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In Porter’s Model, the generic strategy of eBay is cost leadership. That is to say, eBay targets for cost minimization, which translates further into high profit margins. It uses advanced online digital technologies to minimize the operational costs in multinational e-commerce and maximum the efficiency. While the UK is the third world largest ecommerce market, and online sales account for 19% of total UK retail sales. That is to say, eBay is in a strong competitive position in the UK.

Cost leadership helps eBay to compete in the industry. As the Porter’s Five Forces analysis mentioned before, there are threats from its competitors such as Amazon, which is also positioned as cost leadership. However, the second competitive advantage of eBay contributes to be different from others. By providing great auction-trading platform, consumers and sellers are drawn it based on eBay’s attractive pricing strategies.

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eBay owns properties in the U.S. and other 19 countries, and it has technology advantages due to the development of AI algorithms. Additionally, the mobile app of eBay occupied the largest share of online retailers in 2014. The company also have a good performance in CSR by reducing carbon emissions and selling previously-owned products. Moreover, eBay gains benefit in its intellectual property, customer base, and high economies of scale. For the management, the company builds strong family values and communication between management and staff by using HappyOrNot. Finally, the sales of eBay also increased because of the acquisitions.

However, the technology gap between eBay and its rivals such as amazon became smaller in 2019 and 2020. And it is also important to improve problems like system overload and security requirements.

eBay may benefit from the UK import increase due to the Brexit, and the implementation of new VAT may lead to a decrease in the cost of exporting some goods to the EU in the UK. Both Covid-19 and consumption habit change causes an increase in online shopping in all age groups.

However, the company faces threatens that trade costs of import and export between the UK and the EU increase due to Brexit, and transport times increased because of Brexit and new VAT rules. Also, the world experiences an economic recession, and there were declines in the growth of GDP, growth of consumer spending, and employment rate in the UK. Moreover, the threat from existing rivalry is strong, and the pressures are from online retailers, online stores of offline businesses and brick-and-mortar stores. But the threat of new entrants for eBay is moderate, and the pressures are from a low threshold for new companies and low switching costs for customers. So, customers of eBay have strong bargaining power, but suppliers of eBay have low bargaining power.

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Amazon

Strengths

Compared with eBay, one of the biggest strengths is that amazon has a stronger brand. As a global e-commerce giant, Amazon has a strong position and a successful brand image on the market. Secondly, amazon has higher user engagement due to its prime membership, which raising the cost of switching platforms. Last but not least, FBA program greatly contributes to the high efficiency of amazon. Third-party sellers can position their goods in Amazon's warehouses, and Amazon will be responsible for all logistics, customer support, order fulfilment, and returns. This opens the door for more items to be qualified for Amazon Prime, which is critical for the program's success.

Weaknesses

Given that Amazon is an online-only retailer, the company's singular emphasis on online retailing could inhibit its expansion plans, especially in emerging markets.

What is more, the retail operations of Amazon are barely profitable. The majority of Amazon's remaining earnings come from advertising. That means that if it were forced to sell AWS or its marketplace business—which helps draw advertisers—it would not be able to afford to provide Prime members with generous free and quick shipping choices, among other perks.

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eBay competitive advantages:

1. One of the significant difference between eBay and its competitor such as Amazon. eBay establish a marketplace which only provide for independent seller, eBay would not sell their inventories or products on their marketplace platform. As we can see its competitors such as Amazon has Amazon prime which will significantly compete with other sellers. So eBay may build up a competitive advantage because it is more friendly for sellers.

2. Auction function may be the second competitive advantages of eBay. As we known eBay is one of the first companies which establish the first online action system in the world. This function gives an opportunity for everyone to action their products, and that how eBay become famous. This function attract hundred millions of users, and during these years, eBay keep innovating and completing its auction system and publishing more policy to make it safer and more mature. This is a important part of eBay’s competitive advantages.

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-       Technological：

Due to the rising mobile device usage, eBay is facing to more consumers in the global markets. The functions of the retailers’ apps are similar, so that better service experience such as money transfer technology and product recommendation on the apps influence people’s choices. Over the years, eBay has made several acquisitions and technological advancements in order to compete with other online platform. It trains its AI algorithms by referring to its customer behavior insights and a two decades database. Whenever buyers and sellers trade on the platform, these algorithms will become more and more intelligent. The report of Online retailers accessed via mobile in Great Britain 2014 showed that eBay had 52% of consumers having accessed it via mobile app, which was the greatest share among retailers.

However, the report of Monthly downloads of the eBay app to iPhones in Great Britain 2019-2020 illustrated a slightly decreasing trend. This may mean that other companies were also developing their technological advantages and therefore the gap between eBay and them was becoming smaller.

-       Legal:

Because of the Brexit, there were changes in the regulation of the global transport, affecting both importing and exporting. For instance, exports to the EU will also now be subject to import VAT at the destination EU country. Therefore, eBay UK has also updated its Terms and Conditions for a service offered to sellers in 16 February 2021. More than this, according to the report of Value added tax (VAT) forecast United Kingdom (UK) 2017-2024 Published by D. Clark, Apr 23, 2020, the amount of VAT is predicted to keep a raising trend. That would affect the e-commerce on eBay.

-       Environmental:

People’s increasing environmental awareness leads to higher requirement of companies’ corporate social responsibility (CSR). Also, government set Technical guidance for regulated industry sectors: environmental permitting in 2014. Environmental requirements about CO2, water, etc. were mentioned. In this aspect, eBay did quite well. In eBay’s 2019 Impact Report, it has reduced 31% carbon emissions in 2019 compared with 2016 and set achieving 50 % in absolute reduction by 2025 as its target. Amy Skoczlas Cole, the head of the eBay Green Team, said that eBay sells $2,000 worth of junk previously-owned merchandise per second. Meanwhile in the report of Location of purchase of second-hand and vintage clothing in the UK 2019 demonstrated that eBay was the second popular choice besides charity/thrift shops, which showed that 20% of respondents purchased their pre-owned clothing on eBay.

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In addition to compliance with policies related to user privacy, electronic payments, consumer protection laws, marketing and Internet regulation, four policy changes also affect eBay. First of all, as a result of the new policy of COVID-19, eBay needs to adjust its process in terms of delivery, click and collect, receipt, return and customer service. Secondly, as a result of Brexit, the UK began implementing UKGT on January 1, 2021, to replace the EU Common External Tariff. The UKGT tax process is simpler, and tariffs on some products are reduced or removed, which could boost UK imports around the world. Secondly, due to the impact of Brexit, the trade between the UK and the EU needs to be subject to additional tariffs, which increases the trade costs of import and export between the UK and the EU. Finally, the EU will implement the new VAT rules on July 1, 2021. The new VAT policy eliminates the tax on products under 22 euros, simplifies the tax procedures, and leaves it up to e-commerce platforms or customs applicants to collect and pay VAT. This could reduce the increased cost of exporting some goods to the EU in the UK, but also increase the reliance of companies on the e-commerce platform. At the same time, increased trade procedures between the UK and the EU have led to increased transport times, which have also affected the e-commerce platform's Estimated Delivery Day(s).

https://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/news/brexit

https://www.ebaymainstreet.com/sites/default/files/policy-papers/ebay_research-report_eu_a4_final_1_0-.pdf

https://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/news/2021-march/eu-vat-changes

https://pages.ebay.co.uk/covid-19/index.html#fair-pricing

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-border-operating-model

Affected by the epidemic, most industries around the world have experienced an economic recession. From 2010 to 2019, the UK had slight increases in annual growth of GDP, moving between 1.3% to 2.9%. However, due to the impact of COVID-19, the growth of GDP was -9.9% in 2020. Similarly, due to the impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the growth of consumer spending in the UK slowed down considerably in March 2020. In the month before the spread of the coronavirus became more widespread, consumer spending increased by 2.2% year-on-year, but it fell by 7.1% year-on-year in December 2020. And the UK has a decreasing trend in the unemployment rate since 2011, but an increasing trend in 2020. The unemployment rate reached 5.1% in December 2020, which is the highest figure since August 2016.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/281734/gdp-growth-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1085593/monthly-growth-in-spending-in-the-uk/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/279898/unemployment-rate-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/

However, eBay generated 1678 dollars of net annual revenue in the UK in 2020, which is its highest revenue since 2013. This could be the result of the increase in the use of online shopping in every age group. There is an increasing trend in the share of individuals who made online purchases in Great Britain from 53% in 2008 to 87% in 2020. And in 2020, 95% of people aged between 16 and 54 use online purchases. For people aged 55-64 and 65+, the shares are 79% and 65% in 2020 respectively. As a result, a consumption habit change happened and e-commerce has been a trend in all age groups. Also, Covid-19 has a positive effect on online retailing. Comparing to February 2020, non-store retailing had the most significant increase than other industries like food stores and clothing.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1048213/ebay-net-revenue-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/276076/online-purchasing-penetration-in-great-britain-by-gender/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/275972/online-purchasing-penetration-in-great-britain-by-age/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1185640/retail-sales-volume-growth-comparison-great-britain/

我目前没用到但或许有用的几个链接：
https://static.ebayinc.com/assets/Uploads/Documents/eBay-Impact-2019-Report.pdf

https://ebay.q4cdn.com/610426115/files/doc_downloads/code_of_business/2020/Code-of-Business-Conduct-and-Ethics_SimplifiedChinese_062920.pdf

https://www.ebaymainstreet.com/sites/default/files/policy-papers/ebay_research-report_eu_a4_final_1_0-.pdf

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physical:
1.   eBay holds property in the
U.S. and 19 other countries. This property is used for administratvie offices,
data centers, product developement offices, and customer service offices. These
facilites are vital for housing the servers, data, and people that allow eBay
to exist day-to-day. The server infrastructure has been designed around
industry-standard architectures to reduce downtime in case there should be a
catastrophe.

2. Intellectual property is crtical
to the success of eBay. Trademark, copyright, patent, domain name, trade dress,
and trade secret protection are vital to eBay's business model. eBay's
marketplace and payments platforms depend on proprietary technology and
services. EBay has, over its lifecycle, developed user interfaces, customer
tools, transaction processing, and database and network applications that are
core to the ability of buyers and sellers to complete transactions on any of
the eBay sites.

3. System overload- The reliability of eBay's
technological infrastructure is not 100% guaranteed. If the infrastructure
cannot handle increased volumes of usage, service disruptions may occur. User
demands - Desired increases in ease-of-use and features by customers may not be
attainable from a technological standpoint thus reducing eBay's desirability.
-Security requirements - The increased
sophistication of infrastructure also requires increased security. The
advancements in Internet security may not mature at the same rate as
infrastructure complexity.

Financial:
1.

Human:
1.  eBay's continued future
performance is strongly predicated upon the ability of it's senior management.
In this category eBay is looking at some significant risks in the future since
they do not have "key person" life insurance policies. They also have
some vacancies in the senior management team. Compounding on these other issues
is the fact that eBay has experienced some difficulty in answering the
principal-agent problem due to a fluctuating stock price.

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--Financial:
1. Ebay sales have increased due to the strengths of past acquistions and low costs have returned high profit back into free cash flow.
2. Cash is currently listed at $3.8 Billion and with borrowing power has increased by $1 Billion to $3 Billion.

--Physical:
1.Brand reputation. Ebay got a good reputation in its industries, so it may provide a good capabilities for Ebay. Also a good brand reputation may lower the marketing cost of a company.
2. Customer base: Ebay got a great customer base, Millions of people sell their goods on Ebay, this may help Ebay to enhance their productivity.
3. Ebay is one of the world's largest buying marketplace. As we known, large company may have economic of scales which can help a company to lower their production cost extremely and increase productivity.

--Human:
1. eBay place strong focus on building connections between buyers and sellers, they are also very driven to build strong family values within their company by creating opportunity and value for their employees through cultural diversity, innovation, and social impact
2. By using HappyOrNot in Human Resources, a comfortable and anonymous feedback environment is created for employees that enables an easy 2-way communication between management and staff

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The threat of rivalry
The threat of existing rivalry that eBay faces is strong. As an online auction and shopping website, the main competitors for eBay's online retailing market include both online retailers and the online stores of offline businesses. According to Disfold (2020), using Monthly Traffic as the criteria, eBay's strongest competitor is Amazon, which has 362 Million visits per month. By comparison, eBay has only 254.5 Million visits per month. In addition, there are stores that mainly operate offline, which also have online retail operations, such as Argos, Tesco, Asda, Marks & Spencer etc. What these platforms have in common is the relatively narrow scope of their main business.

Overall, Amazon and eBay operate in a wide range of markets and dominate the online retail market in the UK. Meanwhile, there are many other e-commerce platforms that operate in niche markets, contribute to the intense competition in the UK online retailing market.

Threat of substitutes

For eBay, the threats of substitutes come from both trading websites and brick-and-mortar stores. As stated above, a number of e-commerce platforms such As Amazon, Argos and Tesco are substitutes to eBay. Besides, the large population of brick-and-mortar marketplaces is considered a strong contributor to the intensity of the threat in eBay’s industry environment.

Threat of entrance

The threat of new entrants for eBay is moderate. On the one hand, the entry and switching costs of online retailing are low. That is, companies of various sizes can easily set up e-commerce platforms to compete with eBay. For customers, low switching costs mean minimal consequences in shifting from eBay to new entrants.

But on the other hand, new entrants need large funds to promote their brands, in contrast to eBay, which has developed a strong brand. In the next place，the market size that eBay has developed over the years contribute to the high economies of scale. The company's trading site, classifieds, and other e-commerce operations are large enough to build effectiveness and efficiencies that many new entrants struggle to match. Based on these analyses, the threat from new entrants to eBay is regarded as moderate.

Power of Buyer

Customers of eBay have strong bargaining power. First, eBay’s low switching costs mean that customers can switch platforms easily. Second, consumers can easily access high-quality information online, allowing them to compare rates across channels and switch platforms. Third, eBay buyers are extremely price-sensitive, in this situation, customers will migrate to Amazon or other sites if eBay increases the service price. The above three factors combine to give eBay customers significant negotiating power.

Power of Supplier

Suppliers of eBay have low bargaining power. The key explanation for this is the large number of manufacturers that provide homogeneous products. Meanwhile, suppliers, unlike consumers, pay eBay for platform support, which can result in a high switching expense. These two factors contribute to the low bargaining power of suppliers.
https://disfold.com/top-e-commerce-sites-uk/