices, many users shop on their tablets from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and use their smartphones during the day. Stats show that more consumers engage on eBay on their tablets than their desktops. Parham shared that, in the past two years, mobile sales have increased from $2 billion to an estimated $10 billion.

Ebay’s presentation illustrated how it believes technology will revolutionize the way customers shop over the next few years. A particularly interesting section showed a shopper looking at a blouse in a store window and then being able to superimpose the blouse on her image via her smartphone to see how it would look on her. If she liked the way it looked, she could easily purchase it on her smartphone.

Wenig said the preview is part of what’s to come and “connection from the [mobile] screen to the store window isn’t that far off.”

Tagged in: e-commerce, ebay, online auctions, mobile commerce, ebay now,