Google vs. eBay
|
Written By Reprise Media | February 8, 2005 | Share This
|
|
As Google and eBay get set to court analysts and inventors on the West Coast this week, Bambi Francisco of MarketWatch takes a look at the increasingly intense competition between the two firms.
If numbers are any indication, Google is taking the lead. By the end of this year, for the first time ever, Google’s cash […]
As Google and eBay get set to court analysts and inventors on the West Coast this week, Bambi Francisco of MarketWatch takes a look at the increasingly intense competition between the two firms.
If numbers are any indication, Google is taking the lead. By the end of this year, for the first time ever, Google’s cash flow is projected to surpass that of eBay’s.
You could look at this as evidence that search advertising is going to continue its hockey stick-like growth curve, continuing to infringe on dollars that were once destined for eBay’s marketplace. But you could also look at it as a temporary setback for eBay, who is biding their time until people start pushing back at search advertisers for a more controlled way to spend their ad dollars and the pendulum swings back in their favor.
No doubt sellers are becoming more sophisticated, something which eBay will have to take into account if they want to retain their current roster of clients. Repeated commission increases aren’t going win them any friends. When sellers figure out it’s cheaper to throw up a $19.95 a month site and spend a few bucks on AdWords, they’re going to drop like flies.
That’s something eBay probably doesn’t have to worry about just yet. What the company should be worried about its heavy reliance on Google for traffic. Google’s pretty much got a lock on their distribution, a scary proposition for any business.
Topics: Advertising: Contextual, Advertising: Distribution, Search: Innovations |