eBay Releases New iPad App

Ebay has overhauled its iPad app with a photo-heavy look and curated categories to bring the feel of brick-and-mortar discovery to mobile shopping.

The ecommerce giant said it’s now prepared to keep up with the mobile shopping market that has shown a growing number of consumers are turning to tablets. TechCrunch reported that “over 30 percent of U.S. shoppers and 50 percent of users globally are using phones and tablets to pick out ready to buy items instead of bidding on the e-commerce site. A full 59 percent are multiscreen.”

And while a growing number of consumers look for items on mobile and buy them later on desktop, that leads to abandoned carts — something eBay’s new iPad app aims to avoid by giving consumers a one-stop shop that will combine the mobile and desktop experience with an app.

“The eBay for iPad app is an important step on our journey,” RJ Pittman, chief product officer for eBay told TechCrunch. “It delivers a better shopping experience for buyers and better merchandising capabilities for sellers.”

eBay originally planned to wait until next year to release the app, but the desire to capture holiday shopping sped up the process. Pitman said the new app aims to keep up quicker with shopping trends by adding curated categories that will bring items the shopper is “watching” into one category. It will also use viewing habits, recent searches and previous purchases to make suggestions on the home page.

While eBay recognizes there’s an element missing without a brick-and-mortar shop available to view the goods, the company said its new design should help consumers better browse through products they are looking for. The new version of the app includes higher-resolution images that consumers can zoom in on with the iPad, a cleaner design and easier navigation. The iPad test is also being used to see what’s in store for a mobile app for smartphones next year.

“It’s really hard to do browsing well. We don’t claim to have all the answers but we do want to make it awesome enough that you come back and browse often and stay longer,” Pittman said.