Marketing Case Study: eBay's Website Structure, Growth, and Impact

This assignment analyzes eBay's digital marketing strategies and its impact on the Australian retail market. The analysis begins with an examination of eBay's website structure, highlighting how it facilitates customer navigation and product discovery. It then explores how eBay leverages different parts of its site to focus on specific activities, such as mobile commerce and AI-driven personalization, and how these strategies have contributed to its continued growth. The study further investigates eBay's influence on the retail landscape in Australia, discussing the shift towards e-commerce and the competitive dynamics it has created. Finally, the assignment delves into the reasons behind eBay's success as an online auction marketplace, focusing on its customer-centric approach, trust-building measures, and strategic adaptations to the evolving market. The analysis is supported by references to academic sources and industry insights.

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1. Provide a link to eBay’s Australian website and discuss the structure of the website
eBay Australian is an American multinational e-commerce based company. This company
was founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar. The company operates in almost 30 countries. The
website of the company is both an auction sale website and a shopping website. The link for
the eBay Australian website is https://www.ebay.com (ebay 2020).
Website Structure
The website is an important part of any e-commerce website as it attracts customers towards
the company. The website structure refers to the set-up of the website. In these websites,
individual subpages are related to each other. eBay has listed all its products and services on
its webpage so that customers can find their required products easily. The website of the
company also gives accessibility to keyboards. The company has updated its website and now
customers can play and pause and control. Updating websites also improves the structure of
the homepage and it can also improve the search of customers. On the website of the
company, the main headings of the products are highlighted and this makes it easy for the
customers to look for their required product under the category of that product that is
mentioned on the website. Personalized homepage for every customer according to their
search list and required products are also created by the company (eBay News Team 2017).
The website of the company is also information about its products so that it can provide a
brief about the product to customers and they can buy the product easily.
2. Discuss how eBay uses different parts of their site to focus on certain activities and
how this has contributed to continued growth
eBay has observed that large numbers of its customers are using their website through mobile
phones and customers are also moving towards buying products online. eBay is updating its
website by using traditional media because there is a still person who believes in shopping
from TV. And TV is still the biggest source of advertising. eBay also has changed its
marketing strategy because the market and requirement of people are changing with time.
The current marketing strategy involves big data and artificial intelligence. The company is
using its website and feature in such a way that it can help the organization in maintaining its
inventory. This will help the organization in enhancing its structured data. This also enables
the company in creating new experiences for its existing and new customers that are modern,
simple and differentiated.
After adopting all these changes also the company has continued its growth. The growth
strategy helps to eliminate competition in the market. It also helps the company in attracting
buyers and sellers, price and selection of goods, and customer service and brand recognition.
The growth strategy of the company is reinvesting in customers of the company. This will
also help to improve customer experience, building trust, and safety, customer support. The
company can also convert existing products into new formats and categories. Implementing
an innovative pricing strategy for buyers and sellers has helped the company in achieving an
advantage in the competitive market (Chaffey and Chadwick 2019).
3. How has eBay changed retailing in Australia?
eBay is constantly exploring new trends in the market. This strategy is helping the company
in attracting more customers and this will result in increasing revenue of the company. The
company is also involving in acquisition with other companies so that it can explore new

DIGITAL MARKETING-EBAY 2
areas of the business. Before the auction sale website, people were involved in competition in
the market. There was competition in the market that includes car boot sales, charity shops,
and antique shops. But those businesses have also adopted e-commerce. Charities are also
selling their goods online through eBay this helps charity organizations to earn more revenue
than before. But there is much organization also who are selling products online through
eBay and involved in e-commerce activities. eBay has changed the retail market of Australia
as people are now more involved in e-commerce activities as this platform is providing them
many benefits such as high profits, brand recognition, more customers will attract towards
company and goods, the trust of people will also increase in a brand.
The company is also giving competition to Amazon because it is covering most of the
market. But now as many sellers listed themselves online for e-commerce business and now
customers will have a variety of choices and this will impact on sales of amazon. People will
buy goods from personalized shops at cheaper prices. Buyers have also created an attractive
website that can attract more and more customers.
4. Why has eBay succeeded as an online auction marketplace while so many others
have failed?
eBay is concentrating on improving the experience of the customer and it is also updating its
website on a timely basis. This will help the company in attracting more customers i.e. buyers
and sellers. The main motive of the company is to create a bond of trust among customers
and the company. The company is also providing a platform for e-commerce for business so
that they earn more revenue and they can also get brand recognition. eBay has created a
platform in which buyers can provide core services to its customers at a fixed price and then
customers can bid for that price. The company is also using artificial intelligence that can
provide a personalized experience to customers. It also helps people in finding the best deals
over the website of the company. There are three major areas in which the company has
implemented changes that are fee structure, seller incentives and standards, and feedback.
The main aim of these changes is to improve the quality of experience of the customer.
For reducing the risk factor company has taken many steps such as they have implemented
feedback strategy by which customer can give feedback regarding their experience while
buying the product, quality of the product and any other problem that have been faced by
them. Al these steps build trust among customers and they will get attract more towards the
company. Therefore, the company is successfully leading the market.

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References
Chaffey, Dave , and Fiona Ellis Chadwick. Digital Marketing- Planning, Optimizing and
Integrating Online. Pearson Education Limited, 2019.
ebay. “ebay.” ebay. 2020. https://www.ebay.com/ (accessed 03 05, 2020).
eBay News Team. “eBay’s Homepage Is for Everyone.” eBay News Team. 28 06 2017.
https://www.ebayinc.com/stories/news/ebays-homepage-is-for-everyone/ (accessed 03
05, 2020).