eBay's beyond strategy

From Financial Times EBay moves beyond its dotcom roots

Donahoe: "It’s so easy in Silicon Valley for success to be defined as being hot.  We wanted to build a company that wasn’t just hot for three to five years, but one that was great, and lasted 30, 40, 50 years,

The company’s stock has climbed steadily in the past three years of his tenure, from an all-time low of $10.43 in 2009 to a peak last month of just above $50. Mr Donahoe has steered the company through a slow and steady upswing on all measures – even eBay’s sluggish commerce business, Marketplaces, is showing signs of a revival, with 10 per cent growth in users last quarter, the fastest rise since 2007.

Now eBay is on its next three-year plan, positioning itself to be a platform for retailers by creating a suite of technology offerings that allow store owners to be their own Amazon, and forging partnerships with large retailers such as Best Buy, Home Depot, and Toys R Us that give eBay customers more product choices and shipping options.

Online commerce still accounts for just 5 per cent of overall retail sales. While Amazon dominates that, eBay is moving deliberately into the offline market, believing shopping habits will increasingly overlap between the internet and physical stores.

“We’ve gone from competing in the $5bn ecommerce market to the $10tn retail market, where half of that is being web-enabled,” Mr Donahoe says.