eBay UK are expanding their offering yet again. In the attempt to move away from the online car boot sale image, which has served them well over the last 14 years, they are developing their relationships with some the UK’s biggest retailers.

In December last year they created a social shopping pop up store in London’s Covent Garden, to showcase their mobile offering and to educate shoppers on their links with high street retailers. eBay is no longer just for second hand goods; shoppers are able to use eBay to purchase branded products from retailers such as House of Fraser and Debenhams.

eBay have now gone one step further, they are currently rolling out a click and collect initiative. Shoppers can buy from a retailer on eBay and pick up their goods from one of the retailer’s stores, in the same way shoppers can click and collect from the retailer’s own website.

For many years eBay have allowed shoppers to click and collect from the independent merchants, so extending this offering to retailers seems like a natural progression.

Allowing shoppers to click and collect helps to build on eBay’s multi-channel approach, in 2012 they reported that sales from mobile devices exceeded $13billion, which is expected to rise to $20billion in 2013. eBay understands that click and collect helps to give shoppers the immediate gratification that traditional online shopping just can’t provide; and with the rise of online shopping on mobile devices, shoppers are able to shop wherever and whenever they please.

eBay is a giant of the Internet, however they have not been complacent. The digital retail world is evolving at an ever-increasing rate, and eBay is making sure that they are not left behind. Over the past year, eBay have launched a motors app, expanded their fashion offering and encouraged users to donate to charities whilst they shopped.

This giant brand could have easily become the HMV of the online world, but with their constant expansion of their offering, they are proving that they are still as relevant to today’s shoppers as they were over a decade ago.

Via SAATCHIXLONDON