What’s next for eBay? The company that blazed a trail for ecommerce businesses expects substantial growth opportunities in new platforms. CEO John Donahoe predicts the continued convergence of traditional brick-and-mortar retail and online transactions.
Donahoe said on Thursday, at eBay’s (NASDAQ: EBAY) annual presentation for analysts and investors, “New rules of retail are being written today.
“Today, ecommerce has grown as a percentage of offline retail. But we’re no longer thinking in terms of ecommerce,” Donahoe said. “That’s just too limiting in a world where online and offline are converging faster than anyone expected. In fact, to us, it’s no longer ecommerce — it’s just commerce.”
Donahoe said he sees four prevailing trends reshaping the ecommerce sector: Mobile, local, social and the sale of digital goods such as media and games. Of those, mobile might represent the biggest immediate near-term opportunity, he said.