"A tech-led re-imagination of eBay."
Since 2020, eBay leaders have transformed the company into a modern marketplace focused on meeting the rapidly changing needs of consumers.
The introduction of the Authenticity Guarantee — with its Blue Bite-powered personalized mobile experience — is a large part of this re-imagining, which has resulted in a nearly 90 percent customer satisfaction rate on authenticated transactions.
See how Blue Bite helped eBay increase consumer safety, trust and transparency, part of eBay's overall strategy to better meet consumers where they are.
The results: a record setting year.
Product
Lifestyle and Footwear
NFC
“To be candid, we did not adapt quickly enough to the rapidly changing needs of our customers,” said eBay President and CEO Jamie Iannone.
But he knew the way forward.
"I see enormous upside potential in really getting back and focused on the customer experience. I'm planning on leading what I'm calling the tech-led reimagination of eBay,” he said on CNBC.
The company found a strong foothold in non-new sales, where they were able to improve the customer experience for buyers and sellers with the Authenticity Guarantee, the new service powered in conjunction with Sneaker Con and Blue Bite. This helped the company provide increased safety, trust and transparency to consumers.
“We launched some new verticals in the fall in sneakers and watches and certified refurbished and what we're seeing is that we're changing the game for buyers and sellers and that's making a huge difference,” Iannone said.
Nearly 2 million items have been authenticated with the technology since it was launched. The sneaker business grew triple digits, the luxury watch sector has seen double digit growth, and the success has led eBay to plan to expand the guarantee to new verticals.
In addition to the 90 percent customer satisfaction rate, the company also saw big gains in other areas.
"It was a record year, we did over $14 billion GMV year over year, which was more than the last seven years combined,” Iannone told Squawk on the Street, less than a year after his first appearance on CNBC announcing the transformation. “We added 11 million new buyers.”
And revenue was up $2.9 billion for the year.
Additionally, Iannone points out that the sneaker and watch growth led to more sales across categories. The trusted buyer relationship built by the Authenticity Guarantee goes far beyond the non-new verticals.
“When a sneaker buyer comes to us, they end up spending about $2500 on eBay, but only $500 of that is within sneakers and the other $2000 is other categories on eBay.”
eBay’s authentication process is simple: