A Message from Rathin Lahiri...
Hi, I’m Rathin Lahiri, Chief Marketing Officer at eBay India. My team & I work towards bringing more buyers to the site, to ensure better sales. We also undertake special initiatives to add new sellers to the eBay India platform to ensure that a variety of products are available for our buyers.
I am here today to give you all an update on the various marketing initiatives aimed at increasing buyers on site and also to share with you very a special news.
Bringing Internet Users to eBay: Over the past one year, we continued to advertise aggressively on all the major portals and search engines. We are also reaching out to an enhanced user base via partnerships with language sites such as webdunia, social networking and blog sites.
Increasing presence in Cyber Café’s: Since 35% of India’s population accesses internet through cyber cafés, our partnership with Reliance World is enabling cybercafé users to buy online using the services of a Web Guide. For many people, this has allowed them to make theirfirst eCommerce transaction in a simple and convenient manner.
Generating trial through eBay gift vouchers: eBay Gift vouchers and integrated marketing programs such as ‘Get Lucky’ has helped us in successfully in converting first time users /visitors to buyers. We plan to continue and have more such programs in future.
Being in News: Did you know that every day, at least 7 articles about eBay India are published in our newspapers? While our team works closely on this, what makes eBay interesting for news folks is you, our community. A Big thank you to all our users who have taken time off to participate in various media initiatives. If you have any interesting story to share, don’t forget to write to us at mediacentre@ebay.com
Developing New Sellers: Over the past year, we have successfully piloted eBay Trading Post, where existing Power Sellers leverage their knowledge to acquire, develop and help new sellers grow their eBay business. We have also got more than 50 active brands selling on site.
We are however, extremely conscious that we have a long way to go to popularize online shopping in India. For long, many of you have highlighted the need to advertise in the mass medium. I am glad to announce that very soon you will see
eBay India advertising in the mainline TV medium.
We will be launching a TV campaign soon which will endear eBay to both its users and non users and target 21-35 year olds from major metros. The communication objective is to build awareness of eBay India and position eBay as a vibrant and exciting shopping destination! We want to drive internet users to try out online shopping and do it on eBay! The entire look and feel of the ad is just like eBay - Vibrant , Exciting & Cool.
The ad is based on the consumer insight that each of us at some point has felt badly treated by a shopkeeper at some time or the other. We have all wanted an experience where one didn’t have to put ones self esteem on the line or feel guilty about asking a lower price. The ad addresses this feeling in the consumer’s mind.
We will be advertising in 12 channels for a period of 3 weeks starting November 28th on all major TV channels. We hope to communicate to the audience that online shopping is far more exciting, cooler and a smarter way to shop. We also tried to highlight eBay India’s unique offerings which are great deals & variety!
We hope this will drive in more eyeballs to the site and increase visitors. While you can catch this ad on TV channels, here is a special preview for you at
www.ebay/ad. We will love to get your views on the ad. Feel free to discuss your comments on this thread by clicking on the
post a reply button.
This campaign will also be supported by an onsite initiative to encourage buyers and Sanjay Varma from the User Engagement team will share more news on it shortly, so stay tuned!
Warm Regards,
Rathin Lahiri
Chief Marketing Officer – eBay India
