EBay brand revamp targets millennials

EBay's has launched a massive rebranding with a global campaign called 'Fill your cart with colour' to attract younger users.

EBay Thailand, the local operating unit of the US-based online marketplace, has revamped its brand to tap into the millennial generation.

Thailand is still ranked the largest eBay exporter country in Southeast Asia. It is also one of three countries, after Singapore and Malaysia, where eBay is piloting the business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) platform in Southeast Asia.

"This year the company will focus on a fresh, colourful and younger look to attract millennial users, both sellers and buyers," said Boonphan Boonprayoon, eBay Thailand's country manager.

The eBay brand is strong among generations X and Y, those in the upper 30-year-old bracket, but it also has to reach out new potential users aged 18-30 years old, he said. "We are undertaking a massive rebranding focusing on the global campaign 'Fill your cart with colour', enabling shoppers to get their version of perfection," said Mr Boonphan.

EBay is targeting two-digit growth among its sellers in Thailand this year. With its variety of products, Thailand continues to be the largest exporter for eBay in Southeast Asia, a position it has held for the past 10 years, with revenue of over US$1 million per year (34 million baht).

Mr Boonphan said eBay promotes the Thai retail business to export to the global market rather than focusing on domestic buyers.

The company focuses on two strategies: improving personalisation for buyers while enabling sellers to do market research, and easier tracking of sales performance at no extra cost.

EBay will also provide DataLab, a big data analytics tool, to help Thai sellers analyse customer behavioural data, product price, quality, and the number of listings. The company also provides a voice search chatbot for buyers through Facebook's messenger platform.

Mr Boonphan said eBay has 169 million active buyers globally who buy items from more than 1.1 billion listings in the eBay marketplace. This resulted in US$20 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) in the first quarter. Mobiles accounted for about 60% of total GMV trade on eBay in the first quarter.

He said the top fastest-growing categories for Thai sellers are home furnishings, health and beauty, auto parts and home improvement. Among buyers, the US accounts for half the total, followed by the UK, Australia and Europe.

The company also piloted B2B2C links in Thailand last year by creating an ecosystem matching online sellers, suppliers, manufacturers, and providers of IT services and logistics.

Mr Boonphan said the popularity of online shopping will encourage more sellers to export online. The online tax regulation has little impact on eBay as its top sellers have already paid corporate tax.