Auction giant eBay Inc. is taking another step from its beginnings in Pierre
Omidyar’s living room, this time working a deal with Accenture Ltd. to create
a service aimed at helping big companies sell excess merchandise.
The management and technology consulting firm will
operate a new service called “Connection to eBay.” Launch is planned for the
fall.
The concept is to let large corporations — retailers, manufacturers and
distributors — sell discontinued or out-of-season products on eBay, but
spare them the hassle of dealing with listings, answering customer e-mails,
uploading photo files, even fulfillment.
eBay , which now claims
nearly 46 million registered users, has come a long way from its roots as a
marketplace for people who wanted to have a virtual garage sale.
In fact, the company’s official history says that “eBay was founded in
(Chairman) Pierre Omidyar’s San Jose living room back in September 1995. It
was from the start meant to be a marketplace for the sale of goods and
services for individuals.”
But these days many small and mid-size businesses are using eBay to move tons
of merchandise, so why not attract larger companies, too?
Accenture, which will own and operate the new service from an office next to
eBay’s San Jose, Calif. headquarters, estimates that U.S. companies try to
sell about $80 billion worth of excess merchandise each year, usually through
multiple vendors and distributors. The firm will try to show that eBay offers
a more efficient system.
Accenture will get a fee for each product listed, and eBay will collect its
usual fees as well, according to an Associated Press report. Financial terms
of the deal were not disclosed, but it includes a licensing fee from
Accenture to eBay.
eBay and Accenture said they conducted extensive market research and field
trials and found that merchants “often earn up to twice as much, and
sometimes more on each transaction,” by selling on eBay as compared to
traditional liquidation channels.
The Accenture deal is something of a blow to Research Triangle Park,
N.C.-based
ChannelAdvisor Corp., an eBay
preferred partner that has specialized in bringing brand-name retailers and
manufacturers to the eBay marketplace.
“We look forward to vigorously competing with Accenture,” said Scot Wingo,
CEO and president of ChannelAdvisor. ” While they do have a more known brand
than ChannelAdvisor, our focus and two years of experience in this field will
allow us to continue to dominate the space.”
eBay took pains to soften the blow, issuing a statement from a senior veep
saying that “ChannelAdvisor is a valued eBay partner, and adding Accenture to
our PSP
program in no way diminishes ChannelAdvisor’s value as an eBay partner.”
