eBay outlets for local stores of Saturn, Media Markt, Metro and Medimax

The overarching goal of the eBay Outlet program was to build and scale new partnerships between the eBay marketplace and all German big-box retailers of consumer electronics. The strategic driver of the partnerships was to be the solution potential for the retailers’ old and B-goods problems. The operational cornerstone was the need to take into account the local storage of goods in most cases, and thus the only locally available knowledge of the item’s condition and the ability for local customer communication and local shipping.

The complexity of this undertaking for both eBay and the merchants made it imperative that this program be given sufficient flight level by all parties involved, and thus a high priority on their respective digital roadmaps.

eBay developed the eBay outlet shops, which were set up as part of strategic cooperation with all the major retail companies in the German consumer electronics industry: Saturn, MediaMarkt, Metro, Expert. This allows the retailers to quickly and easily place their old and B-goods on eBay and additionally market them via the respective outlets, e.g. via voucher campaigns.

Operationally, individualized connections to the e-commerce systems of the retail companies were created on the basis of the eBay marketplace infrastructure. These connections also provided for the integration of the local branches of the retail companies in order to sell the old and B goods directly from there, since that is where the goods were located.

eBay provided special training and accounting teams, especially for the integration of the local teams in the branches, in order to make them saleable and to build the basis for good sales success.

In this way, retail companies can now offer their previously problematic old and B goods to millions of potential customers not only on the desktop, but also at any time on the go on a smartphone or tablet. This is done on the basis of only low fixed investment and marketing costs, mainly via the flexible and turnover-oriented fee models common in the marketplace world.

After the successful piloting of the project in 2012, the concept, which is now ready for the market, was rolled out step by step in almost 700 stationary stores of Saturn, Media Markt, Metro and Medimax. The outlet model has developed from a problem-solving approach to a significant strategic sales channel for the large retail companies. As a side effect, the outlet model additionally strengthens the integration of the local POS into the omnichannel strategy of many of the retailers. The cooperation between eBay and the retailers has proven so successful that new strategic partnerships have emerged, with room for further joint marketplace innovations and additional business potential.