m-commerce on eBay hits $2 billion in 2010

RedLaser now free and with access to eBay and Shopping.com listings

According to eBay the way people shop is changing from in-store and e-commerce to m-commerce, and although we think it’s a little premature to say that, the green shoots are there.

In 2010 eBay’s mobile sales tripled from $600 million in 2009 to nearly $2 billion and it’s mostly fuelled by the eBay app, with eBay’s apps downloaded more than 30 million times in eight languages and over 190 countries.

Of the European markets the UK has been the fastest adopter of m-commerce, more of us used the eBay app than anywhere else in Europe. An item purchased on average every two seconds through the eBay buyer app in the UK, and 13 pieces of clothing, pairs of shoes and accessories are sold every minute through eBay’s mobile apps worldwide, with 94 bids made every minute via eBay’s mobile apps worldwide.

Germany and the UK combined generated nearly one-third of all eBay’s mobile sales in 2010, despite the UK’s relative size as a market. Alongside Australia, the UK is the fastest growing international mobile market.

The most popular items people have bought via mobile devices in the UK include:

• Fashion
• Consumer electronics and technical goods
• Sporting Goods
• PC and Video Gaming
• Home & Garden
• Collectibles

Users of Apple’s iPhone continue to lead the way in mobile shopping on eBay. Since its initial release in 2008, more than 15 million people downloaded eBay’s iPhone app, which is consistently ranked among the top three most popular apps in the iPhone lifestyle category.

eBay has also issued data on downloads of it’s newly acquired RedLaser barcode scanning app, which lets users scan and upload product information and compare prices,  downloads of RedLaser’s iPhone app are now at seven million – up by over 300% since eBay’s acquisition in June 2010.  However some of this increase could arguably be down to the fact that it’s now a free app, where it once cost $1.99. eBay have also added all of it’s 200 million listings, as well as product inventory from over 7,000 merchants on Shopping.com, which makes downloading the app a no-brainer is it wasn’t already a no brainer.  Try it out for yourself here

Clare Gilmartin, Vice-President of eBay Europe said: “It’s staggering to think that $2billion worth of sales has been generated through a platform that didn’t exist a couple of years ago, and on a device that didn’t exist three years ago. We’re defining the mobile commerce landscape, by offering convenience for consumers. We’ve made it easier for people to shop when they want, how they want and where they want. With the number of mobile internet users growing rapidly, the potential for growth is huge.”