eBay, the world’s online largest marketplace, on Wednesday fired off several new salvos in the battle for the e-commerce industry, including a new look for its website, a new iPhone app and a new local deals service.
The major redesign of the eBay website, which begins with a version for U.S. users, closely resembles the popular new social network of the moment, Pinterest, with items and product categories displayed in an interlocking grid of photos.
As eBay president Devin Wenig wrote in a blog post on Wednesday:
Today we begin to introduce a series of significant new features and enhancements for our customers. We’re delivering a cleaner, contemporary look and feel; a more intuitive, convenient way to browse, decide and buy – both globally and locally; and a new personal way to curate your own shopping experience and discover items perfect for you. These new experiences will be rolled live in the coming weeks in the US and around the world in the coming months.
The Pinterest-like view is for now restricted to a user-personalized section called “eBay Feeds,” which eBay explains in a video released earlier in September.
The company also launched a new iPhone app called “eBay Now” which allows users to order household items from local retailers and national chains which an “eBay valet” delivers to users within the hour. The service is restricted to San Francisco for now but “other markets” are “coming soon,” according to eBay, with New York next up on the list, The Next Web reported.
Finally, eBay has also launched another new service called “eBay Lifestyle Deals,” that offers users discounts for products and services at local retailers. The service is active in the following areas at this time: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, NYC, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego and Washington, D.C. The service puts eBay in closer competition with Groupon and Amazon, which both also offer users local deals.
Although eBay began in 1995 as an online auction house, the majority of listings now are fixed-price and for new items, with eBay merchants doing close to $70 billion in gross merchandise value in 2012, according to an eBay spokesperson.
Correction: This article originally incorrectly labeled eBay an “online auction website,” when in fact, fixed-priced listings have been a part of the website since their introduction in 2002.
