eBay is making a bigger bet on live shopping after reporting strong growth in the format, as online marketplaces search for new ways to turn digital browsing into a more interactive experience.
During its second-quarter earnings update, eBay said the gross merchandise volume generated through eBay Live had increased around eight times year-on-year across seven markets.
The company also reported growth in viewers, watch time and the number of items sold through live events.
The results are encouraging for eBay because live shopping represents a very different kind of online commerce.
Traditional e-commerce is usually quiet and individual.
A customer searches for an item, compares prices and decides whether to buy it.
Live shopping adds entertainment and interaction to that process.
Sellers can demonstrate products in real time, answer questions and create urgency around individual items.
The format has become particularly popular in areas such as collectibles, fashion and resale goods.
It has also helped create successful new businesses, including platforms built specifically around live commerce.
eBay is now attempting to make the format a larger part of its own marketplace.
The company says it plans to expand eBay Live into more international markets.
It has also been making changes to improve product discovery and simplify the process of creating live events.
Eligible sellers can now access self-service onboarding across hundreds of product categories.
For the UK, the trend is worth watching.
eBay began testing its live shopping platform in the UK in 2024, and the company’s broader international expansion means live commerce could become increasingly important for sellers across the country.
The growth of live shopping reflects a wider change in how people discover products online.
Social media platforms have already blurred the line between entertainment and shopping.
Someone watching a short video may suddenly discover a product and purchase it without ever performing a traditional online search.
TikTok Shop has helped accelerate this trend, while other companies are increasingly experimenting with ways to make commerce more interactive.
eBay’s advantage is its existing marketplace.
The company already has millions of listings across categories including electronics, fashion and collectibles.
Live shopping could give sellers another way to make those products visible.
According to eBay, sellers who regularly use Live have seen stronger sales performance, while new buyers in some categories are spending significantly more than their non-live shopping counterparts.
However, live shopping also presents challenges.
It requires sellers to become entertainers as well as merchants.
Running a successful livestream can involve presentation skills, preparation and the ability to engage with an audience in real time.
Not every seller will want to work that way.
The format may therefore be most successful when it is used alongside traditional e-commerce rather than replacing it entirely.
For eBay, the opportunity is clear.
Online shopping has become highly competitive.
Price and convenience are no longer the only ways to attract customers.
Companies increasingly need to make shopping interesting.
Live commerce could help marketplaces create stronger relationships between buyers and sellers while encouraging people to spend more time inside their platforms.
The digital economy is becoming increasingly interactive.
Social platforms are adding shopping.
Shopping platforms are adding entertainment.
Entertainment platforms are adding creators and payments.
The boundaries between these industries are becoming less clear.
eBay’s investment in live shopping is part of that wider transformation.
The future of online commerce may not simply involve clicking “add to basket”.
It may involve watching, chatting, bidding and buying at the same time.
