Growth Strategies Case Study

Evolution of eBay : Meg Whitman’s Success Strategies

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Abstract:
In online auctions, eBay was the most popular and widely used site. It began as a conventional online site for auctions and developed into a multibillion business model under the leadership of Meg Whitman. When she joined in 1998, eBay was a US $ 5.7 million business. It had sales of 5.58 billion in 2006. eBay acquired a payment platform called PayPal in 2002 and a communication platform called Skype in 2005. The idea which Meg Whitman had in her mind was that eBay users would use Skype for communication and in turn use PayPal to pay for calls and auction payments.

A big part of eBay’s advertising was done by Google. These advertisements increased customer responses and recalled many customers to use eBay. eBay also promoted small businesses and entrepreneurs to carry out their activities through eBay. Taking lead from the growing business of eBay, Google launched new services as a part of its diversification strategy. Google talk which allowed free communication in text format became a threat for Skype and Google Checkout which was a payment method using credit cards was a direct competition to PayPal. There were many competitors in the Asian region like Taobao of alibaba.com. The case discusses Meg Whitman’s strategies to revive eBay.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To discuss about Online Auction Industry
• To convey the dominant role of eBay in online auction industry
• To highlight threat of substitute services to eBay
• To discuss eBay’s Model of e-commerce.

Keywords : eBay; Meg Whitman; eBay- Skype_PayPal model; Online Auction Industry; seller-bidder network; half.com; Shopping.com; Strategic alliance with Yahoo; Credit Card Payments; Video Conferencing; Strategic alliance with UPS and USPS; Growth Strategies Case Study; Google Talk; small and enterprise level business; Google Checkout; Google Talk

Contents : 
Online Auction Industry
Background
eBay’s Growth & Expansion
eBay and Its Competitors
eBay Vs Google
eBay’s Strategies to Counter Competition
eBay- Growth in Number of Registered Users