Infotech Lead America: eBay’s revenue for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013, increased 14 percent to $3.7 billion, compared to the same period of 2012, driven primarily by strong top-line growth.
Increasing volumes of downloads of eBay’s suite of mobile apps expanded the company’s overall commerce footprint, surpassing 162 million since its launch in the third quarter of 2008.
eBay’s customer base grew by approximately 2.8 million in the period through mobile, driving double-digit growth in active users at both PayPal and Marketplaces.
According to John Donahoe, eBay president and CEO, user growth accelerated across both Marketplaces and PayPal while GSI enabled their retail clients to grow faster than ecommerce.
The company’s PayPal business saw revenue increasing by 18 percent to $1.5 billion as PayPal added 5 million active registered accounts in the period. PayPal ended the quarter with 128 million with a 16 percent increase. PayPal’s net total payment volume (TPV) grew by 21 percent to $41 billion, due to consumer and merchant use of PayPal both on and off eBay.
PayPal’s mobile payment solution for small business, PayPal Here, became available for sale at more than 2,700 SoftBank locations across Japan. The iPad version of the product was launched in the U.S. PayPal plans to roll out the chip and PIN version of PayPal Here in the U.K. this summer. PayPal’s offline initiatives are now available in almost 20,000 major retail locations in the U.S.
The company’s revenue its Marketplaces business increased by 13 percent to $2.0 billion. Marketplaces gained 3.9 million active users in the period, ending the quarter with 116 million and a 13 percent increase.
Gross merchandise volume (GMV), excluding vehicles, increased by 13 percent to $18 billion while sold items increased 12 by percent. Fixed price GMV grew 17 percent globally and formed 68 percent of total GMV. U.S. GMV, excluding vehicles, increased by 16 percent as mobile engagement and momentum in fashion and tickets were key drivers of growth.
International GMV, excluding vehicles, increased by 11 percent to $11 billion.
The company’s GSI Commerce business contributed $236 million in revenue for the first quarter. Its enterprise commerce platform generated $807 million in global ecommerce (GeC) Merchandise Sales, while its marketing services fee business produced $50 million of revenue.
GSI enabled its clients to grow faster than the ecommerce market as measured by the 16 percent same stores sales growth. The company expects merchants to increasingly adopt GSI’s integrated omnichannel product portfolio.
For the second quarter of 2013, eBay expects net revenues in the range of $3,800 – $3,900 million and for the entire year eBay expects net revenues in the range of $16,000- $16,500 million.
