Today, 80 small businesses in Brooklyn have joined eBay’s Local program. They will offer delivery and/or in-store pickup (ISPU) to Brooklyn shoppers through eBay’s website and mobile apps.
eBay Local is a pilot program for “last mile” solutions for buyers and sellers in major markets around the world. It includes same-day delivery, scheduled delivery, in-store pickup, as well as a model being tested in Europe where small eBay sellers can offer shoppers “click & collect” capabilities through large retail partners.
“We’ve been testing ‘last mile’ options for more than a year. We kicked off the program with a focus on large retailers to scale the program,” said Tom Allason, senior director of eBay’s Local initiatives. “Now we want to provide the same opportunities to small businesses, who are the core sellers on eBay.”
On November 19, eBay migrated its same-day and scheduled delivery service, eBay Now, from a stand-alone app onto the eBay website and into its core mobile apps. eBay users can now shop for what they want and choose to have the item shipped or delivered, or picked up in store, where offered.
“We find that our customers like having choice, based on when they need the item and how much they want to pay to get it,” explained Allason. “Small businesses on eBay like that they can offer services once available exclusively to large retailers.”
eBay Local is available in five markets in the US: New York (including Brooklyn and Queens), San Francisco and parts of the Peninsula, San Jose, Dallas and Chicago. There are also eBay Local programs in the U.K., Germany and Australia.