eBay CEO Devin Wenig wasn’t available to talk to media about holiday sales on Cyber Monday, selecting Scott Cutler as his proxy for interviews. That’s because the chief executive was in Japan, telling Kyodo News that he wants to see eBay become one of the top Japanese ecommerce sites.
For many years, eBay’s international focus was on BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India, and China, but much has changed. In tweeting from Japan, Wenig was asked about eBay’s plans in India where it recently sold its marketplace. An eBay employee replied: “Hi there, I can confirm that we do have plans to re-open our eBay India site & we should have an update on this early next year. We would recommend keeping an eye on our announcement pages for further details.”
Great to be with the entire @eBay Japan team (including qoo10 and @StubHub ). Growing fast in one of the worlds largest e-commerce markets. pic.twitter.com/tumVdMzuk4
— Devin Wenig (@devinwenig) November 27, 2018
Wenig told the news agency eBay was still relatively small in Japan “compared to the big guys,” where Amazon, Rakuten, and Yahoo Japan are market leaders. The CEO said eBay could provide Japanese shoppers with products at “best” prices by taking advantage of its worldwide inventory networks.
Meanwhile eBay executive Bradford Shellhammer told Yahoo Finance on Tuesday that the marketplace was seeing a spike in sales of CBD-related products, explaining that millennials take “deliberate steps to occasionally disconnect, or prioritize wellness.”
“According to the company, millennial shoppers purchased over 217,400 diffusers – devices that disperse scented oils – off eBay this year so far, with a spike in sales over 58% during the last six months alone. And for the first time eBay has disclosed such sales, millennial shoppers also purchased 39,000 cannabidiol (CBD) oils and supplements this year and conducted 284,000 related searches, ostensibly in a bid to treat symptoms of anxiety.”
Shellhammer told Yahoo Finance, “Millennials are the ultimate multitaskers. They never have to start shopping, because they never stop shopping. It’s an ‘always on’ mentality.”
