Monday, October 27, 2008

eBay Q4 Profit Breakups  

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EBay forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $2.02 billion to $2.17 billion, compared with $2.18 billion a year earlier. The value of goods sold on EBay's sites fell 1 percent in the third quarter, the first drop in the company's history, as international markets declined as much as the U.S.

EBay's marketplaces revenue rose 4 percent to $1.38 billion in the third quarter. New marketplace listings climbed 26 percent from a year earlier, the fourth consecutive quarterly increase, EBay said. Revenue rose to $2.12 billion from $1.89 billion, helped by growth in its PayPal Internet payments unit and global classified advertising. The company's PayPal unit logged much higher growth - 27 percent, with revenue rising to $597 million.

Gross merchandise volume, or GMV, the value of all goods that users sold on EBay's sites, fell 1 percent. The average selling price on EBay's Web sites fell 7 percent, as consumers globally were squeezed by higher fuel and food prices, job losses and the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. They are buying ``fewer large ticket items,'' Donahoe said yesterday. Revenue from Skype, which added 32 million users in the quarter, climbed 46 percent to $143 million.

One thousand full-time employees and about 600 temporary and part-time workers will be fired by the end of this year, EBay said Oct. 6/2008. The job cuts will cost EBay $70 million to $80 million pretax, most of which will be recorded in the fourth quarter, and lead to annual savings of about $150 million.

EBay's number of new listings jumped 26 percent year over year to 700 million. But the number of active users - which is an important measure of how well it is doing bringing in new buyers and sellers - rose just 3 percent in the quarter to 85.7 million.
Courtesy: (Bloomberg.com)

Posted in , by Purna Borkotoki

Thursday, June 26, 2008

5 Reports On Online Marketing & Home Based Business Opportunities  

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    1. Advertising sales forecast has just been released by ZenithOptimedia - details from the report today and noted "The forecasts for internet advertising have been revised upwards. The report now forecasts 29.9% growth this year (up from 28.6% forecast three months ago) and 85% growth between 2006 and 2009 (up from 82%). Online video and local search are the new, fast-growing segments, but display, classified and the rest of search are still growing rapidly as well. Internet advertising is expected to account for 9.5% of all expenditure in 2009, fractionally up from the 9.4% forecast three months ago..... The study expects newspapers' share of world ad expenditure to fall from 29.0% in 2006 to 26.2% in 2009. Full Story on - Ahorre.com


    2. Hispanic households tend to be younger on average than the U.S. population at large. Of the more than 10 million Hispanic households, 38 percent are currently headed by someone under 35, and an additional 25 percent are led by someone between the ages of 35 and 44 (the national average for homes with heads under 35 is 23 percent.) By 2010, the under-45 Hispanic market will increase to 8 million households, and its purchasing power will leap from the current level of less than $295 billion to $397 billion. In other words, $3 out of every $5 flowing to Hispanic households in 2010 will be in the hands of this younger-than-average segment. Full Story on - Ahorre.com

    3. The Future of Advertising and Marketing Programs : Fundamental changes in the way marketing programs are planned, created and executed are expected in 2007, according to the Association of National Advertisers ANA. Here are ten ways the marketing landscape is likely to be transformed, as predicted by the ANA’s leadership team. Full Story on - Ahorre.com

    4. The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the first quarter of 2008, adjusted for seasonal variation, but not for price changes, was $33.8 billion, an increase of 0.8 percent (±1.0%)* from the fourth quarter of 2007. Total retail sales for the first quarter of 2008 were estimated at $1,024.2 billion, an increase of 0.1 percent (±0.2%)* from the fourth quarter of 2007. The first quarter 2008 e-commerce estimate increased 13.6 percent (±1.2%) from the first quarter of 2007 while total retail sales increased 2.8 percent (±0.2%) in the same period. E-commerce sales in the first quarter of 2008 accounted for 3.3 percent of total sales. Full Story on: Census.gov


    5. “Home-based businesses collectively generated a remarkable amount of economic activity, especially for women and minorities,” said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon. “Just released data also show most businesses are started by people and families who dig into their own pockets.” Almost half (49 percent) of the nation’s businesses are operated from home, and more than 6-in-10 owners used their own money to start the business, according to new U.S. Census Bureau reports on characteristics of businesses and business owners. Nearly 1-in-10 U.S. businesses -- both employer firms and nonemployer firms -- were started by owners who used personal or business credit cards to finance the startup or acquisition. Nearly 3-in-10 (28 percent) of all entrepreneurs started or acquired their business with no capital at all. Full Story On: Census.gov


    6. More Demographic Reports on US Home Business Workers / Engterpreneurs : Census.gov. Download the Free Report on Home Business Workers in the US (.pdf)

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eBay Provides Secondary income to 724,000 US Enterprenuers!!  

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Since eBay became more than just an online garage sale, many retail industry observers have wondered just how important eBay is as a selling force. A new survey by ACNielsen International Research for eBay provides an answer: very important. The survey reports that 724,000 Americans derive their primary or secondary income from eBay, a group which eBay characterizes as “professional eBay sellers.” Another 1.5 million say they supplement their income by selling on eBay.

In the first six months of 2005, eBay members in the U.S. sold merchandise worth approximately $10.6 billion. The number of eBay entrepreneurs in the U.S. has increased 68% since the last comparable study in 2003, when 430,000 Americans said they were making some or all of their income selling on eBay.

“In just 10 years, eBay has become the destination for Americans pursuing their visions of entrepreneurship,” said Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America. “We’re proud to play a central role in small business development in the U.S. and around the world.”
EBay hopes to increase that number by hosting eBay Days Small Business seminars in eight cities in the U.S. this summer.
Courtesy: Ahorre.com

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Monday, July 16, 2007

Canada E-Commerce Continues to Grow  

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Courtesy: eMarketer.com

Sites are popping up in the Great White North.

Canadian retail e-commerce just tallied its fifth straight year of double-digit growth, yet online sales still account for less than 1% of the total retail market, according to Statistics Canada's "2006 Survey of Electronic Commerce and Technology."

Nearly half of Canadian retail firms now have a Web site, compared to the 42% that did in 2005. The percentage is even higher among companies with 100 employees or more, of which 88% have a Web site.Online sales more than doubled in Canada from 2003-2006. eMarketer expects the average amount that Canadians spend online will grow strongly over the next three years. Seasoned online buyers (rather than new ones) will drive overall market growth.E-Commerce* in Canada, by Sector, 2003-2006 (millions of C$)

What do Canadians buy online?

J.C. Williams compared Canadian and US online consumer behavior. Canadians are either on par or ahead of their US peers in purchasing electronics, travel and event tickets online. Canadians lag behind in the purchasing of clothing, music and videos, gifts and toys.
Average Annual Amount Spent Online* by Online Buyers in Canada Ages 18+, 2005-2009 (% increase** vs. prior year)
Jeffrey Grau predicts that "it is only a matter of time before Canada's B2C e-commerce market lives up to its potential. The country is a world leader in Internet adoption, time spent online and electronic banking and bill payment."

Mr. Grau also notes that "plenty of consumers are held back from online shopping because they do not want to pay for shipping or they are concerned that it will be difficult to return an item purchased online if it fails to meet expectations." Multi-channel retailers can avoid this by offering in-store pickup and returns, he says.

Product Categories Purchased Online in the Past Six Months by Online Buyers in Canada vs. the US, April 2006 (% of respondents)











Read eMarketer's Canada B2C E-Commerce report.

Referential Press Releases:

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