eBay launches "Star Plan", a new product pre-sale model to help Chinese brands launch new products overseas

On August 24, 2021 , the new eBay " Chuange Conference " with the theme of "Craftsmanship Builds Dreams, Billions Come Together to Look to the Future " was grandly held in Shenzhen. At the meeting, eBay released the "Star Plan", officially launched a new product pre-sale model, and corresponding six major support measures to promote new products to go overseas and quickly open up sales in overseas markets. It is also committed to working with sellers to jointly create consumer-upgraded products and occupy new heights of consumer upgrades.

Figure: eBay launched the "Star Project" at the Shenzhen "E-Creation Conference"

Caption: Zheng Changqing, General Manager of eBay International Cross-Border Trade Division in China, shared his experience on the spot

Overseas consumers' demands for high-quality and branded products are increasing rapidly. High-quality products and branding have become the future development direction of cross-border e-commerce, and brand management, refined operations, and innovative sales models are inseparable. Against this background, eBay's " Star Plan " came into being, launching a new product pre-sale model for sellers who have deep vertical categories, own their own brands , and have independent R&D and design capabilities . Sellers can launch new products on the eBay platform for the first time, effectively preheat new product sales, attract consumers, lock in traffic in advance, quickly open up new product sales in overseas markets, and enhance brand awareness . " Star Plan "   Allow sellers to obtain a pre-sale period of up to 30 days for new products, give full play to eBay's resource advantages in the field of cross-border e-commerce, and through a series of closed-loop services such as official store brand logos, brand product catalogs, and precise coupon delivery, realize the import of on-site and off-site traffic, and provide sellers with full-range support for launching new products.

Caption: Huang Bujin, regional general manager of eBay China's cross-border trade division, shared his thoughts on the event

Huang Bujin, regional general manager of eBay China's cross-border trade division, said: "eBay is the first choice for brand sellers to go global. The 'Star Plan' can well meet the needs of sellers to launch new products on eBay for the first time. Through pre-sales, they can firmly grasp the first-mover advantage of new product launches, making the supply chain more stable, the product life cycle longer, and profits more stable. I believe that the launch of the 'Star Plan' can build a mutually beneficial win-win model with sellers, promote the launch of new products overseas, and allow more Chinese brands to lead the development of cross-border e-commerce in the next decade."

Pre-sale model increases brand exposure and repurchase rate

Last November, eBay launched the internal beta of the "Stellar Project". During the testing phase, more than 40 new products were launched on the platform for the first time, and a total of tens of thousands of products were sold , helping sellers increase their sales speed by an average of 3 to 5 times, and attracting many new buyers to complete their first transaction on the eBay platform.

The internal test focused on electronic products, including mobile phones, handheld vacuum cleaners, 3D printers, smart monitoring equipment and other consumer electronic standard products participating in the new product pre-sale. The results show that the new product pre-sale is widely welcomed by consumers in various countries and markets in the eBay global market, attracting buyers from more than 100 countries , among which European and American consumers have the highest recognition of pre-sale products and subscribe enthusiastically. It is worth mentioning that consumers in emerging markets such as Austria, Sweden, and Mexico have also shown a strong interest in purchasing "pre-sale" new products. The internal test results show that the new product pre-sale has successfully attracted more high-quality buyers on the eBay platform , not only with a strong "new" ability, which increases the product's attractiveness to new buyers, but also increases the repurchase rate of old customers, while increasing the brand's exposure in different markets.

Smart home brand Proscenic participated in the internal testing of eBay's "Star Plan". Its new handheld vacuum cleaner was put on the market in the European market for 25 days, and its sales have already matched the sales record of similar new products in the previous year when they were put on the market for 95 days , and the sales speed has increased by nearly 3 times. Proscenic General Manager Zhao Chuantao exclaimed: "Thank you very much for eBay's invitation to participate in the internal testing of the 'Star Plan'. As soon as our product was put on the shelves, we turned on the 'acceleration mode', which gave us enough time to optimize the product and listing according to the market feedback during the pre-sale period, and also greatly improved our capital utilization rate! What surprised us even more was that the pre-sale model drove the store to obtain off-site traffic, increased our brand exposure in overseas markets, and gave us more confidence to quickly verify the product and create a hit that meets consumer needs."

Muchen International E-commerce Co., Ltd. focuses on selling electronic appliances and agent brand products, including cleaning, personal care, fitness, travel, wearables and other products. Its agent Oclean electric toothbrush participated in the new product pre-sale and was first launched on the eBay platform in Germany and Italy. The sales volume exceeded 1,100 units in 7 days, exceeding the expected target for the first launch. The company's partner Quan Meiling said: "The new product pre-sale combined with the brand's off-site new product preheating, on-site resources and policy support, as well as the coordination of traffic and sales rhythm, helped us to concentrate on the eBay platform, achieving high exposure and high conversion both on and off the site."

The six major supports of the "Star Project" bring a longer life cycle to the product

eBay’s “Star Project” has initiated six major supports, supporting sellers’ entire new product launch process through a series of closed-loop services, and triggering new product sales.

Official store brand logo   ——For high-quality brand sellers participating in eBay’s “Star Plan”, “Official Flagship Store” or “Official Authorized Store” will be marked in a prominent position on the store to help make the brand and products more recognizable and improve the store’s credibility.

Brand Product Catalog   —— "Star Plan" establishes an exclusive product catalog for sellers and applies for pre-sale project products to join the eBay standard product library . Joining the eBay standard product library will increase product exposure, and through buyer ratings and reviews, continue to accumulate user word-of-mouth and product feedback, increase product credibility and improve search conversion rate.

Precision coupon delivery   ——Use eBay big data to help sellers develop coupon distribution strategies and reserve accurate traffic pools in advance for new product pre-sales.

Promoted Listing Advanced - eBay's new pay-per-click advertising marketing tool gives pre-sale sellers the opportunity to actively bid for the first advertising position on the eBay search results page, obtain accurate traffic by placing keywords, increase product search exposure and the number of visitors to their accounts.

Off-site traffic generation - For brand sellers' off-site marketing of new products, we provide sellers with timely effect analysis, channel analysis, click and conversion data analysis through data analysis and traffic monitoring tools, which can help sellers adjust channel delivery strategies in a timely manner.

Dedicated support from the account manager team - The dedicated account manager team assists sellers with category analysis, product selection and positioning, market research, customer group analysis, etc., helping sellers to launch new products more efficiently and implement supporting marketing strategies.

eBay's "Star Plan" will fully assist sellers in launching new products on the eBay platform through a pre-sale model and six major supports. We welcome more sellers to join the "Star Plan" so that high-quality new products made in China can be like stars in the sky , lighting up the vast galaxy of cross-border exports and opening up a new "blue ocean" for cross-border exports .

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