Ahead of a holiday season that will be plagued by supply chain issues and an ongoing pandemic, eBay appears well-positioned to capture demand from shoppers who want guaranteed product and deliveries.

Late last month, eBay Senior VP and General Manager for eBay's North America Market Jordan Sweetnam wrote in a blog post about how the online platform is answering the needs of customers worried about scarcity this year.

“In recent months, all types of luxury brands—Rolex, Louis Vuitton and Nike—have addressed high-profile inventory shortages driven by supply chain issues,” Sweetnam wrote. “When this happens, people turn to eBay for many solutions and options, and a full assortment of their most iconic styles and lines. As a result, we’ve experienced significant upticks in sales of scarce brands, compared to this time last year.”

Customers are also more interested in buying pre-owned goods than ever before, according to Charis Marquez, VP of fashion at eBay, who joined Ad Age's Marketer’s Brief podcast his week to discuss how eBay is navigating new demand and holiday messaging.

“What we are seeing is that people have a more openness to pre-owned merchandise—not just resale but pre-owned,” said Marquez, noting that growth of pre-owned sneakers is currently 15% higher on eBay than of new sneakers. “When you think about pre-owned, you think, ‘Great, I’m also doing something kind of great for the environment.’”

Still, eBay must contend with rising competition from brick and mortar retailers. In late October, eBay gave a sales forecast that missed analyst expectations and showed a potential slide in pandemic-induced growth given consumers' shifting shopping habits back to in-person spending.

In its holiday marketing, eBay is incorporating messaging that tells consumers the online platform will have what they need this year, Marquez said. In addition, eBay plans to merge digital with physical shopping by hosting a series of pop-up shops. A sneaker shop will open in Detroit, a shop with luxury items will open in Miami and a collectibles shop will open in Houston.

“The pop-up events are unique,” said Marquez.

On the podcast, Marquez also discusses what’s ahead for eBay in 2022 as the marketplace looks at changing consumer behavior, which could include a shift toward more in-person shopping following huge gains in e-commerce.

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