Fashion Shopping Made Easy! - How does the new eBay Outlet work?
Tommy Hilfiger, Diesel or Puma – those are just three brands that are now permanently reduced in the new eBay Brand Outlet with discounts of up to 70 percent off RRP. Under the motto “Upgrade Your Everyday,” the eBay Brand Outlet offers various fashion items at attractive prices. We’ll cover all the info about the new eBay Outlet and how you as a seller can take part in this episode!
To the Podcast overview
eBay Fashion Outlet: https://www.ebay.de/vlp2/brand-outlet
Contact for sellers: Fashion-Outlet@ebay.de
Isabell: Hello dear listeners and welcome to our third podcast episode for our sellers and, of course, for everyone who wants to become one. Joining me again are my two podcast colleagues David and Tino, and we’ve invited a guest and expert from our own ranks for you.
Tino: Yes, hello from me too, I’m Tino. I’m really happy that we’re already recording our third episode today, and after the great start with the first two episodes, today we’re back with a really exciting topic for you, and that’s all about the eBay Brand Outlet.
David: Hello from me too, David, the third man in the group. As Tino already said, it’s about the eBay Brand Outlet. What exactly is it, and how can I take part as a seller? Today we want to clarify that with our expert Heiko Johannisson, Head of Sport and Lifestyle at eBay, because he works very closely with you sellers. Hi Heiko, welcome to the eBay podcast.
Heiko: Hello David, hello everyone, I’m glad to be here.
Isabell: Heiko, before we talk about the Brand Outlet, could you first tell us a little about yourself?
Heiko: Sure, so I’ve now been at eBay for 10 years and have done a few things there before switching to the Sport Lifestyle topic a little over 3 years ago, and in that context I’m also part of the project lead for this whole Brand Outlet topic, so I can talk about more than just Sport and Lifestyle here and give a bit of insight into the whole Brand Outlet topic at eBay.
Isabell: You only recently introduced the Brand Outlet topic. How did the project come about?
Heiko: Well, first of all, of course there is a need, especially on the buyer side. We see that many, many customers come to us looking for discounted branded goods, and that was the reason for us to ask: How can we improve this somehow? Improve the user, the buyer experience, and at the same time see how we can put this into a framework that is also exciting for sellers? We saw that there is of course also a great need on the seller side, of course a little more fueled by the whole Corona situation, the closure of city centers, sellers were left sitting on their stock. The last season practically couldn’t be sold at all, and it just fit together quite well, but it was also just a coincidence that we got a bit of a push from the Corona situation. But fundamentally, the buyers’ expectation we saw was to have a go-to place for great brands, at a great price, and somehow also with a super rounded service experience.
Isabell: And what exactly is the Brand Outlet?
Heiko: Basically, it’s the digital version of those outlet cities that many customers already know. So, a place where you have many brand shops, where you can shop many great brands, where you find everything in one place, just brought into the digital world. In the first 6 months, we managed to bring in over 160 brands, either inventory directly from the brand, from large retailers, or from smaller sellers who offer the goods with a great service level, so basically there’s something for everyone, both in men’s/women’s fashion, children’s clothing, but also sports and fitness apparel. The goal is definitely to keep developing this further. As I said, we’ve now acquired and brought in 160 brands, but that’s not the end of the road. We want to bring in even more brands, even more exciting inventory, so that in the end we can also offer everything you, Isabell, might imagine being able to find in an outlet.
Tino: Speaking of finding! Heiko, I’m a huge sneaker fan to begin with. Where exactly can I find the outlet on or in our marketplace?
Heiko: We managed to get relatively prominent entry points. These days, a large part of the traffic—I mean 60% of customers—start their user experience on eBay via the app, and we have a very prominent option on the app’s homepage to go straight to the Outlet via Brand Outlet, almost like a deeplink, and then start the shopping experience directly in the newly designed fashion experience we built there.
Isabell: I bought shoes recently, and I noticed that when I searched for shoes, I was taken straight to the Brand Outlet in the app, so it’s really well done.
Heiko: Yes, because of course we’ve worked on improving the whole user experience, so not just copying the classic search results page, but we’re investing in the product development of the Outlet as well to improve the search-and-find experience even more. That’s why we make sure to bring interested customers into the area we’re actively working on in good time, so you’re not left on your own in the huge, broad range of fashion items and sneakers, but instead we show you specifically what has the best service level. What’s available in great colors, in different variants, size ranges, and of course at a good price.
David: But is that all, or do you do more for the sellers who take part? Do you advertise it somehow too, or something like that? So do sellers get more out of it if they’re part of this Brand Outlet?
Heiko: The Brand Outlet is one of the important topics for us that we’ll be driving forward this year and in the coming years too. And of course every participating seller benefits from the reach and, ultimately, from the investments, from the marketing euros that we put in to make the whole topic known. So in various print media there are also mentions and editorial pieces. We’re doing quite a lot to make buyers aware of it in the end too.
David: And if I now say, okay, that all sounds very good, I want to take part. How can I, as a normal seller who says OK, this is something for me, take part?
Heiko: Yes, the good thing is that we work closely with sellers. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a brand owner, meaning you have your own brand and appear directly as the seller of your brand, whether you’re perhaps a large seller, so-called retailers, who have a big footprint in the industry or regionally. Or whether you run your little boutique and have great brands ready there for customers, so anyone can be part of it. What’s important to us is that we talk about it with everyone. So it’s not the case that just anyone can join. You can apply; it’s a selective process, so to speak. We have selected sellers, selected brands that we work with there. What’s important to us is that the service level standards, i.e. the most important, highest eBay criteria, are also met. So we have free shipping, we have free returns, that’s very important to us. 30-day returns, and of course quick handling of customer inquiries and also quick shipping of goods, so this “all-round carefree package,” so to speak, is important to us, both in terms of working with sellers and, of course, in terms of our story to the customer.
Isabell: And does all this only apply to new goods?
Heiko: At this stage, yes, so we really only have new, unworn goods from the area, well, clothing and shoes in the broadest sense.
David: And where exactly can I contact you if I’m an interested seller? Is there some kind of link or phone number, email address, how does it work?
Heiko: Well, our sellers can simply send an email. To Fashion-Outlet@ebay.de, so it’s fairly easy to remember, just the hyphen in the middle—you might need to keep that in mind. Fashion-Outlet@ebay.de. And that’s where the team sits, our team from the Fashion and Lifestyle team, and they answer every inquiry within 1-2 working days, usually it’s possible to then have a follow-up conversation and see, okay, dear seller, what exciting inventory do you have? What does your account actually look like? How is a product description set up, so that you can take a look together, because of course these formal criteria—shipping, returns—are important, but the customer obviously also needs a good product description when they see the products. The pictures have to be right, the so-called attributes, item characteristics, should also be maintained, material etc. etc., so that if a customer is searching for cotton or for certain materials or certain collar or neckline shapes, they can find that too. That’s why it’s also important that we look at it together again with the sellers, that these topics are also worked on and maintained, so that the so-called left-hand navigation can also be used, which is an important point for our user experience.
David: So basically that means, as a seller I just send a pretty informal email: “hello, I’m interested, here’s my contact option.” Maybe a phone number or the email address from which the email is sent, and then the team gets back to you within one to two working days and then everything gets underway.
Heiko: Exactly! It’s best to also send along your eBay username. That way the colleagues can take a direct look at the eBay account and see how it looks and whether it fits. And then we naturally want to consider together how we can find a way to become part of the Outlet, so maybe to add to that, it is a, we call it a project, but of course it’s a new, let’s say business model that we’ve developed now, and our team supports the sellers on an ongoing basis too. So it’s not like we push them in and then never speak again, but rather it’s an exchange. We plan campaigns, we curate the page, we highlight seasonal topics perhaps. Now autumn is coming, where we might focus on jackets or boots. Where we can of course look at which brands we need, which brands we want to highlight? With which sellers can we highlight which brand? In order to be able to give the customer the best possible inventory recommendations. Because that’s very important, this topic of curation and showing things sensibly that are currently relevant somehow.
David: Is that now limited to fashion only, or is it possible in the future that more will be added?
Heiko: Yes, that’s a good question. First of all, we want to get fashion right, so we started a few months ago, of course the preparation took a bit longer, but in the summer we officially announced the go-live, and just because something is live doesn’t mean we’re done. So we still have topics we’re working on, especially when it comes to the buyer experience. Also the further development of this Outlet page. So first we want to do everything well and right with the Fashion Outlet and then take a closer look at which categories come next, because it’s not ruled out. There are many exciting topics where we could implement a similar setup, whether I’m thinking of my area now. Sports, so clothing is already in there, like the outdoor jacket, jogging pants, the running shoe. But of course it’s also exciting to look at equipment for various sports. Outlet-suitable inventory also exists in other areas. Or Home & Garden, so you can think in any direction, because I do believe that the basic concept will go down very well with our eBay users.
Tino: Yes, many thanks, Heiko, for all the interesting and exciting insights. Yeah, you’ve already got me as a customer anyway, so I’m already looking forward to the next sneakers I’ll be shopping there in our eBay Brand Outlet. And I think it’s a huge addition, especially for our sellers. You already mentioned that we also support the sellers throughout the whole setup of the eBay Fashion Outlet.
Heiko: I can give you one more good tip. We’re starting with a winter fashion coupon in mid-October. So 20% off many items, of course also from the Fashion Outlet. That means, set aside a bit of money already, it’s definitely worth taking a look and finding one or two cool items.
Tino: Yes, my girlfriend will actually be very happy about that, because I already have more shoes than she does at home in the closet. But apart from that, okay. Fine, of course we still have one last question for our guests at the very end of the interview, and that is, Heiko, what did you last buy on eBay?
Heiko: Well, my wife would say I buy on eBay several times a day, I’d argue that’s not true at all, I only buy several times a week. I actually bought a new laptop. It was time, and I treated myself to a gold laptop. Nice piece.
Istabell: And are you happy with it?
Heiko: Yes, great. The old one was 10 years old and was annoying me, a device with some fruit logo on the front, and even the best fruit loses its shine eventually. So now I have a new fruit and it’s great, I’m enjoying it.
Istabell: But after 10 years you can also replace the laptop. I’d say we’ll say goodbye to you here as well, Heiko, many, many thanks for being here. I’ve taken a lot away for myself, I’m already looking forward to the coupon and trying out the Brand Outlet for my new running shoes, and yes, the next episode of our podcast will be out in 2 weeks.
David: Exactly. Of course, we’re also happy to receive your feedback on our podcast, so feel free to leave a comment with us in the eBay Community, and if you have a question, feel free to ask, even if it’s about the whole Brand Outlet topic. We’ll be happy to pass it on to Heiko and his team, and otherwise feel free to leave us a like or a subscription wherever you’re listening to us, if possible. All links, or the email address Fashion-Outlet@eBay.de, can of course also be found again in the description.
Istabell: And with that we say goodbye and see you next time.
Tino: Yes, hello from me too, I’m Tino. I’m really happy that we’re already recording our third episode today, and after the great start with the first two episodes, today we’re back with a really exciting topic for you, and that’s all about the eBay Brand Outlet.
David: Hello from me too, David, the third man in the group. As Tino already said, it’s about the eBay Brand Outlet. What exactly is it, and how can I take part as a seller? Today we want to clarify that with our expert Heiko Johannisson, Head of Sport and Lifestyle at eBay, because he works very closely with you sellers. Hi Heiko, welcome to the eBay podcast.
Heiko: Hello David, hello everyone, I’m glad to be here.
Isabell: Heiko, before we talk about the Brand Outlet, could you first tell us a little about yourself?
Heiko: Sure, so I’ve now been at eBay for 10 years and have done a few things there before switching to the Sport Lifestyle topic a little over 3 years ago, and in that context I’m also part of the project lead for this whole Brand Outlet topic, so I can talk about more than just Sport and Lifestyle here and give a bit of insight into the whole Brand Outlet topic at eBay.
Isabell: You only recently introduced the Brand Outlet topic. How did the project come about?
Heiko: Well, first of all, of course there is a need, especially on the buyer side. We see that many, many customers come to us looking for discounted branded goods, and that was the reason for us to ask: How can we improve this somehow? Improve the user, the buyer experience, and at the same time see how we can put this into a framework that is also exciting for sellers? We saw that there is of course also a great need on the seller side, of course a little more fueled by the whole Corona situation, the closure of city centers, sellers were left sitting on their stock. The last season practically couldn’t be sold at all, and it just fit together quite well, but it was also just a coincidence that we got a bit of a push from the Corona situation. But fundamentally, the buyers’ expectation we saw was to have a go-to place for great brands, at a great price, and somehow also with a super rounded service experience.
Isabell: And what exactly is the Brand Outlet?
Heiko: Basically, it’s the digital version of those outlet cities that many customers already know. So, a place where you have many brand shops, where you can shop many great brands, where you find everything in one place, just brought into the digital world. In the first 6 months, we managed to bring in over 160 brands, either inventory directly from the brand, from large retailers, or from smaller sellers who offer the goods with a great service level, so basically there’s something for everyone, both in men’s/women’s fashion, children’s clothing, but also sports and fitness apparel. The goal is definitely to keep developing this further. As I said, we’ve now acquired and brought in 160 brands, but that’s not the end of the road. We want to bring in even more brands, even more exciting inventory, so that in the end we can also offer everything you, Isabell, might imagine being able to find in an outlet.
Tino: Speaking of finding! Heiko, I’m a huge sneaker fan to begin with. Where exactly can I find the outlet on or in our marketplace?
Heiko: We managed to get relatively prominent entry points. These days, a large part of the traffic—I mean 60% of customers—start their user experience on eBay via the app, and we have a very prominent option on the app’s homepage to go straight to the Outlet via Brand Outlet, almost like a deeplink, and then start the shopping experience directly in the newly designed fashion experience we built there.
Isabell: I bought shoes recently, and I noticed that when I searched for shoes, I was taken straight to the Brand Outlet in the app, so it’s really well done.
Heiko: Yes, because of course we’ve worked on improving the whole user experience, so not just copying the classic search results page, but we’re investing in the product development of the Outlet as well to improve the search-and-find experience even more. That’s why we make sure to bring interested customers into the area we’re actively working on in good time, so you’re not left on your own in the huge, broad range of fashion items and sneakers, but instead we show you specifically what has the best service level. What’s available in great colors, in different variants, size ranges, and of course at a good price.
David: But is that all, or do you do more for the sellers who take part? Do you advertise it somehow too, or something like that? So do sellers get more out of it if they’re part of this Brand Outlet?
Heiko: The Brand Outlet is one of the important topics for us that we’ll be driving forward this year and in the coming years too. And of course every participating seller benefits from the reach and, ultimately, from the investments, from the marketing euros that we put in to make the whole topic known. So in various print media there are also mentions and editorial pieces. We’re doing quite a lot to make buyers aware of it in the end too.
David: And if I now say, okay, that all sounds very good, I want to take part. How can I, as a normal seller who says OK, this is something for me, take part?
Heiko: Yes, the good thing is that we work closely with sellers. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a brand owner, meaning you have your own brand and appear directly as the seller of your brand, whether you’re perhaps a large seller, so-called retailers, who have a big footprint in the industry or regionally. Or whether you run your little boutique and have great brands ready there for customers, so anyone can be part of it. What’s important to us is that we talk about it with everyone. So it’s not the case that just anyone can join. You can apply; it’s a selective process, so to speak. We have selected sellers, selected brands that we work with there. What’s important to us is that the service level standards, i.e. the most important, highest eBay criteria, are also met. So we have free shipping, we have free returns, that’s very important to us. 30-day returns, and of course quick handling of customer inquiries and also quick shipping of goods, so this “all-round carefree package,” so to speak, is important to us, both in terms of working with sellers and, of course, in terms of our story to the customer.
Isabell: And does all this only apply to new goods?
Heiko: At this stage, yes, so we really only have new, unworn goods from the area, well, clothing and shoes in the broadest sense.
David: And where exactly can I contact you if I’m an interested seller? Is there some kind of link or phone number, email address, how does it work?
Heiko: Well, our sellers can simply send an email. To Fashion-Outlet@ebay.de, so it’s fairly easy to remember, just the hyphen in the middle—you might need to keep that in mind. Fashion-Outlet@ebay.de. And that’s where the team sits, our team from the Fashion and Lifestyle team, and they answer every inquiry within 1-2 working days, usually it’s possible to then have a follow-up conversation and see, okay, dear seller, what exciting inventory do you have? What does your account actually look like? How is a product description set up, so that you can take a look together, because of course these formal criteria—shipping, returns—are important, but the customer obviously also needs a good product description when they see the products. The pictures have to be right, the so-called attributes, item characteristics, should also be maintained, material etc. etc., so that if a customer is searching for cotton or for certain materials or certain collar or neckline shapes, they can find that too. That’s why it’s also important that we look at it together again with the sellers, that these topics are also worked on and maintained, so that the so-called left-hand navigation can also be used, which is an important point for our user experience.
David: So basically that means, as a seller I just send a pretty informal email: “hello, I’m interested, here’s my contact option.” Maybe a phone number or the email address from which the email is sent, and then the team gets back to you within one to two working days and then everything gets underway.
Heiko: Exactly! It’s best to also send along your eBay username. That way the colleagues can take a direct look at the eBay account and see how it looks and whether it fits. And then we naturally want to consider together how we can find a way to become part of the Outlet, so maybe to add to that, it is a, we call it a project, but of course it’s a new, let’s say business model that we’ve developed now, and our team supports the sellers on an ongoing basis too. So it’s not like we push them in and then never speak again, but rather it’s an exchange. We plan campaigns, we curate the page, we highlight seasonal topics perhaps. Now autumn is coming, where we might focus on jackets or boots. Where we can of course look at which brands we need, which brands we want to highlight? With which sellers can we highlight which brand? In order to be able to give the customer the best possible inventory recommendations. Because that’s very important, this topic of curation and showing things sensibly that are currently relevant somehow.
David: Is that now limited to fashion only, or is it possible in the future that more will be added?
Heiko: Yes, that’s a good question. First of all, we want to get fashion right, so we started a few months ago, of course the preparation took a bit longer, but in the summer we officially announced the go-live, and just because something is live doesn’t mean we’re done. So we still have topics we’re working on, especially when it comes to the buyer experience. Also the further development of this Outlet page. So first we want to do everything well and right with the Fashion Outlet and then take a closer look at which categories come next, because it’s not ruled out. There are many exciting topics where we could implement a similar setup, whether I’m thinking of my area now. Sports, so clothing is already in there, like the outdoor jacket, jogging pants, the running shoe. But of course it’s also exciting to look at equipment for various sports. Outlet-suitable inventory also exists in other areas. Or Home & Garden, so you can think in any direction, because I do believe that the basic concept will go down very well with our eBay users.
Tino: Yes, many thanks, Heiko, for all the interesting and exciting insights. Yeah, you’ve already got me as a customer anyway, so I’m already looking forward to the next sneakers I’ll be shopping there in our eBay Brand Outlet. And I think it’s a huge addition, especially for our sellers. You already mentioned that we also support the sellers throughout the whole setup of the eBay Fashion Outlet.
Heiko: I can give you one more good tip. We’re starting with a winter fashion coupon in mid-October. So 20% off many items, of course also from the Fashion Outlet. That means, set aside a bit of money already, it’s definitely worth taking a look and finding one or two cool items.
Tino: Yes, my girlfriend will actually be very happy about that, because I already have more shoes than she does at home in the closet. But apart from that, okay. Fine, of course we still have one last question for our guests at the very end of the interview, and that is, Heiko, what did you last buy on eBay?
Heiko: Well, my wife would say I buy on eBay several times a day, I’d argue that’s not true at all, I only buy several times a week. I actually bought a new laptop. It was time, and I treated myself to a gold laptop. Nice piece.
Istabell: And are you happy with it?
Heiko: Yes, great. The old one was 10 years old and was annoying me, a device with some fruit logo on the front, and even the best fruit loses its shine eventually. So now I have a new fruit and it’s great, I’m enjoying it.
Istabell: But after 10 years you can also replace the laptop. I’d say we’ll say goodbye to you here as well, Heiko, many, many thanks for being here. I’ve taken a lot away for myself, I’m already looking forward to the coupon and trying out the Brand Outlet for my new running shoes, and yes, the next episode of our podcast will be out in 2 weeks.
David: Exactly. Of course, we’re also happy to receive your feedback on our podcast, so feel free to leave a comment with us in the eBay Community, and if you have a question, feel free to ask, even if it’s about the whole Brand Outlet topic. We’ll be happy to pass it on to Heiko and his team, and otherwise feel free to leave us a like or a subscription wherever you’re listening to us, if possible. All links, or the email address Fashion-Outlet@eBay.de, can of course also be found again in the description.
Istabell: And with that we say goodbye and see you next time.
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1 comment
geschenk1de
·4 years agoI