Bangkok--29 Sep--Aziam Burson-Marsteller
This September, eBay celebrates its 15th anniversary, reinforcing its success as the leading e-commerce site with 90 million active users and a global presence in 39 markets worldwide. To commemorate this monumental occasion, eBay threw a birthday bash at Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit hotel. 120 of the top eBay sellers in Thailand and 20 eBay staff celebrated with a birthday cake and shared their positive eBay experiences.
Started as an experiment by computer programmer Pierre Omidyar in 1995, eBay has evolved into an efficient marketplace that connects buyers and sellers in a strong global user community and enables cross border trade.
Closer to home, Thai sellers have been enjoying tremendous success on eBay — the total value of goods sold to overseas markets like the US and Europe by Thai eBay sellers grew by 26% in the past year.
Thanesphong Charusadhirakul, Senior Manager at eBay, who oversees Marketplace Development in Southeast Asia said, “We are very proud to celebrate our 15th anniversary as the world’s largest online marketplace. Members from Thailand have been active on eBay since the very beginning, and the Kingdom is now one of the most active markets within Southeast Asia. We will continue to help Thai individuals and businesses engage more effectively in cross border trade and expand their businesses beyond the local market.”
Kfir Gershonovitz and Jiraphan Sukampeeranont, top eBay sellers in Thailand who have been trading in sterling silver jewelry on eBay since 2001, said, “We started our business when we saw the tremendous opportunity that eBay offers to reach a huge market. It’s a great platform for marketing products in many countries. After doing business on eBay for around two years, we saw strong sales growth so opened our own Web site at www.silvershake.com. We continually upgrade our internal technology to support our growing business, including shipping, listing and intellectual property management.”
Their key to success in the increasingly competitive jewelry marketplace is offering the best-quality items to their customers. Their business has steadily grown from four employees at the beginning to almost 80 employees now. Customers mainly come from the United States, with an increasing number of buyers from Europe, particularly the United Kingdom and Russia.
According to Kfir and Jiraphan, their customers appreciate the design of their jewelry and the good quality they offer at affordable prices. Around 30% of them are repeat buyers. “The main reason people always come back to purchase products on eBay is because it never stops updating its technology. In addition to the solid platform, eBay is always looking for new ways to serve users. For example, most recently, eBay refined its categories using a team that specializes in this area, rather than just creating categories randomly.”
Sophon Lertassawawiwat, another top eBay seller in Thailand who has been selling antique watches on eBay since 2001, said, “I accidentally found out about eBay while searching for products on the Internet. At first, I tried selling antique watches and found that they made a better profit than selling them domestically. I have been continually selling products on eBay since then, as it is a safe platform with a lots people looking for the items they need. This provides a great opportunity to sell products to buyers in international markets. eBay also offers a lot of support when problems arise. I tried to sell products through other international websites without success. eBay is the most effective channel to reach millions of potential buyers worldwide, which helps my business to move forward.”
After selling products on eBay for three years, Sophon resigned from his permanent job to work full-time on developing the growth potential of his eBay business. He became a top seller a year later. Sophon believes buyer behavior has changed over last four or five years, with them becoming more discerning when buying items. His watches still sell well as they are genuinely unique, and he occasionally offers free shipping to promote sales. Around 20% of Sophon’s customers are repeat buyers. Some 90% of them are from the United States and United Kingdom, with 10% from Australia, Germany and Asian countries.
“One of main reasons people always return to eBay is that it’s a source for such a wide range of products. Buyers can easily compare prices to obtain the best deal,” concluded Sophon.
Miklos, a buyer from the United Kingdom, a long-standing customer who purchased his first item during Sophon’s first year of business, said, “I very much appreciate the antique watches Sophon sells, as they are beautiful and have good quality. I can wear his watches without the need for any additional work. Sophon always updates his store with new products, giving me a reason to keep coming back.”
For more information on how to use eBay to expand your business internationally, please log on to
http://export.ebay.co.th/.
eBay's key milestones in the past 15 years:
1995: eBay—then called AuctionWeb—is founded by computer programmer Pierre Omidyar and auctions its first item, a broken laser pointer, for $14.83.
1999: eBay expands internationally with sites in the UK, Germany and Australia, and launches online automotive marketplace, eBay Motors.
2000: eBay is named the #1 e-commerce site with its first eBay University held. eBay opens marketplaces in Austria, Canada, France and Taiwan. "Buy It Now" feature is introduced, allowing buyers to shop at a fixed price.
2002: eBay Inc. acquires PayPal, combining the strength of the world's largest online marketplace with the web's leading payment system.
2007: eBay Inc. acquires StubHub, the world's largest online ticket marketplace. eBay launches MicroPlace, which offers investment opportunities in microloans to the world's working poor.
2009: eBay continues to lead mobile commerce with an upgraded version of its core iPhone application and a new app just for deals.
PHOTOS:
Thanesphong Charusadhirakul (right), Senior Manager at eBay, who oversees Marketplace Development in Southeast Asia; Sophon Lertassawawiwat (2nd from right), Power Seller of antique watches on eBay since 2001; and Kfir Gershonovitz (3rd from right) and Jiraphan Sukampeeranont (left), Power Sellers who have been selling sterling silver jewelry on eBay since 2001
The eBay team celebrating the company’s 15th anniversary in Thailand to reinforce its success as the world’s largest online marketplace.
About eBay
Founded in 1995 in San Jose, Calif., eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) connects hundreds of millions of buyers and sellers globally on a daily basis through eBay, the world's largest online marketplace, and PayPal, which enables individuals and businesses to securely, easily and quickly send and receive online payments. We also reach millions through specialized marketplaces such as StubHub, the world's largest ticket marketplace, and eBay Classifieds sites, which together have a presence in more than 1,000 cities around the world. For more information about the company and our global portfolio of online brands, visit www.ebayinc.com.
About eBay Southeast Asia
eBay Southeast Asia is responsible for driving marketplace development with a focus on growing cross border trade in 6 markets namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. An English and Thai language information portal at http://sea.ebay.com/ has been set up to provide users advice on how to expand their businesses internationally via eBay’s global websites such as ebay.com, ebay.co.uk and ebay.com.au. In Southeast Asia, eBay for Business is an exclusive program developed to help retailers and wholesalers in exporting their products to US, UK, Australia and Europe by providing free selling support services in using eBay as an export channel. Visit http://sea.ebay.com/ebayforbusiness.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Jean Ow-Yeong
eBay Southeast Asia
Tel: +65 6510-4502
Email:
[email protected]
Jittima Maekharosthammakul
Aziam Burson-Marsteller
Tel: 02-252-9871
Email:
[email protected]