eBay have at last launched a Fashion Outlet on eBay.com along the same lines as eBay UK’s Fashion Outlet. As per the UK it’s populated with Main Street (High Street for us in the UK) retailers with top fashion brands.
“Outlets are the fastest-growing retail channel, and we’re excited to bring that shopping experience and value to our shoppers – anywhere, anytime, anyhow”
– Miriam Lahage, eBay Head of Global Fashion Brand.
One of the advantages for Fashion Outlet retailers is the replacement of the eBay Top Rated Seller badge with the retailers own logo. This appears both on the view item page as well as in search results.
The has launched with 12 Outlet stores on eBay, but they haven’t made the mistake which the UK did of excluding fashion items brands from non-Outlet eBay sellers. The Fashion Outlet is part of the Fashion tab in the eBay navigation bar and although the Outlet is prominently highlighted on the site shopping by brand, Womens, Mens, or Kids & Baby will take you to site wide searches for the products you’re interested in.
In addition to the Fashion Outlet eBay.com also have the Fashion Vault. The offers limited time (2 or 3 day) exclusive online events wtih substantial discounts on brand new designer fashions from celebrated brands.
What will be interesting to see is how the new eBay.com Fashion Outlet impacts the program. In the UK the daily and weekly deals are dominated by Outlet sellers (In the UK there are Outlet sellers who don’t sell Fashion). However the US deals program doesn’t currently major on fashion items anywhere near as heavily as UK deals.
One thing is certain, the success of the eBay.com Fashion Outlet will be measured against the UK. The UK fashion Outlet has had an enormous influence on the site as a whole and eBay have focused heavily on fashion to draw new buyers to the site. The eBay.com Fashion Outlet has been set a high bar to meet to match the success of the UK.
3 Responses
Agree on the replacement of the TRS badge with the seller’s logo. Definitely a good news to eBay.com Top Rated Sellers, and the fashion outlet’s launch is just in time for the Christmas shopping season.
I too would prefer to display my logo in preference to a TRS badge.
For me branding is more important than displaying a TRS badge. Buyers either want to buy into the brand and the product offered or they do not. If they don’t they can always pay more and buy elsewhere if the item is available (big if). A TRS badge hardly factors into their thinking in my view. Brand and seller recognition does for those who want to encourage and enjoy repeat business.
Any professional business seller does not need eBay to incentivise good practice. They will routinely do what is required to remain successful.
The big eBay failings are the flawed and random nature of the feedback system and the inconsistent eBay customer service with the financial uncertainty this brings.