San Jose, Calif. —March 12, 2012 —At South by Southwest today, eBay, the global leader in mobile commerce, announced that the popular “Watch With eBay™” feature on the eBay for iPad app – which enables people to seamlessly discover and purchase items related to what they’re currently watching on television – will launch as a standalone app for iPad®.
Consumers are increasingly engaging in a two-screen experience – shopping on their mobile devices while watching television. This trend – nicknamed “couch commerce” – is emerging as a growing part of the interactive shopping landscape, and eBay is the first company to sync shopping and entertainment for consumers via their iPads. The Watch With eBay app surfaces merchandise related to what consumers are watching on television, from the latest fashion trends at red carpet awards shows to sports memorabilia, to DVDs, signed autographs and other items related to favorite shows and actors.
Connecting consumers to the entertainment experiences they love is what makes eBay the leader in global mobile commerce. Watch With eBay demonstrates eBay’s commitment to creating tailor-made experiences based on consumer-led demand and technology-enabled solutions. Studies show that the average American watches five hours of television daily (according to Nielson) and a reported 86 percent of mobile Internet surfers use their smartphones and tablets as their “second screens” simultaneously while watching their favorite shows (according to Yahoo!). This new shopping trend is why Watch With eBay is launching as a standalone iPad app – to enable mobile commerce where shoppers want it most, with access to a variety of merchandise at their fingertips.
The standalone Watch With eBay app features:
- Watch With eBay: Couch commerce enthusiasts can tune into their favorite shows with a new, enriched version of Watch With eBay. The new standalone app includes a program guide consumers can use to access content related to their favorite television shows in real time with the ability to curate content by category. Shoppers will be able to browse designers from the red carpet of this year’s award shows or find sports memorabilia for their fan collections, plus much more.
- Shop Like a Star: Fans of television, film, sports and music are invited to shop through the lens of their favorite stars. Through eBay Celebrity – a unique shopping destination that combines celebrity experiences, memorabilia and merchandise with philanthropic causes – Shop Like a Star provides an inside look at featured celebrities’ favorite items, while eBay curates shopping results related to the celebrity picks and provides the option to donate to a benefiting charity at check out. Some celebrities will interact with consumers through original content, video and message boards.
From celebrities’ favorite charitable causes to their favorite shopping search terms, eBay Celebrity lets consumers shop like the stars they love while making a real world impact for good. Participating eBay Celebrity stars include Brad Pitt, Lady Gaga, Liam Neeson, Jerry Rice, Kim Kardashian, Robert Duvall, Christina Aguilera and many more. To date, eBay has raised nearly $300 million for charitable causes.
About eBay Inc.
Founded in 1995 in San Jose, Calif., eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) is a global commerce platform and payments leader connecting millions of buyers and sellers. We do so through eBay, the world's largest online marketplace, which allows users to buy and sell in nearly every country on earth; through PayPal, which enables individuals and businesses to securely, easily and quickly send and receive digital payments; and through GSI, which facilitates ecommerce, multichannel retailing and digital marketing for global enterprises. X.commerce brings together the technology assets and developer communities of eBay, PayPal and Magento, an ecommerce platform, to support eBay Inc.'s mission of enabling commerce. 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 its global portfolio of online brands, visit www.ebayinc.com.
Watch With eBay is a trademark of eBay Inc. iPad is a registered trademark of Apple Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.