Executive and Mobile Computing: eBay Application Analysis Report

This report provides an analysis of the eBay mobile application, focusing on its implementation, impact on users, and the challenges encountered. It begins with an executive summary and an introduction highlighting the significance of e-commerce and the role of B2C mobile applications. The report then delves into the background of eBay, tracing its evolution from an online auction platform to a global e-commerce giant, emphasizing the company's strategic decision to launch mobile applications for iOS and Android platforms. The core of the analysis examines the features of the eBay mobile application, including its ease of use, synchronization with the eBay website, and various functionalities such as product searching, listing, and payment processing. It also discusses the application's advantages and disadvantages. The report concludes by summarizing the success of the eBay mobile application and highlighting the need for continuous improvement to maintain its competitive edge in the online market, focusing on user experience and strategic enhancements.

Running head: EXECUTIVE AND MOBILE COMPUTING
Executive and Mobile Computing
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Executive Summary
The aim of the report is to discus about the mobile application implementation by the eBay
company. The impact of the application on the users is to be discussed. The problems which the
users face have been mentioned. In addition to this the brief background and the way how the
application came into occurrence has also been mentioned.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Background:.....................................................................................................................................3
The application of eBay:..................................................................................................................5
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................9
References:....................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction:
In the last few years there has been one industry which has been responsible for the
centre stage of business which is that of e-commerce. Online marketplaces are responsible for a
major amount of shopping which is being done. Several small, medium and large companies
have succeeded from the growth of e-commerce. The sellers are also experiencing a significant
amount of growth in the business. It is considered that e-commerce is one of the biggest business
opportunities in the present times. Out of several e-commerce transactions, the B2C is
responsible for directly connecting the business to the customer. It is a sort of transaction where
a company sells its products or services directly to the customers, that is, the consumers (Haucap
and Heimeshoff 2014).
In the present report the selected application is the eBay application. The launch of the
eBay application for both the android and the I-phone platforms has been a significant step in the
success of the company all over the world. The report aims to show the decision of the eBay
company and its decision to launch the application. The success as well as the existent
drawbacks of the application as a mobile application is to be discussed in the report. The
application can be considered a “business to customer”, that is, a B2C mobile application
(Denegri-Knott and Zwick 2012).
Background:
The eBay company was launched in the year 1995. At the time of its launch it was an
online platform which allowed the proficient peer-to-peer trading in the form of a public sale.
The online auction site helped the people with a space on the internet for buying selling and
trading any possible items imaginable. The business of the company is innovative in the sense
that there is no amount of inventory, transportation and cost of production concerned with the
products. There is a simple user environment of the product on both the application as well as the
web page. The selling price for each of the items is posted and is provided as a total to the
individuals and the company gets only a small portion of the selling price (Denegri-Knott and
Zwick 2012).

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In the beginning the company planned to match up to the buyers and sellers. This would
be matched up to the buyers and sellers by the collection of a nominal amount as a fees and this
would help the business grow in a swift manner. The market of eBay provided an option for the
transaction related to the products which did not have conventional stores. The company aimed
to create the largest trading community of the world. Thus people could expand in the global
market by a decentralised value chain implementation (Denegri-Knott and Zwick 2012).
In order to maintain the supremacy of the company, it needed to have an impact on the
minds of the people. The company understood that in the present world of technology it was
necessary to maintain a connection with the people by all the social media as well as mobile
application platforms (Patel and Menon 2013).
The company is a cutting edge in commerce by the selling of almost everything
dependent on its presence in any part of the world. Despite the fact that the company does not
have any physical store it has a presence in every corner of the world. The growth of social
media has impacted the way in which the organisations communicate, the internet also provides
several ideas which enables a person to develop social and business platforms, share knowledge
as well as collaborate (Lau and Bruno 2012).
The constant connection and remaining updated about all sorts of happenings, on the
social networking sites has proved to be beneficial for the company as they can remind and
update their followers constantly about the uses, importance and capabilities. As the cell phones
are connected to the social networking sites the organisations are able to ensure that their
advertisements are always in sight (Liu, Cao and Wong 2013). The eBay company has utilized
the internet known as digital marketing, web marketing as well as online marketing. The mobile
phones which are nowadays used by people of all age groups, assist in the marketing of eBay.
The users of the eBay services are notified in case of new notifications. The social media sites
are also linked to the company services for notifying the customers (Lau and Bruno 2012).
The application of eBay:
The mobile applications of eBay are free and downloading the applications takes only a
few minutes. The downloading of the application is often faster over Wi-Fi than on a cellular
connection. So in order to ensure that the installation of the application is fast, the device needs

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to be connected to a wireless network. For i-phone or i-pad the application is to be downloaded
from the app store and the search icon needed to be tapped and then the eBay for mobile or i-pad
needs to be searched for (Lau and Bruno 2012).
Figure 1: eBay for i-Phone and i-pad

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Figure 2: eBay for i-pad
For android phones the items can be bought from the Android market by searching for
the official eBay for android app and it needs to be installed.
The items can be bought on eBay from the mobile device by simply downloading one of
the mobile applications. In case a person has a different phone, eBay can still be accessed by
utilization of the web browser, on the phone or Laptop. In the eBay applications, a person can
perform a plethora of things (Einav et al. 2014).
People can research sales trends and complete listings, for items which are of a same
nature. This is to be done so that the products listed on the website of the company are
competitive in terms of pricing. There might be pictures that can be taken from the device, and
they can be added to the listing. It is fast and easy as well (Liu, Cao and Wong 2013).
The item’s barcode can be scanned and the product available in the catalogue can be
added automatically. The application is simple and easy to use. The menu on the mobile phones
as well as other browsers clearly helps the customers to buy and choose products of their choice.
The visitors on the application can clearly navigate through the application and the products to

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be purchased can either be selected directly or can be searched by using a special feature (Sondhi
et al 2017).
Sufficient description of each and every kind of product is provided in the application.
The product is extremely beneficial for all kinds of consumers.
Figure 3: eBay for Android

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Figure 4: eBay for Android
In case of the application, the consumers can finish a listing they have started before and
it can be either done on the mobile device or on the computer or laptop. The eBay application is
synchronised to the eBay website. This makes it easy to allow proper synchronization and
creating of listing. (Dalmasso et al. 2013).
The preferences can be saved as also be predefined and these include the handling time
and also return policy. The PayPal can be accepted as a method of payment. The active listings
of the individual users can be tracked and the items can also be relisted. The tracking information
can be provided to the buyers and questions can also be responded to at once (Garratt, Walker
and Wooders 2012).
With enhanced data driven marketing capabilities, eBay primarily focuses on making the
email marketing of the company super-individualised and relevant. The “daily deals” which are
set up for individual users are based on new deals each day (Lau and Bruno 2012). At first the
customer deals were not personalised or relevant but at present the reminders of relevant items
are sent to users thereby providing them with an update of items that they are viewing and which

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are best suited and available to them. However the application is not perfect and the drawbacks
of the customers need to be listened to and worked on (Haucap and Heimeshoff 2014).
Conclusion:
From the given study it is clear that the decision of the company to have introduced the
application for eBay was a reasonably good decision and the approach has been profitable. The
development of the application for the iOS and android has assisted the organisation in having a
strong hold on the market. The application of the company provides several facilities which are
otherwise not available in the conventional websites of the company. The company can also
branch out to other business opportunities. The customers who have been loyal to the company
for long time need to be retained. It can be ensured that the company has a personal buying and
selling business.
The company needs to look out for its competitors in the field and therefore it is desirable
that application needs to improve the application and its features for being appealing to even
more customers. The application needs to be even more user friendly and the company needs to
improve its strategy to make significant improvements. The company therefore needs to focus on
its negatives so as to emerge as an invincible player in the online market.

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References:
Dalmasso, I., Datta, S.K., Bonnet, C. and Nikaein, N., 2013, July. Survey, comparison and
evaluation of cross platform mobile application development tools. In Wireless Communications
and Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC), 2013 9th International (pp. 323-328). IEEE.
Denegri-Knott, J. and Zwick, D., 2012. Tracking prosumption work on eBay: Reproduction of
desire and the challenge of slow re-McDonaldization. American Behavioral Scientist, 56(4),
pp.439-458.
Einav, L., Levin, J., Popov, I. and Sundaresan, N., 2014. Growth, adoption, and use of mobile E-
commerce. American economic review, 104(5), pp.489-94.
Garratt, R.J., Walker, M. and Wooders, J., 2012. Behavior in second-price auctions by highly
experienced eBay buyers and sellers. Experimental Economics, 15(1), pp.44-57.
Haucap, J. and Heimeshoff, U., 2014. Google, Facebook, Amazon, eBay: Is the Internet driving
competition or market monopolization?. International Economics and Economic Policy, 11(1-2),
pp.49-61.
Lau, J.K.Y. and Bruno, J.P., Microsoft Corp, 2012. Location and contextual-based mobile
application promotion and delivery. U.S. Patent Application 12/854,157.
Liu, Z., Cao, Z. and Wong, D.S., 2013, November. Blackbox traceable CP-ABE: how to catch
people leaking their keys by selling decryption devices on ebay. In Proceedings of the 2013
ACM SIGSAC conference on Computer & communications security (pp. 475-486). ACM.
Luna, M. and Tsõmbaljuk, A., Seven Networks Inc, 2015. Caching adapted for mobile
application behavior and network conditions. U.S. Patent 9,021,048.
Patel, A.B. and Menon, S.S., eBay Inc, 2013. Secure application network. U.S. Patent 8,387,119.
Sondhi, A., Chu, C.W., Kim, B. and Brydon, S., Oracle International Corp, 2017. Mobile
application, identity interface. U.S. Patent 9,600,652.