eBay 'East advance'

eBay hopes Asia-Pacific will be its largest trading market, surpassing both the US and Europe in the short term. But of course, being able to squeeze in this area is not easy.

EBay CEO Meg Whitman is speaking at a press conference in Bombay, India.Source: AP

According to executive director Meg Whitman, there are currently more than 30 million, out of a total of 181 million registered users of eBay residing in the Asia-Pacific region.

" It is still a small market, but with the increasing use of Internet and broadband, this region will certainly be bigger than our leading markets now ," said Ms. Whitman. to speak.

No one denies that Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region today, led by potential markets such as India, China and South Korea. However, the opportunity is always accompanied by challenges. Right now, eBay has seen huge competition pressure, because e-commerce is a fertile segment and venture capital inflows are pouring in here, especially for online travel sites. .

Although the number of Internet users in India is only approximately 39 million, equivalent to a very small fraction of the country's population of over 1 billion, the number of people using credit cards is only 15 million, but here, eBay is witnessing a spike of large value transactions. Even in small cities, buying and selling online has become quite popular.

In 2004, eBay bought India's online auction house Baazee.com for $ 50 million. And eBay India also has about 2 million customers. Whitman hopes India will be its top market in 10 - 15 years.

" I was shocked to know that every 5 minutes, there was a jewelry bought, sold via eBay. This is a diamond ," revealed Gautam Thakar, eBay director of India. Similarly, eBay users sell a mobile phone every 7 minutes, 46 minutes for a digital camera and 9 hours for a motorbike or car.

Thien Y