Jun
20
eBay Consumer Demographics
Filed Under Sellers' Insights
This post summarizes a published academic paper that contrasts the demographics of people who buy on eBay and those that don’t. The study finds that family size, consumption motivation, and perceived economic threat are key characteristics that impact participation as a bidder on eBay.
Identifying characteristics of your customers or audience is a fundamental marketing principle. If you are selling on eBay, what research have you done into the demographics of your customers?
Although different niches within eBay are going to have different demographics — the football jersey collectors are likely to be a different lot than the people who bid on knitting supplies — there are some general characteristics that apply to the eBay customer base as a whole. Some of these are identified in a paper titled “A Comparison of the Characteristics of eBay Consumers and eBay Nonconsumers” written by Professor Gregory S. Black and published in the Sept ‘07 issue of Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice.
Here are some highlights:
The research found that eBay consumers have larger families than do nonconsumers.
Several possible reasons may contribute to this finding. Consumers from larger families have more household expenses and must expend more resources to provide clothing, etc, for their families. eBay is a known source of ‘good deals’, and the motivation to be more fiscally frugal for these larger families may lead them to make eBay purchases. …eBay might also be a time-saving resource to consumers from larger families.
It also noted that eBay consumers have a higher consumption motivation than nonconsumers.
Consumption motivation is a concept describing a consumer’s desire to have an objectively satisfying buying experience. …One can easily compare prices, sellers (by looking at feedback ratings) and products on eBay and then determine how much one is willing to pay for that item. If the selling prices actually exceeds the price the consumer is willing to pay, the consumer will not have to purchase that particular item and will face no discomfort in having to tell a sales person ‘no’. The consumer can then find another similar item and bid on it. This consumption motivation may be more difficult to experience in a brick-and-mortar shopping experience because of the extra time and other resource requirements.
Finally, eBay consumers perceive a higher economic threat than nonconsumers.
Economic threat can be defined as the degree to which a person believes that the security of the domestic economy is threatened by foreign competition.
When’s the last time you thought about who your eBay customers are?
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