EBay CEO: Fear of being turned into an innovation engine

Sina Science and technology news Beijing time of February 4, EBay CEO Donahoe (John Donahoe) said in a media interview, although he is always worried about subversion, but it is this pressure to innovate, and early bets on the mobile industry. While some worry that ebay will become Amazon, Donahoe promises not to compete with retail partners.

The following is an overview of the interview:

Q: What did you find when you were CEO of ebay in 2008?

A: The magic of the Internet industry is that a company can become a global brand in a very short time, gaining global reach. Ebay has seen this in the first 5-10 years. It soon swept the world. But the wind was flowing, and when I came to ebay, we started to become the object of subversion. So we need to confront reality and use today's technology to fundamentally reshape ebay.

Q: Have you ever faced resistance? Do people think you're killing yourself?

A: there must be. But sometimes, you have no choice. Technically speaking, if you don't own your own life, others will kill you. So, bitter is good for the line. No one liked it at first, but we can use it to fix the fundamentals of our business, and we've been doing well in the past 35 years.

Q: What is your first priority?

A: Pierre Omidyar, the founder of ebay, Pierre Omidia that success can have a positive impact on the lives of hundreds of millions of of people around the world and connect them through trade. So we bet very early on the mobile field. We see that mobile technology will profoundly affect people's lives, so early to enter the market, and make a big bet.

Q: What are the opponents ' views?

A: They will never shop on mobile devices. It's not safe, they will continue to use large-screen devices such as computers. "We understand that mobile devices are just another screen," he said.

Q: Does the speed of mobile change surprise you?

A: I never thought that user habits would change so drastically over the last three or four years. People buy 8,000 cars a week via ebay mobile apps. We will carry out 20 billion dollar mobile business transactions this year, complete 20 billion dollars mobile payment. This will have a revolutionary impact on the two areas of retail and payment that we are involved in.

Q: PayPal is disruptive, do you worry that it will be subverted by square or other payment services?

A: I worry about being overthrown every day, but it's the kind of stress that motivates you to innovate. We found that the biggest change in PayPal was done with the help of mobile devices. The line and line boundaries are blurred, and we were formerly known as electronic Commerce, now directly known as retail. Consumers feel that the mall is in their hands. Last year the retail industry, which was about 10 trillion dollars in more than half of the deals, was online, and consumers were accessing the web during the shopping process.

Q: Some people say you want to become Amazon.

A: No, no. We have a very different pattern. Amazon is a retailer, and I don't think we'll ever be able to deal with the goods ourselves and never become a retailer. We are a business and payment platform, working with retailers of all sizes to help them compete with Amazon and adapt to the changing environment. We will never compete with them, which is very important to these retailers.

Q: What about Wal-Mart and Target?

A: We are stepping up our cooperation with retailers in the hope that they will be able to help them, as retailers realise they have to engage with consumers on websites, mobile devices, and stores. As a mobile technology, PayPal will make your physical wallet an unfamiliar concept for the next three or four years. You will be able to upload all your credit cards to your PayPal wallet, either in the physical store, in mobile applications or on your home couch. This helps retailers.

Q: How many other auction business genes do you have?

A: Auctions are just one form of ebay's core business. Auctions are good for things with uncertain value. So second-hand or scarce goods are good for auction. But for most commodities, people are more likely to buy a price because they want to get a sense of satisfaction by buying right away.

Q: People are talking about Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple, and how they will fight in the future. Is this the future trend?

A: First of all, I have to say, there are ebay. We are more low-key, but we are a business platform with a volume of 175 billion dollars, accounting for almost 20% of all e-commerce. We hope to be the leading in the industry. Several other companies overlap, but none can really penetrate the business of other businesses.