Is eBay Trying to Compete With Groupon?

eBay is radically changing its image this year to try and capture more of the ecommerce market.  While eBay has been a giant in the online shopping industry for years, its fanfare has quieted down as new stars like Amazon have taken center stage.  All of that is changing as eBay reintroduces itself to a new generation of shoppers by creating what they want: to save money.

 eBay Lifestyle Deals

One of their new endeavors is a site that delivers new deals each day to select cities.  It will be working with local retailers to offer discounts and attract new customers.  This new creation is designed to compete head-on with Groupon, a major phenomenon for great deals with local shopping.

eBay has partnered with Signpost to bring this new feature to customers.  Signpost is a young start-up company that already provides this kind of partnership for Google Offers.  They find the deals through local companies for eBay’s site.  Once a user clicks on a deal, it goes to the traditional “But It Now” where they can complete their purchase.

A Growing Industry

Other major players are also interested in getting in on this potentially lucrative market.  Google, Amazon, and Facebook are all interested in challenging Groupon.  This market is expected to grow by as much as 23 percent in 2013.

As the market gets more crowded with big names, the cost of operations goes up.  Businesses spend more on marketing to get the best deals for their site.  Companies are challenged to find new ways to beat their competition, which results in more deals for customers.

You can get almost anything you want from these sites, from dinners out to a nice massage.  The discounts are nice, too, not like a traditional coupon.  You can get 2 for 1 deals or 50% off for some things.  Customers can see many uses for this type of online site, which is what these companies are counting on.  In this battle between the ecommerce giants, it’s the customer that wins.

[Image via fastpivot]