“We’re living through unprecedented times.” It’s been said over and over, yet seems to be the only way to describe the past two months. In the face of sweeping changes - from how we live to how we run our businesses - I’m amazed at the resilience and determination of you, our seller community.
Last week we reported our Q1 earnings and shared some initial updates on how the global pandemic is impacting our business. Despite one of the most challenging quarters in history, eBay drove strong results with key metrics such as Buyers, GMV and Revenue performing at or better than our expectations. As I mentioned on Facebook, none of this would be possible without our incredible seller community. Through the uncertainty and challenges, your commitment has never wavered, and you continue to deliver for our buyers around the world. Thank you for everything that you do. We’re grateful and proud to be in this together with you.
Today, I want to dive deeper into our Q1 results and what that means for you.
Overall, eBay had a strong start to the year:
- Our volume is accelerating; and managed payments and Ads are delivering growth and are on track for long-term success.
- We are executing our product roadmap of improving buyer and seller experience and conversion.
- Before we even felt the full global impact of COVID-19, our underlying business performance was better than our expectations.
COVID impact on Q1 performance and beyond:
- Through mid-March, volume was accelerating and we were tracking above the high end of our revenue and earnings guidance range.
- Late in March, we began to see a more pronounced impact of the global pandemic.
- Our Marketplace volume further accelerated as you stepped up to serve the increasing needs of buyers around the world - quickly getting their items out the door. While other online retailers struggled to keep up with demand, the broad-based eBay network of sellers expanded what was available for sale. You kept shipping, and shipping quickly!
- In April, we saw a surge in buyer demand, resulting in double-digit Marketplace volume growth.
Categories driving our growth:
- In March and the first part of April the strength was driven by “confinement” categories - meaning, items that people increasingly needed as they prepared for or adjusted to shelter in place mandates
- Buyers were focused on products for home offices, gym equipment and indoor leisure activities like video games and consoles.
- More recently we’ve seen lift in other categories as buyers started expanding their online shopping - ranging from pools and pet grooming to skateboards and soap making kits.
- On Saturday, I shared the latest marketplace trends from April - strong traffic happening outside of the confinement categories, as people rediscovered old hobbies and uncovered new ones. Buyers are coming to eBay for our unparalleled selection, and are finding the depth of our classic categories like arts and collectibles. We will continue to keep you updated as consumer purchase behavior evolves.
- This growth has been broad based across most categories and conditions - there has never been a better time to be up and running on eBay.
Up Next in North America:
- This week, we will launch new marketing campaigns to continue to drive new buyers to the site.
- The creative builds on Up & Running - a program meant to show the world that hundreds of thousands of small businesses are always up and running eBay. This work encompasses both brand new and fully established sellers, and reflects our marketplace - where approximately 70% of GMV comes from small or medium sized businesses.
- The commercials will run across radio, display, digital video and paid social.
- In addition to the tens of millions of dollars we already spend on performance marketing every month, we’re investing the upside from our current volume strength into broadcast and digital campaigns in Q2 to further support the US marketplace
- You’ve heard often from me about how we are being strategic with our marketing dollars, and this new campaign reflects the changing market dynamics and the unique opportunity we have to really go out and drive the eBay brand message.
Since the peak of the pandemic, we’ve taken steps to implement relief for you - deferred fee payments, added seller protections, and 100,000 incremental free listings. The listing promotion has been very popular and was recently extended through the end of July, with 50,000 additional, free fixed price listings per month for store sellers, and 200 additional free listings per month for non store sellers. These actions reflect a commitment from eBay North America to deploy up to $100 million in support programs for sellers.
The past few months have been truly extraordinary, and I feel like eBay’s mission has never been more relevant. eBay was built on the simple premise that connecting buyers and sellers creates economic opportunity, and the power of our platform is currently sustaining and supporting millions of people around the world.
Jordan Sweetnam
SVP + General Manager, Americas Market
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