When looking at some of the more successful fourth quarter performances inside marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon, it appears one of the sure fire ways to boost sales is through mobile.
In its latest blog, ChannelAdviser looked at the mobile efforts of eBay and found that mobile sales there doubled in 2012 to $13 billion and the company “expects to do more than $20 billion” in mobiles sales alone in 2013.
The blog also found that in its fourth quarter, eBay reported that mobile drove over four million new users to the site. So how did this happen? According to the blog, in order to attract more customers, eBay “debuted an exclusive mobile gift guide and launched mobile-only deals and special inventory.”
The plan paid off for eBay during the Cyber Five, otherwise known as Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Saturday, Cyber Sunday, and Cyber Monday, since smartphones and tablets accounted for 30% of all sales, according to ChannelAdviser.
The recommendation from ChannelAdviser? “If you’re not selling on eBay, now is the time to make that change, especially as eBay Marketplaces and mobile sales are experiencing double-digit growth.”
Over at Amazon, ChannelAdviser said their sellers’ same-store sales were up 38.1% from Thanksgiving through Christmas compared to 2011. While Amazon remains tightlipped on their mobile sales results, according to the blog, “Neil Doshi, an analyst for Citi, estimated that Amazon is conservatively earning $3 to $5 billion a year in mobile sales.”
While the blog points out that most smartphone shoppers are not downloading apps for every single ecommerce company they buy from, shoppers are downloading marketplace apps from eBay and Amazon, which is why it’s important to get your products on eBay and Amazon.
The bottom line, according to ChannelAdviser, set up shop on Amazon and eBay.