Ebay – The Future of Commerce. Description and comparison of the website’s redesign
Ebay Inc.
The online shopping and auction website Ebay has launched a new and improved website redesign in order to expand its audience and provide the shopper with an ultimate online shopping experience. The new website was launched on October 11th 2012 in the U.S. and their international websites are due to change gradually in the upcoming weeks. The website design is very clean, polished and eye grabbing, its newest and most interesting feature is the Feed, where shoppers can create their own feed based on their likes, the sellers they follow and the items they are interested in. Since the website has been launched, many bloggers and online newspapers have commented on the resemblance between the design of the new Ebay Feed and Pinterest as well as Etsy‘s shopping feed. With the redesign, Ebay has attempted to make shopping on the website more of a social experience, giving its shoppers the possibility to follow sellers and buyers, either friends or users which style and taste they admire.
The changes we’re making reflect the new eBay and our evolution as a marketplace that connects the world to the things they need and love. (Ebay, 2012)
The Feed
The aim of the Ebay feed is to make shopping a more personal experience for the user. Making it easier to browse thanks to the big eye-grabbing picturesque design of the feed. The new feature has already been made available on their U.S. website. The feel allows the user to choose what products he would like to see, browse and buy. It lets the user personalize their shopping experience according to their own aesthetics and needs. Giving the user the opportunity to choose what brands and products come up on the their feed. By allowing the users to easily look through their friends’ feed as well as style icons’ feed, Ebay has more or less made their website more of a social network, which is aiming to result in further earning the user’s trust. The feed closely resembles a real life vision board, playing the role of both an inspiration board and a wishlist. But thanks to advanced technology, Ebay introduces the user the option to buy what inspires them or what caught their eye. An advantage their design competitor, Pinterest, lacks.
Technology is enabling a revolution in how people shop, and eBay is enabling the future of commerce. (Ebay, 2012)
The new logo
To mirror their new approach and redesign, Ebay has changed their logo design. The new logo matches the clean and contemporary website design and emulates the sleekness and easiness they are trying to convey with their overall re-branding idea. The new logo has still kept the same famous Ebay colors. The font style has remained the same, the only evident difference we see is the reshaping of the font. The change of the logo on all their international websites marks the brand’s new beginning.
The Design
In the new design, we can see a lot of elements from the previous look that were kept, due to the fact the consistency of the look manages to channel the Ebay character. The re-design, although reminding of the old, is more structured and considerably less cluttered. The main focus of the redesign is to send a message to the consumer that the site sells new products as well as used / second hand items. Similar to the previous design, the Search bar has been left intact. Users can still search for any item they would like to buy and both used and new items will be included in the results, depending on the choice the user makes. A new feature of the search bar is that users can save their favorite search histories for a faster, and again more personalized shopping experience. With keeping the original feel of the website, Ebay have also succeeded in making small but significant changes to their design. One example is the new results browsing page, on the new site the user can now choose between viewing the items in a grid, list or customize the feed to his preference and taste. Browsing through the new search results grid presents the shopper with an at home window shopping opportunity. Another improved tool in the new design is the easier customization of categories, brand, price and size of the items the user can search for. A more refinements link has been included in the left of the browsing grid, allowing the shopper to widely tailor every search by his choice and requirements.
Checkout
The biggest struggle with the old Ebay website was checking out and paying for the item of your choice. In order for the user the pay, he had to be redirected to PayPal to be able to log in and then redirected back to Ebay to be able to pay for his item. Users often experienced problems with the PayPal – Ebay payment system. The new design has ensured a smooth checkout, in result of the fact PayPal can now get linked to the user’s Ebay account, much like an app on Facebook. Allowing the consumer to checkout faster and safer. Again, this feature is a big step towards the trust Ebay are trying to build with their loyal and future customers.
Ebay Checkout
Overall the Ebay re-branding and redesign has impressed a lot of bloggers, reviewers and shoppers. Their new look and approach is undoubtedly on its way to change the $10 trillion global retail market. Their brand gives a unique opportunity for sellers and shoppers from all around the globe to communicate and do business with each other without any boundaries or obstacles. These opportunities will certainly make online shopping more accessible and enjoyable for each of us.
Shop responsibly.
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