EBAY INTRODUCES NEW MARKETPLACE WITH CURATED COLLECTIONS

On Tuesday, eBay introduced a new Marketplace homepage designed to incorporate social media engagement and editorial content to the auction site. The update adds the interactivity typical of social media sites to the e-commerce channel, illustrating the trend for digital platforms to expand their approaches to engagement with users. Visitors are now able to create profiles and collections, as well as follow other users. The site will launch with curated collections created by over 200 “trendsetter star curators” such as Pharrell Williams. EBay’s mood board format is differentiated from other sites such as Pinterest as collections will be shoppable. The goal of the update is to encourage community engagement and interaction between users beyond transactional auctions. While e-commerce remains the focus of the site, eBay hopes that adding social network opportunities will lead users to visit the site for longer periods and more frequently. This will be the first time eBay publish editorial content.