It’s been anything but smooth sailing for eBay since its much-publicized break with PayPal, and in an effort to keep its mobile usage rates up, the online marketplace is pulling some strings around the mobile industry.
EBay announced on Friday (March 25) that it had finalized a deal to have the eBay app installed on every new or upgraded Android device sold by Verizon. EBay Chief Marketing Officer Suzy Deering explained that the deal is in the best interests of both would-be eBay and Android users — as well as, implicitly, eBay itself.
“We are thrilled to be working with Verizon,” Deering said in a statement. “Going forward, Android users will have the power and convenience of eBay in the palm of their hands, with a mobile app that has proven tremendously successful with mobile buyers and sellers.”
While neither Deering nor anyone else at eBay said that this move was related to low usage rates since the company redesigned its mobile app in Oct. 2015, recent comments made by CEO Devin Wenig on a quarterly earnings call may shed some light on that front.
“Six months ago, we began a series of platform, inventory and policy changes, which we believe are critical to make our business more competitive over the long term,” Wenig said, via TheStreet. “While we’re making steady progress on these strategic initiatives, we don’t expect to see material benefit from them for some time to come.”
Making a deal with Verizon to have its app pre-installed on all new Android devices isn’t likely to convert millions of smartphone users into buyers and sellers as soon as they boot their new phones up, but simply exposing them to it fits into this long-term strategy explained by Wenig. If a fraction of those users want to check out what eBay has to offer, one significant roadblock has been removed from completing that interaction by ensuring they have everything they need to get started.
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