eBay’s Christmas activities in Europe have ranged from a social shopping experience in six metal shipping containers, a pop-up store and, believe it or not, a bubble. The various events illustrated how mobile optimization and social sharing could transform the shopping experience.
GERMANY
eBay and PayPal joined forces in the run-up to Christmas to open “eBay Kaufraum mit PayPal,” the company’s first pop-up shop in Germany, showcasing the future of commerce in one of the busiest shopping areas in Berlin.
Customers could browse more than 150 products on display, then buy them by scanning QR codes through the eBay app on their mobile devices.
The experience also included a PayPal coffee shop where customers could pay for their coffee and cake with the PayPal mobile app.
The pop-up shop also featured two of the New York eBay Inc. showcases – the Living Room and the Fashion Boutique. These demonstrated what buying on eBay and paying with PayPal will look like in the future, and how GSI technology will enable retailers to give their customers completely personalized shopping experiences.
ITALY
At a temporary shop in Milan dubbed the eBay Bubble, personal shoppers showed consumers how stress-free online shopping could be: no queues, no traffic and no crowds.
The shop was located in the heart of Milan, Brera, and allowed consumers to sit in comfortable chairs with built-in tablets. The “bubble” also included QR codes to show even the most wary of online consumers how easy it is to shop eBay from anywhere.
FRANCE
France’s Christmas campaign showed consumers the benefits of eBay during the festive period, including the ability to sell to afford presents, a wide selection of Christmas gifts and, after the holiday, the opportunity to sell on any unwanted gifts.
The French Christmas campaign kicked off with a focus on cross-border trade via the eBay Holiday Collective, featuring a range of designer exclusive gifts for sale on eBay.com. The Collective was launched in the Pavillon Gabriel, Paris, where 65 top Christmas items were displayed with matching QR codes to enable mobile shopping. The event had a dedicated board on Pinterest, a live twitter feed #eBayNoel and insights into shopping behaviour were revealed.
U.K.
eBay harnessed the power of social networks to create a new kind of shopping experience in London’s Covent Garden on the busiest shopping weekend of the year. Six white shipping containers were transformed into a “social shopping experience” where consumers could use their mobile devices to see the three must-have Christmas toys come to life with augmented reality, see the 10 most talked-about gifts for Christmas on the “Twitter barometer” and scan QR codes to purchase each gift. One wall featured swatches of fabric that shoppers could scan using the eBay Fashion app, which triggered a search for matching styles on eBay. Additionally, personal shoppers were on standby on Facebook to guide people through any remaining Christmas shopping queries.
PayPal
PayPal.de has set up a Christmas tree at Rotes Rathaus, in the center of Berlin. When someone donates through the PayPal QR-Shopping app, a light on the tree goes on. All donations will go to children’s charity RTL -Wir helfen Kindern.
EU Super Sundays
All these activities have helped to ramp up interest in eBay during the Christmas period and make the eight Super Sundays in Germany and the U.K. achieve U.S. $13.67 million GMV and $688,000 in revenue, selling more than 225,000 units.