Pin this!
In a bid to move beyond its auction roots and better compete with Amazon, eBay is rolling out a new social-networking feature that encourages users to collect and post images of products they want to buy.
The new service, called eBay Today, lets users create Pinterest-like bulletin boards of clothes, art or furniture, and follow other people’s collections of coveted items.
The “curation” feature is intended to make eBay’s 500 billion items for sale seem a little less overwhelming, said Devin Wenig, head of eBay’s marketplace division.
It’s also aimed at drawing new, younger users to the site by making online shopping more of an exercise in exploration — akin to what brick-and-mortar store have been striving to do for the last decade.
eBay wants to “create a place where people come for shopping inspiration,” Richelle Parham, eBay’s chief marketing officer, said at an event in Manhattan on Tuesday to unveil the new service.
In addition to dozens of star curators, or “trendsetters,” that eBay added to highlight the feature, there are also retailers with their own pages.
For instance, teen retailer Aeropostale has a “Moto Chic” page featuring a series of motorcycle-inspired items, mostly sold by the chain.
EBay also announced on Tuesday that it is expanding its same-day delivery service and has acquired UK-based Shuttle to help with the effort.
eBay Now will be offered in 25 cities next year, including London. Currently, it’s available only in New York and San Francisco.
The service delivers people’s purchases, including from retailers like Bloomingdale’s and Best Buy, within an hour in exchange for a $5 fee.