eBay: Once and Future King
I’m very excited about the direction eBay is going. I’ve already written blog posts about eBay’s highly strategic shopping motives (M&A) over the past several months… and the most recent acquisition of Magneto is just another piece to the evolving puzzle. eBay WILL BE the ultimate eCommerce infrastructure player in the world. Mark my words.
Just a couple years ago, I was concerned: great Q4/Q1 results of their traditional auction services weren’t going to sustain the model in the long run, especially with the immense competition coming from Amazon, Craigslist, alibaba, Alice and all the hip new Airbnb for X companies. PayPal has always been their golden sword, but look at the rivals in that space over the past 18-month: Visa, Mastercard, Google (all with a number of competitive acquisitions)… even Facebook with their credits and tokens… not to mention the forthcoming storm in NFC/mobile transaction capabilities.
In 24-months we’ve seen a slew of purchases from eBay that send a clear signal of their transformation from a commerce/auction company, to a much broader and far more significant eCommerce platform and service provider:
- BillMeLater – to complement PayPal
- Fig Card & RedLaser – for mobile
- Where & Milo – for business/product search and review
- GSI Commerce & Magneto – eCommerce web platform and infrastructure
I think this a smart strategy by the company, making them highly substantial to both consumers AND businesses.
More reading: http://gigaom.com/2011/06/06/ebay-acquires-magento-builds-a-commerce-os/
Posted by DouganMilne, Vice President, Research on 09 June 2011
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