eBay tests click and collect in UK; same day delivery in US

Ebay is trialling a click and collect service with retailers in the UK as it makes further inroads into bricks and mortar retailing.

Shoppers can use mobile phones or computers to order goods for both of the pilot services. It is not yet known which retailers are partnering with the etailer.

Ebay senior director for mobile commerce in Europe, Olivier Ropas, said at Facebook’s Retail Forum today that the company has “a lot of pilots” in mobile commerce.

He said: “We have just launched a click and collect concept, which gives retailers the opportunity to sell inventory on the PC or phone, and the end user goes into a store and collects it.” He added the project would help drive eBay’s online customers into retailers’ stores.

The mobile channel is expected to account for $10bn of eBay’s global sales in 2012, a target that has been revised up from the previous estimate of $8bn.

The company has already dabbled in bricks and mortar retailing after it opened pop-up stores in New York and London.

Last month eBay trialled an ‘eBay Now’ app as a pilot in San Francisco, which lets shoppers order a product from a local store and have it delivered to their door in as little as an hour. The mobile app brings together data and technology from eBay Inc-owned, local inventory and product tool, Milo, and PayPal's mobile payment technology to provide one seamless online to offline shopping experience.

Source : Rebecca Thomson – Retail Week; The Guardian
www.retail-week.com; www.guardian.co.uk