After just a year at eBay the Global Head of Delivery Experience, Faisal Masud has been head hunted by Groupon. Reuters broke the news citing a Groupon internal email that they obtained on Friday.
Previously Faisal was with Amazon and industry rumours (which Tamebay cannot substantiate) suggest that it took eBay some time and a substantial “golden hello” to poach him, but it’s taken less than a year for Groupon to convince him to jump ship. He’ll be heading up Groupon Goods, which contrasting to Groupon’s daily deal offers, is a more traditional ecommerce business operating as a discount retailer in the US. If Groupon Goods takes off they’ll be going head on with Amazon and eBay so Faisal with experience of both companies is ideally placed to know how to compete with the two ecommerce giants.
It’s not a good time for eBay to lose their global head of shipping. In the US the 1st of May is the deadline for sellers to start uploading tracking information for all shipments – failure to do so for at least 90% of orders will result in the loss of Top Rated Seller status. In the UK we’re just about to be hit with the latest round of consumer price increases by Royal Mail and business tariffs have already increased by as much as 63% plus the addition of VAT resulting in a further increase of 20% for sellers unable to reclaim VAT.
What’s more important than the timing is the loss to both eBay and Amazon of someone who has an incredibly in depth knowledge of their businesses. Ecommerce simply doesn’t function without shipping and the most important part of any transaction is the delivery experience. At a time when sellers are fighting margins one of the easiest places to cut costs is by using a cheaper option, which generally means a slower untracked service. Groupon have just won the experience of one of the most knowledgeable delivery experts in ecommerce.
15 Responses
Before I start I have never heard of the above gentleman. But from my experience years(many years) ago in Industry there are two main reasons why somebody changes job regularly in a very short period of time(and a few other minor reasons).
The first is that they are so good that everybody wants them. This is of course the impression given by the article.
The Second is that they are total rubbish and they go in and make a big splash. But they know that if they hang around too long their limitations will become obvious. So almost as soon as they arrive they are looking for the next company to jump too.
Amongst the minor reasons is the one I used in my 20’s when I changed jobs fairly regularly(at a very much lower level). That I was looking for more experience, more money and greater responsibility.
Now I am not trying to give the impression that I know Faisal Masud’s motivation. Just that there are more than one reason why people change job(at senior levels) regularly. When I was in Industry I saw several jump ship because they knew that the brown and smelly was about to hit the fan(and it was their fault) and they wanted to get out before it happened.
On at least one occassion it was my job to sort out the mess. I was not happy with the person who had caused it(and jumped ship) because I had the job of trying to sort out what they had done and how and then try to reverse it all out and correct it all and it would have been very much simpler to do it with their experience available.
By the way there is another reason why people jump ship regularly(think Footballer) who get a Transfer Fee(or Golden Handshake) or whatever. The reason? They are collecting the money each time and are not really interested in staying long term to do the job.
The tracking requirements for US TRS are about to hit the fan.
The requirements are not at all consistent with the Global/Cross Border Trade aspirations of eBay and will be fully exposed quite soon.
Good timing Mr. Masud.
I have to ask what do eBay know about shipping?
Actually the fact that eBay have made the moves relating to shipping in the USA is evidence in itself that eBay haven’t a clue when it comes to shipping and the real world.
Their sales could be badly dented as a result as eBay sellers become uncompetitive and their buyers look elsewhere for a better all in deal.
And no wonder our fees keep rising if eBay have all these support quangos to finance. I’m sorry but I am struggling with the idea that eBay have a whole workforce dedicated to “the shipping experience”!
Anyone else been noticing how many top executives have been jumping ship at Ebay and Paypal lately?
Groupon seems to be a bit of a train wreck, there last accounts had to be restated, with Ebay on the up seems a strange career move
Might also be worth checking to see if a more senior Amazon exec just left for Groupon. Another reason people leave companies is b/c a former boss or colleague recruits that person to join him/her at the new company.