e-Bay

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eBays mission has scored only 1.6 points and is a poorly constructed mission. The statement
doesnt include most of the essential components and doesnt mention any values. This is a
common mistake done by many famous companies. They create mission statements that are
inspiring and enduring but provide little value to firms stakeholders as to what is the
business reason for being. eBays mission is customer-oriented and provides more
flexibility for the business to expand into other product markets. In overall, eBay could
expand its mission by addressing more stakeholders and providing more information about
their market, philosophy, concern for public image and employees.
Many of the readers may also encounter other mission of eBay:
eBay delivers the worlds largest online marketplace to customers via any connected
device, connecting people with the things they need and love.
This mission is for the eBay marketplace and not for eBay Inc., which is the parent company
of the former. eBay Inc. also controls PayPal and eBay Enterprise. eBay marketplace mission
additionally includes markets but doesnt mention any values and is a poor statement.
Evaluation
Does it include...?
Customers Products/Services Markets
Yes Yes No
Technology Concern for survival Philosophy
No No No
Self-concept Concern for public image Employees
Yes No No
Does it mention values like...? Customer or product-oriented?
Citizenship Teamwork Customer-oriented
No No
Excellence Integrity
Score
No No 1.6/4.5

e-Bay SWOT Analysis
Strength :
1. Worlds largest internet marketplace. eBay has more than 150 million live listings
and more than 105 million active users globally in 37 countries. That makes eBay the
largest marketplace online, having a great power over other online retailers.
2. Business model. eBay only acts as a middleman between sellers and buyers, who
bid and sell items in eBays marketplace. Being a pioneer in online auctions, eBay
had no competition and currently has only few strong direct competitors. Thus,
companys business model is a competitive advantage over such giant retailers as
Amazon.
3. Economies of scale. In the beginning, eBay had to invest heavily to gain IT and
customer relationship management (CRM) knowledge and skills, but since then,
used its skills to serve over 100 million users and to create the largest online
marketplace with little additional costs.
4. Localization. The business operates in 37 countries. Each marketplace is using
local language and is adapted to local product offerings. No other global online
marketplace is localized to such degree.
5. Payment system. eBay uses PayPal, its own payment system, to proceed nearly all
of the payments going from eBays marketplace. From eBays perspective, such tight
integration has the benefits of more fees collected (PayPal takes transaction fees
from the businesses) and tighter control over buyers shopping experience. From
buyers perspective, PayPal provides easy to use online payment method.
6. Brand reputation. eBay is a trustworthy brand, known all over the world and is
valued at $11 billion.

Weaknesses :
1. High fees. eBays fees for the sellers has risen significantly over the years. The firm
receives fees on listed goods, sold goods, some adornment fees and PayPal
transaction fees. The sellers often make zero profit on their low price products sold
on eBay due to its high fees.
2. No further growth strategy. eBay hasnt unveiled any plans on how the business is
going to sustain its growth. Firms top management team is unsure whether eBay
should become a retailer or to introduce new products and services and how to do
that: developing its own products or acquiring new business. As a result, there is high
uncertainty over eBays future and business direction.
Opportunities :
1. Growing number of mobile shoppers. eBay has a strong payments system PayPal
that is widely accepted and used by many online retailers and online shoppers as it is
convenient and easy to use. The growing number of mobile shoppers represents a
huge growth opportunity for PayPal as its one of the few payment systems that
meets the requirements for convenient shopping and payment processing on the go.
2. Become a retailer. eBay has an access to hugest online marketplace in the world
and is well placed to take an advantage of that by becoming a retailer. The company
has its IT and CRM systems in place already and could easily stake out a market
share from Amazon and other online retailers.
3. Increase services portfolio through acquisition. The company has successfully
acquired many companies to extend its services offering and should continue adding
new services through mergers and acquisitions.
4. Open more online stores in other countries. To sustain current growth levels,
eBay could open its online marketplaces in other large and growing economies in
Asia and Europe.
Threats :
1. Online security. PayPal stores online shoppers personal information, such as bank
account details, which is a target for online thefts. The more online customers PayPal
has, the more attractive as a target for identity thefts it becomes.
2. Regional low cost online retailers. Regional low cost online retailers could outrival
eBay on faster and cheaper shipping, more localized product offering and better
knowledge about home market.
3. Increasing competition from Amazon. Amazons online presence has significantly
increased and now Amazons marketplace is just behind eBays.
4. Exchange rates. eBay receives a part of its income from foreign operations. The
profits that are sent back to US have to be converted into dollars and may be
affected by the exchange rates, especially when the dollar is appreciating against
other currencies.