Power Plays

September/October 2007 Issue: Page 74

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Google and eBay go head-to-head as each tries to expand its empire.

By their brief descriptions – "online auction website" and "Internet searching and online advertising company" – it does not sound like eBay and Google are rivals for the same business. But behind the boilerplate company descriptions, many experts claim that as these giants seek to grow even larger, they are going after the same types of acquisitions, which is exacerbating tensions that already exist between them.

In June, Google planned to throw a "Freedom Party" in Boston for users of Google Checkout. The event, which was to protest the exclusion of its Checkout service from the list of accepted payment providers on eBay's sites, was to coincide with eBay Live, a conference for users of eBay.

Irked by the timing and the name, eBay pulled all of its U.S. ads for a week from Google. Later eBay reinstated "limited" ads on Google but reallocated ad dollars to Google rivals Yahoo, AOL and MSN, a move that industry watchers say served as a proof point of the simmering tensions between the two Internet powerhouses.

To date, eBay has been one of the biggest buyers of keyword ads on Google AdWords – fi nancial analysts estimate eBay has spent just shy of $25 million per quarter on it. It is believed that eBay has been Google's single largest advertiser, responsible for nearly 5 percent of Google's revenue. Despite pulling its ads, eBay claimed that its traffi c actually went up that week – inferring that the ads were meaningless to their business. eBay Power Seller Skip McGrath says eBay's decision "woke a lot of people up" – causing those who spend money on AdWords to rethink their spending – in fact, he moved his spending from Google to Yahoo PPC, Miva and Seven Search after disappointing results.

Greg Sterling, founder of Sterling Market Intelligence, notes that tensions between Google and eBay existed before June. He says that eBay has long considered Google to be a rival – more so Google considering eBay to be a rival. In fact, a popular sentiment among experts is "eBay needs Google more than Google needs eBay," Sterling says.

Matt Hulett, CEO of MPire, an online meta-shopping service, points out that eBay is a marketplace without a search engine – making it dependent on Google. It is estimated that 15 to 20 percent of traffic generated for eBay starts at Google and that 60 to 70 percent of online shoppers start at search engines. Marketing Pilgrim founder Andy Beal notes there are few companies that can say, "If I don't get any traffic from Google, it won't matter." Beal agrees that eBay, like most other companies, needs Google for revenue and users.

That seems confi rmed by Google's second-quarter earnings report showing that the pulling of eBay's ads did not hurt Google's business. Beal says that the amount of revenue from eBay is pocket change to Google – it's the perception of losing eBay that could potentially damage Google's brand, he says. "It's more a fear of a domino effect. The last thing that Google wants is for other large companies to think there is life beyond Google."

Rising Tensions

Scott Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor, explains that Google and eBay's relationship can't be described in black-and-white terms – Google and eBay have areas of competition and areas of partnership (e.g., Google powers links for eBay in non-U.S. countries). He says it is new to both parties and they are feeling it out but that it has created a complex relationship that goes beyond "friend or foe."

With its clear lead in the search market, Google is focused on determining which high-margin online business to try next. As Google looks for new areas of monetization, it has gone into some very similar businesses as eBay.

Some say this is intentional – Google wants to beat eBay specifi - cally in its core areas. Others believe it was inevitable that Google and eBay bump into each other as each expands its empire. "When two 800- pound gorillas are in the same cage, they eventually are going to step on the same banana," Kevin Ryan, vice president of global content at Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch, says about the companies going into overlapping/competing areas.

Google Checkout vs. PayPal

One such area of contention is online payments. eBay owns PayPal, which generated a fourth of the company's revenue in 2006. PayPal has become more important to eBay as auction sales growth has slowed. Second-quarter revenue for PayPal grew 34 percent to $454 million. It shows little sign of slowing down.

In June 2006, Google introduced the alternative payment system Checkout. eBay President and CEO Meg Whitman claims she is not worried about Checkout's ability to make serious inroads, and says that eBay does not offer the use of Checkout because it is an unproven service. According to a J.P. Morgan Securities survey of 1,000 consumers in January, 44 percent of PayPal users reported "Good" or "Very Good" service experiences; only 19 percent of Google Checkout users said the same.

But most everyone agrees that Google has the strategy, talent and programming needed to catch up to eBay. Google has attracted users to Checkout by offering cash incentives and it is very visible at many high-traffic online retailers such as Buy.com. Checkout is putting its icons next to their paid listings and Ryan says that, "Studies show there is increased click activity … that's a big advantage over PayPal."

Google has done a good job of seducing top retailers by offering margin incentives so that it's cheaper to deploy, according to MPire's Hulett. A study by Internet Retailer shows that 26 of the top 200 online merchants, or 13 percent, now accept Google Checkout, as of June. But in terms of users, PayPal is by far the leader in the space.

However, PayPal has others also vying for its top spot. In early August, Amazon.com opened its payment system, called Amazon Flexible Payment System – to other websites – a move that pits it squarely against PayPal. Market analyst Scott Devitt of Stifel Nicolaus wrote in a note published August 6 that he anticipates alternative payments to be one of the most active areas in the online retail sector for the next several years.

"In the long term, we believe that the card companies and certain categories in the traditional retail channel have the most to fear about the activities by technology-driven online innovation," Devitt wrote.

Shopping Spree

Another area where Google could steal eBay's thunder is its comparison shopping offering, Google Products, which was previously named Froogle. Continued on Page 2...

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