News

eBay Announces Launch Of Delivery Services Hub

eBay Advertising has launched the Delivery Services Hub, a central point on eBay.co.uk for courier, delivery and shipping companies provideing value, choice and selection to the tens of thousand after thousand of business and private sellers on the UK's leading online marketplace.

The eBay Delivery Services Hub offers a single location where shipping carriers (including lead sponsor Safestore) purchase ‘blocks’ of space to showcase their provideings exclusive to eBay users. Daily deals and special offers will give customers with the choice of better value and cheaper alternatives for delivery.

eBay.co.uk will promote the Delivery Services Hub with a minimum of one hundred million mixed format advertising impressions each month across the search results pages, homepage, category pages and My eBay pages of the eBay network.

This new initiative marks the very first time the eBay.co.uk has secured discounts for postage or shipping for its users based on their collective buying power, and allows smaller and much more specialist shipping companies to promote themselves easily and efficiently on the site.

“Every week, literaly thousands of eBay buyers purchase cars, furniture, industrial equipment, motorcycles and then ask, ‘How do I get it here?’” comments Matt Chasen, CEO and Founder of uShip. “eBay’s new Shipping Hub gives uShip more direct access to those buyers needing low-cost delivery for larger items and sellers wanting to reach out-of-area customers."

Phillip Rinn, Director of Advertising Partnerships, UK and EMEA of eBay Advertising, UK said: “On eBay there are 30 million live listings at any given time, and over 200 million items sold a year which need to be shipped. The launch of the Delivery Services Hub is the very first real opportunity for shipping companies to advertise their services to prospective customers, and for us to deliver a choice of shipping options to our customers, enabling them to reap the benefits of lowerd delivery costs.”

Hot weather helps retail sales

home shopping

The long hot summer months have a way of keeping people inside airconditoned homes and off the muggy shopping streets. Many people would much rather stay in and order on something online and save them selves the trouble of breaking a sweat.

That is no doubt why so many internet web retailers saw there sales increase in the months of June and July. Also at work is all the activietes restricted to the warmer months can now be enjoyed. Which means an increase in the sell of outdoor sports equipment, hiking gear, and other products indicitive of summer leisure time.

The BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor for June 2010 shows UK retail sales values rose 1.2% on a like for like basis from June 2009, when sales had picked up 1.4%, helped by the heatwave in the later half of the month.

This June was slightly less hot, but sunny for most of the month. On a total basis, sales were up 3.4% against a 3.2% increase in June 2009.

Food sales growth was about the same as in May, thanks in no small part to the hot weather and World Cup. Clothing and footwear sales growth slowed a bit, as many people had already purchased in May's sun. TVs did well thanks to the football and outdoor DIY and leisure improved in the sun, but at the expense of indoor homewares.

Nonfood nonstore sales (internet, mail-order and phone sales) in June were 17.3% higher than they were a year ago, down from 21.9% in May. But June's gain was against a similar increase in June 2009, while May's gain was against a weak May 2009.