eBay Brings Offline Audience Segmentation to Online Advertising

Thursday 17 May 2012: Today eBay launched an industry-wide educational campaign and microsite to highlight the power and impact of its introduction of geoTribes, a significant industry development, where for the first time Australian marketers can target ads online based on socio economic status, lifestage and needs.

eBay’s head of advertising, JJ Eastwood, stated that only a company like eBay, with the ability to segment a large database according to both age and address, could provide this type of offering and implement it online at scale. “Marketers who are familiar with offline geo-demographical and needs-based segmentation, but have struggled to map them to digital campaigns, now have a tool that brings offline audience segmentation to online advertising,” said Eastwood

“e-commerce is now a $30 billion industry here in Australia and marketers are looking for opportunities to connect with consumers while they shop online. Therefore it’s important that as we bring new advertising partners on-board, we connect them with the right audience and in turn our customers receive advertising messages that are both relevant and meaningful to them.

“As the leading online shopping destination in Australia with 6.9 million visitors to the site in March alone[1], eBay is proud to lead the market into the next phase of online advertising, retail media, and offer - what we believe is - the most robust segmentation[2] available online,” he said.

To illustrate the outcomes that the eBay geoTribes approach can yield, Eastwood unveiled results of rolling out the platform to existing clients in the six months since his appointment.

During the introduction phase, optimal results achieved have been four-fold increases in CTR (click through rate) compared with prior performance and – more importantly – clients have informed eBay that their ROI has doubled as a result of eBay’s geoTribes geo-demographic targeting. eBay stated that clients who are achieving the best outcomes have followed a stepped process where they identify the correct geoTribe to target, then refine their messaging and offers to each tribe.

The microsite http://advertise.ebay.com.au/geoTribes/ illustrates the nature of each of the 15 Tribes, the accuracy of the targeting system and the reach and engagement that eBay can deliver. It incorporates an interactive tool for marketers to generate a free report based on age, gender and geographic location with social media sharing capabilities.

The company emphasised that its commitment to customer privacy remains paramount and that it maintains a strict policy of never sharing members’ personal information with third parties. Since 2007, eBay’s AdChoice program has been recognised as an industry-leading solution for providing transparency and choice in the field of behavioural targeting, with prominent notice and a persistent opt-out.

Key facts:
For Advertisers

eBay is Australia’s leading retail media platform

Broad reach: eBay.com.au reached 6.9 million visitors per month in March 2012 (Source: Nielsen Netratings)

Highly engaged audiences: 1h50 average per visitor per month (2.5 to 4 times more time spent on eBay than on Australian media sites and portals that host display advertising)

Highly relevant targeting: geoTribes is a proprietary system of independent research company RDA Research. It groups Australians into 15 easy-to-remember Tribes based on socio economic status (SES) and Lifecycle stage.

Since 2007, eBay’s AdChoice program has been recognised as an industry-leading solution for providing transparency and choice in the field of behavioural targeting, with prominent notice and a persistent opt-out. AdChoice lets users choose whether to receive customised advertising on eBay and on the websites of its advertising partners. If users prefer not to see customised advertisements, users can use AdChoice at any time to advise their preference, or not to receive targeted advertisements.

For Consumers:

eBay.com.au is Australia’s leading online shopping destination

At eBay.com.au new products direct from the brands are a core offering. Today 83% of all products sold on eBay are new[3].

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For further information or materials and requests for interviews with eBay’s JJ Eastwood, please contact:

Lesley White – LOCKE pty ltd
M: 0451 301 201
E: lesley@locke.com.au

About eBay
Founded in 1995, eBay Inc. connects hundreds of millions of people around the world every day, empowering them to explore new opportunities and innovate together. eBay Inc. does this by providing the Internet platforms of choice for global commerce, payments and communications. Since its inception, eBay Inc. has expanded to include some of the strongest brands in the world, including eBay, PayPal, Skype, StubHub, Shopping.com and others. eBay Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, California. eBay.com.au is Australia’s Online Marketplace

About RDA Research
Founded in 1987, RDA Research <http://www.rdaresearch.com.au> provides advanced geodemographic targeting solutions for Australia, New Zealand, USA, Great Britian & Canada. geoTribes is a registered trademark of RDA Research.