Summary
Meg Whitman may be about to conclude one of the great leadership tenures in the Internet's whirlwind history, according to today’s Wall Street Journal report. Her successor must continue and improve on Meg's recent efforts to bolster safety, adjust fees, improve the shopping experience, and (perhaps most of all) focus on eBay's unique competetive advantages as an e-commerce destination.
Analysis
Can Meg Whitman's successor -- likely eBay Auctions president John Donahoe -- make the sort of drastic changes many believe are required to bolster safety, adjust fees, improve the shopping experience, and (perhaps most of all) focus on eBay's unique competetive advantages as an e-commerce destination. ?
I think so. But the "secret sauce" will be to grow eBay’s profile as a unique and special web destination, while leveraging that position to improve shopping.
What does that mean?
What's special about eBay: auctions, the thrill of "winning," a uniquely eclectic long-tail of product selection, and perhaps most of all, the eBay community. There's no place like eBay to find such a passionate community of participants (buyers and sellers), and unusual auctions that benefit the wider community. Auctions like lunch with Warren Buffett to benefit the Glide Foundation, and VIP tickets to the Grammy Awards to benefit MusiCares. The eBay Giving Works program can become eBay's secret weapon -- the place where e-commerce meets community like nowhere else online. Already, thousands and thousands of small and medium sized merchants are participating.
Today at Inc.com, David Schmidt, Ph.D., author of Wake Up Calls: Classic Cases of Business Ethics, published a telling column entitled, "The Moral Imagination of Entrepreneurs." He writes:
"...Previously, the most established and robust examples of programs in corporate ethics and social responsibility were developed by leading Fortune 100 corporations. ... I predict that cutting-edge work in business ethics will increasingly come from the more entrepreneurial segments of the economy, because there is an integral connection between moral imagination and the qualities of effective entrepreneurs."
eBay's life blood is the 1.2 million entrepreneurs who make their primary or secondary income from selling on eBay. Entrepreneurs like the members of the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance make up a tremendous portion of eBay's Gross Merchandise Volume.
But these entrepreneurs are trying to distinguish themselves in an increasingly complex multichannel e-commerce world. They need to follow the advice of Dr. Schmidt, and also find their way into the hearts and minds of the millions posting on social network sites such as MySpace, YouTube and FaceBook.
Increasingly, a key piece of the answer for them is to look where e-commerce meets community: eBay. With the eBay Giving Works program growing rapidly, and eBay bringing new corporate citizenship to the table (e.g., MicroPlace, a carbon-offset program, and more), there's more and more there.
The trick for eBay will be how to promote these charitable listings, and leverage them increase shopping. If you are selling VIP tickets to the Grammy Awards for charity, leverage that to sell other tickets, and other related items. At the same time, reward those sellers who are making the site special in this way.
That will be the secret sauce for Meg's successor.
