EBay vs. Google is what the future may look like according to Bambi Franciso of CBS Marketwatch.
It may very well be that Google and EBay will be viewed more as competitors in the coming years as search is revealed as the center of online media and commerce.
It’s really not hard to see this connection. If you’re a vendor, you can advertise on a search page, or put up your wares on EBay’s bazaar.
The question to ask yourself is: Which initiative delivers a customer at the cheapest rate?
Both Google and EBay attract a significant pool of potential buyers. Both rely on a significant pool of advertisers, like the ones who’ve typically used the classified pages. In both situations, a merchant asks: “Which outlet will get me in front of the most people?”
In short, “EBay bidding fee = Google listing fee”.
Google’s search appliance is making inroads into the enterprise too. Writes E-Commerce News: “Its dedicated search appliances promise a kind of simplicity not seen in enterprise computing since Netscape released its Mosaic program and shoved aside Total Quality Management in favor of browsing.”
Meanwhile, there was news this week of Microsoft’s MSNBot being launched to crawl sites, in anticipation of a search engine revamp to take on Google. It is easy to think that Microsoft has its USD 45 billion in the bank and will therefore eventually win. I don’t think its that simple. Money may not help Microsoft to a great extent in this battle.
