From the Winter Olympics to Designer Handbags and Sports Cars, M-Commerce Leader eBay® Shares Global Mobile Shopping Moments for 2010

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--eBay, the world’s largest online marketplace and a leader in mobile commerce, today announced this year’s global mobile shopping trends based on items sold and sales. From fashionistas and sports fans to gamers and gadget hounds, millions of shoppers turned to eBay mobile applications to research and purchase goods and gifts. Through eBay’s m-commerce infographic, eBay analyzed mobile sales across its top six mobile markets to identify this year’s major mobile shopping moments.

“As mobile shopping peaked this year, eBay led the way by becoming the go-to shopping destination”

“As mobile shopping peaked this year, eBay led the way by becoming the go-to shopping destination,” said Steve Yankovich, vice president of mobile for eBay. “With more than 30 million downloads of eBay’s mobile apps worldwide, eBay is clearly a barometer for mobile shopping trends. We see people buying everything from designer apparel to cars and trucks on their phones regularly, and purchases being made through eBay mobile every second.”

In the U.S., the top five categories ranked by the number of items sold through eBay’s mobile apps for the year were: clothing shoes & accessories; cell phones & PDAs; collectibles; jewelry & watches; and toys & hobbies.

eBay’s interactive infographic application available at www.ebayinc.com/mobilecommerce visualizes eBay mobile shopping trends from Jan. 1 through Dec. 21 within the top 20 eBay product categories based on sales across eBay’s leading m-commerce markets. eBay’s infographic reveals the following trends:

Global Mobile Shopping Moments:

High-End Holiday Spending: During the holiday shopping season (Nov. 25 – Dec. 25), U.S. eBay mobile sales grew 134 percent over the same period last year, generating nearly $100 million in GMV; worldwide, mobile sales grew 166 percent generating $230 million in GMV. Designer handbags, diamond jewelry and Rolex watches topped this year’s most expensive holiday purchases.
Sports Shopping Spree: Major sporting events drove fans to shop on eBay mobile to commemorate some of the most highly coveted competitions. Based on mobile sales, the sports memorabilia category peaked in Canada, during February’s XXI Olympic Winter Games held in Vancouver, B.C. The category also peaked in Germany during the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ South Africa, where Germany placed third, in June and July, and in France during July’s Tour de France®.
Gaming Lovers: Valentine’s Day has become a boon for the video game industry as World of Warcraft® and Final Fantasy® hosted special online gaming events. Video game sales through eBay’s mobile apps spiked 68 percent week-over-week for the week ending on Feb. 14.
Must-have Gadgets: In the U.S., tech lovers flocked to eBay as the iPad made its debut on April 4, driving the consumer electronics category to its annual peak the day after Apple’s tablet device first arrived in retail stores. On June 24, the day the iPhone® 4 launched in the U.S., the cell phones & accessories category hit its annual peak as a flurry of new and pre-owned iPhones were listed on eBay.
Fashion Fanatics: As eBay released its Fashion app for iPhone this summer, clothing & accessories was a consistently popular category on mobile. In Canada and France, clothing & accessories was a top category overall based on mobile sales; it was a top three category in Australia, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. During the busy shopping period between Black Friday (Nov. 29) and Mobile Sunday (Dec. 12), the category ranked number one in the U.S., in both GMV and sold items.

What’s Hot and Where in the U.S. and Abroad:

Demonstrating the breadth of merchandise people are purchasing on their mobile phones, eBay’s m-commerce infographic shows the categories representing the largest amount of U.S. mobile-generated sales overall for 2010:

1. Cars & trucks

2. Clothing & accessories

3. Auto parts

4. Sporting goods

5. Cell phones & accessories

Cars & trucks ranked in the top five categories in every state except Hawaii, and auto parts was a top five category in all 50 states. Other categories that were shopped through eBay mobile in nearly every state were clothing & accessories (49 states) and sporting goods (47 states).

The top three categories by sales for the year in each of eBay’s top six mobile commerce markets are:

Canada: clothing & accessories, jewelry and cars & trucks
France: clothing & accessories, jewelry and computers
Germany: auto parts, cars & trucks and clothing & accessories
Australia: cars & trucks, home improvement and clothing & accessories
United Kingdom: cars & trucks, clothing & accessories and auto parts
United States: cars & trucks, clothing & accessories and auto parts

About eBay Inc. Mobile

eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY) launched its first application for the iPhone in July 2008 and has since become a leader in mobile commerce. Its core iPhone application, which is available free via iTunes® in eight languages and 190 countries, has been downloaded more than 14 million times and allows users to fully browse and buy without leaving the application. The eBay app for the iPad™ debuted in the top ten most downloaded free iPad apps in the iTunes Store and delivers a dramatically different, visually compelling shopping experience to browse and purchase the vast selection of products available on eBay. eBay’s suite of mobile apps, including Selling, Classifieds, StubHub and Deals, make selling and buying possible virtually anywhere, anytime. For more information on eBay mobile, visit www.ebay.com/mobile.

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