Ebay: Retail Business Online

*Institute of Management, Nirma University of Science

& Technology, Ahmedabad. E-mail:

jaya_gopalkrishnan2000@yahoo.com

**Indian Institute of Management, Indore

eBay: “The world’s largest onlin

e marketplace”- A Case Study

J.Gopalkrishnan*

V.K Gupta**

Abstract

eBay, Inc. is the largest and most popular mark

etplace on the Internet, allowing members to buy

and sell almost anything. Launched in 1995

, about 147 million people now use eBay. An

estimated 430,000 people in the United States make

all or most of their living by selling on eBay.

eBay’s online payment service, called PayPal, enable

s transactions nearly anywhere in the world.

eBay proclaims “trust” between buyers and sellers

as the key to the success of the marketplace.

eBay is the “The world’s Online Marketplace”, which is its positioning statement, and it means

many things about the company’s identity. It

enables trade on local, national and international

basis, with a diverse and passionate community of

individuals and small businesses. eBay offers

an online platform where millions of items are tr

aded each day. The objective at eBay was to “to

develop the work ethic and culture of eBay as a

fun, open and trusting environment and to keep

the organization focused on the big picture objectives and key priorities.

The company market capitalization had surpassed

that of even Amazon.com, making it the

“world’s most valuable Internet retailer”. Pi

erre Omidyar, founder, is focused to achieve

excellence in strategic management for impr

oving the company’s strategy, sustaining the

company’s growth and business performance, a

nd potentially expanding from online auctions

into general “etailing”, and to become “the wo

rld’s largest online mall”. This research paper

intends to study the click and click business mode

l of eBay, whose competitive advantage lies in

its pure play strategy, a breakthrough from the trad

itional brick and mortar model, which leads to

sustainable...