eBay Launches 'Advanced Targeting'

Online marketplace eBay is beefing up its predictive targeting offer in the UK with new tools and segments to help advertisers personalise their promotions. Segments cover Christmas shopping behaviour and different phases of parenthood.

eBay says the launches take its targeting 'to an entire new level'. Earlier this week, it gave a debut to 'Sales Shoppers' and 'Premium Shoppers'; while the parenting categories include 'New Mums' at five stages: 'Expectants', 'New arrivals', 'Tiny tots', 'Toddler time', and 'Pre-school mums'. Other new segments include 'home-movers', 'holiday makers' and 'new car buyers'.

eBay said the parenting groups were based on analysis of 'millions of data points over several years', correlating buying and browsing behaviour.

Alessandra Di Lorenzo, commercial director of eBay Advertising UK told online publication netimperative.com: 'Targeting based on life stage and seasonal hooks is nothing new in the industry, but our 'eBay Advanced Targeting' will be based on actual behavior on the site, rather than demographic assumptions. By looking at search and purchase history, we can help brands step away from stereotyping shoppers, and greatly improve their relevance and results'.

eBay, which says it intends to launch another fifty of these targeting 'sets' in the next year, some of them themed around occasions like Valentine's Day and Easter, has made considerable investment in segmentation and targeting capabilities over the years. It bought online marketing specialist GSI Commerce for $2.4 billion in 2011 and data mining and predictive modelling company Hunch later the same year, and hired former Sears exec Zoher Karu to drive its personalisation plans in 2013. However, it recently sold its Enterprise CRM division to big data analytics company Zeta Interactive.

Thanks to www.mediapost.com and www.retailwire.com for some of the above.