Ebay has launched a new ‘shopper insights and influence’ platform, letting advertisers sell their ads in a fair auction via eBay, rather than having to trust an independent vendor to do so.
The move sets to take on larger ecommerce rival Amazon, which has embraced programmatic marketing recently.
The new offer – which will be delivered across Europe through eBay Advertising’s UK and German teams – has been developed in response to demands from brands looking for more transparency and effectiveness across all customer touchpoints. It reflects eBay’s commitment to grow its advertising business, as announced in its Q3 2018 results.
The team will work with brands and agencies to help them understand, target and influence customer groups at scale, from early stage inspiration through to purchase. A new in-house sales team will foster greater collaboration between eBay and its advertisers, to help brands and agencies reach their objectives by building campaigns using eBay’s powerful shopper data and insights.
In the UK, eBay has made two senior hires to drive forward the new proposition. Geoff Smith joins from Publicis as Director of Adtech & Innovation and Oli Knight, also joining from Publicis, is leading the team as Head of UK Advertising. Phuong Nguyen has been promoted to General Manager of Advertising EU, while Mike Klinkhammer has been promoted to Director of Advertising Sales EU.
“This evolution of the eBay Advertising business is a statement of our commitment to the UK market, and a strategic response to the rapidly changing and converging media and e-commerce landscapes” says Nguyen. “The industry is now realizing the power and potential of digital shopper marketing. There are huge opportunities for brands to get closer to their customers and make a bigger impact.”
Commenting on the announcement, Knight added: “eBay’s powerful data and insights allows us to go beyond the inventory. We’re a strategic partner to brands and agencies who tell us they’re looking for deeper collaborations delivering innovative, effective campaigns that give them an edge over competitors. We’re busy refining our offer to allow us to do just that, and on a bigger scale.”
As part of the new offer, eBay Advertising is:
• Bringing together expert teams covering advertising sales, technology and programmatic and sponsored commerce to help brands reach its 177 million shoppers globally at every stage of the path to purchase
• Optimising its supply path, improving ad quality and even developing its own adtech stack to boost performance and transparency. This includes over 100 dynamically-generated advanced targeting segments for advertisers
• In-housing its sales function to create more open, collaborative and innovative partnerships with customers and to make it easier for brands and agencies to work with eBay to leverage its shopper data for a competitive advantage
• Building an insights team to provide valuable insights into customers based on their unique eBay buying behaviour, to help advertisers increase relevance and boost ROI