eBay sees huge acceleration in vehicle sales via smartphones
Vehicle purchases on eBay via a smartphone are booming with tech savvy shoppers spending upwards of £40,000 on exclusive cars such as Porsches and Land Rovers by a simple tap of a screen. Vehicles including a Porsche 911 Carrera and Land Rover Evoque – both of which were sold for around £40,000 – rate amongst the most expensive purchases ever made on eBay via mobile and demonstrate growing confidence in vehicle purchases through smartphones.
Although the economic outlook still looks grim, nearly 45,000 vehicles were bought on eBay via a smartphone in the first three months of this year alone, which equates to almost a fifth of all eBay vehicle sales. In fact, vehicle purchases made via a smartphone on eBay increased more than 120% between 2010 and 2011, and are on track to increase again this year.
Motors is one of the most popular categories on eBay UK, and the most popular car brands purchased via a smartphone include Ford, Vauxhall, Volkswagen, BMW and Peugeot. Over 19,000 Ford cars were purchased on eBay UK between January and March 2012 – that’s one every four minutes.
Between January and March 2012:
A car was sold on eBay UK every 57 seconds
A car part was sold on eBay UK every 2 seconds
Wheels, tyres and trims were sold every 48 seconds
Over 7.9 million car parts were sold
Over 6,300 Mercedes-Benz cars, 5,500 Audi cars and 2,300 Jaguar cars were sold
In recognition of this trend for shopping for cars via a smartphone, eBay this week launched its new dedicated Motors app for iPhone which will make buying cars and parts and accessories via eBay on a mobile quicker, easier and more customisable.
Petra Jung, Head of Mobile Shopping at eBay UK, said: “Brits are in poll position when it comes to shopping on mobile devices, snapping up an item every second via eBay’s mobile platforms.
“In particular, we’ve seen a huge acceleration in vehicle sales on eBay UK with almost £70 million worth of vehicle purchases made via smartphones in the first three months of 2012.
“The new eBay Motors app will make shopping for cars, parts and accessories through smartphones even faster and more convenient, and the new Vehicle Finder helps car buyers snap and search for their dream car the moment it catches their eye.”
The new eBay Motors app features cutting edge image recognition technology to make searching for vehicles faster and more interactive. The eBay Motors app Vehicle Finder allows shoppers to snap a picture of the back of a car, and the app will do the hard work by searching eBay Motors listings and matching the photo to similar vehicles available on the site.
To meet growing demand from shoppers for more choice, interactivity and price transparency, the new Motors app features a fully customisable home screen gallery of live listings and an interactive garage. The garage allows shoppers to save profiles of their favourite cars, and dream cars they long to own, and sharing features encourage users to email, tweet or share listings on Facebook for family and friends to see.
Andrew Dice, 31, from Grimsby said: “I often buy vehicles on eBay, but my most expensive purchase to date was a £ 21,000 Land Rover Freelander which I bought using the eBay app on my smartphone. I find shopping via my mobile quick and convenient and it suits my busy lifestyle. I really like that on the new eBay motors app I can customise the home screen gallery to suit my tastes, and I find the Vehicle Finder is fun to use and really speeds up the searching process. It is definitely a tool I will be using when looking for my next car.”
The new eBay Motors app will be showcased at the eBay Motors pop-up garage XP Zone this summer – a hands-on eBay Motors experience that will be activated at key British Touring Car Championship race weekends.
Follow the eBay Motors BTCC team at ebaymotorsbtcc.co.uk.