Why does E-bay have problems in its Asian Market? In my opinion E-bay didn’t properly research the Internet capabilities of the consumers in the Asian Market. They were also too slow in introducing new applications and new payment services to remain competitive with rival companies. These facts are made obvious when looking at a couple of E-bay’s local competitors in the Chinese and South Korean Markets as well as the Internet accessibility in the Asian Market as a whole.
One of the problems E-bay faced was Internet accessibility and the inability of local networks to connect to their site outside of Asian countries. As an example, Chinese students, who were using school networks were unable to access E-bay’s site because of connection problems and opted to use local companies such as TaoBao. Had E-bay researched the local networks in China, prior to jumping into the market, I believe they might have been able to address the problem before it became one.
E-bay was also slower than local competitors to introduce new application and new payment services. Local competitors, such as Gmarket in South Korea were quick to use a savvier product mix and more aggressive pricing than E-bay had to offer. E-bay was charging fees for listings that local rivals weren’t. The intriguing mixture of cheaper, and often-free listings, coupled with fixed prices, was more appealing to the consumer and in a sense made E-bay’s site seem less friendly. By providing fixed prices, local competitors like Gmarket, were able to give buyers the option of negotiating with the seller on an exclusive basis. This allowed deals between the buyer and the seller to conclude instantly instead of waiting for the end of an open auction on ...