eBay plans a second round for China

eBay is planning on getting back into the Chinese market. Devin Wenig, President of eBay Marketplace shared in an interview with the Wall Street Journal how they are planning on gaining back market share in China.

eBay pulled out of the Chinese market in 2006 after being pushed aside by Alibaba’s Ecommerce marketplace, Taobao. With the growth of the middle class in China, the Chinese market is something that eBay wants a part of once again. eBay already has a strong presence in China, and is the “largest Ecommerce company in the world by orders of magnitude for Chinese export”. eBay processes millions of Chinese purchases every year for export all over the world, but not for the Chinese domestic market.

eBay is planning on gaining back Chinese market share slowly at first, and will focus on niche categories, and mostly more expensive western merchandise, like fashion home and garden products. The plan is not to compete directly with Taobao, but rather to complete the lack of specialization of the Chinese with certain products.

“The Chinese consumer is too important to the future of Ecommerce and the global economy for us to ignore,” Wenig added on the reasons for reentering the market, “Taobao won’t be the only company who serves the Chinese consumer in the future”.

Alibaba is the strongest competitor in the Chinese market, owning the top marketplace with Taobao, and the most used payment solution in China with Alipay. eBay will have to come in offering something that their competitor cannot. With a huge presence assisting China’s merchant community in selling abroad, eBay now hopes to conquer the same spot within the consumer market.

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