A new kind of e-commerce is quietly gaining traction in Canada, and it looks a lot more like live entertainment than online shopping.
eBay Live has been gaining traction in the marketplace since it launched earlier this year.
Karthik Rajendran, Head of eBay Live Canada, said live shopping in Canada has been around for a couple of years.
“But to really see that reception in Canada with eBay Live as a really trusted source for live shopping is a relatively new one, and I think people are really excited about it,” he said.
“But we’re still seeing it develop. We’re seeing Canadians still get used to the idea of shopping eBay Live, a whole new dynamic way to shop. So it’s exciting to see that evolve.”
Rajendran described eBay Live as a whole new interactive livestream shopping experience, a whole new way to shop.
“We’re trying to create these experiences where shoppers can really engage in real time,” he said.
“Both buyers and sellers can engage in real time, ask questions, get answers. What we really want to try and do is evolve with the community, with the Canadian collectibles community. So you’re going to see us expand into new categories, bring in new features that the buyers and sellers are asking for, and hopefully diversify into other new categories as well.”
Rajendran said eBay Live launched with collectibles. eBay Live is the home of collectibles, so it was the logical place to start.
“One of the big things is case breaks, for example. Being able to bring that shopping format to Canadians and collectors was a big thing for us here and something we got really excited about,” he noted.
“But then also, we are often at live events. We were most recently at the Calgary Fan Expo and the Toronto Sports Card Expo, where we get to really be in the thick of things with the passion and the fandom and the community.
“But now it’s a way for us to really bridge those experiences on the show floor and bring it to Canadians en masse through these livestream experiences where we get to connect celebrities and talent that we have at these shows and provide that access to livestream shoppers across Canada.”
Rajendran said the concept has been going well. The fact that they’re seeing more and more adoption week over week is very, very reassuring.
“But we’re seeing adoption grow week over week. We’re seeing new people, new users, discover Live,” he said.
“Right now, the best way to access it is through ebay.ca. There’s a little Live pill that goes lime green that people can access right away and be brought into this totally immersive experience where they can see live shows that are scheduled and set reminders so that they can be notified when their favourite sellers are going live.
“So right now, it’s great. Adoption is great. We’re going see this continue over the next foreseeable future, where we’re going see people just discover Live, get more used to live shopping, and see that development.
“We’ve got some great activations coming up. Right now, we’ve got Pokémon Nights on Fridays, which are really great. Some of our sellers rally around putting together some great events with tons of giveaways, tons of surprises, so make sure to tune into that.
“And then we’ve also got Road to the Finals right now, which is tied to hockey and obviously with the Stanley Cup, where we’re going to be sending two lucky winners to the Stanley Cup.
“These are just great ways for us to, again, give back to the community, give them exactly what they’re asking for, to be part of the collecting community and be relevant to what’s actually happening in the fandom and in sports.”
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