ChannelAdvisor: August treats Amazon better than EBay

Morrisville, N.C. - Overall, August 2014 was a mixed bag for various online retailers with Amazon, Google Shopping/CSE, Search and other third-party marketplaces continuing to grow and EBay feeling the impact of its new EBay Defect Rate (EDR), which has made it tougher to obtain top-ranked seller ratings and significantly reduced inventory for sellers of used/refurbished items. According to monthly analysis from e-commerce solutions provider ChannelAdvisor, major online retailers reported the following same-store sales results in August.



• Amazon's August same-store sales came in at 45.1%, an increase, compared to July's 40.4%. Amazon has increased its year-over-year same-store sales growth rate every month so far in 2014.



• EBay’s August same-store sales came in at 5.9% down from July's 9.7%. This is the lowest same-store sales result for EBay since February 2011, driven by an 11% year-over-year drop in auctions.



• Other third-party marketplaces continued strong same-store sales growth in August, coming in at 24.2%. While this is a decrease from the 39% recorded in July, these channels are a bit more volatile in month-over-month performance than larger more established channels. At 24.2%, they are growing 10% greater than e-commerce as a whole.



• Comparison shopping engines came in at 21.1% for August, up from July’s 9.5%. This was largely driven by strength in Google Shopping / PLA.



• Google Shopping/PLA came in at 54.3% growth, an increase from July's 40.8%. The conversion rate was down 2.6% to 2.29%, but average order value offset the conversion rate headwind with a strong 24.5% year-over-year increase coming in at $118.26. Looking at the data, it appears that PLAs are now also feeling the mobile conversion rate headwinds from mobile traffic and Google is counteracting that by showing higher priced items.



• Search came in at 13.6% for August, an increase from July’s 7% year-over-year growth.