Current Issues in Marketing Strategy

The Trading Post is undergoing radical change to keep up to date with modern consumers and will be treading into the online auction space currently owned by EBAY. Under the watchful eye of Telstra's Sensis division, the trading post will be updating their way of doing business tackle the $150M online auction market.

The hooks dangles infront of consumers are: ~ No listing fees for sellers + a range of different payment options (unlike EBAY who are moving towards PayPal only settlements).

What are their big guns?
The trading post is a 40 year old Australia institution, they are not selling out (as many have accused), rather they are updating to stay in touch with future generations. Already US$1000 per second is bought and sold on EBAY, and signs only point towards this number expanding in time to come.

Trading Post has a brand image that they can trade off of. Huge brand awareness, reliability and respected, not to mention now being owned by Sensis ($636M in 2004) who have the capital, expertise and strategic vision to develop TP well past its' current form.

Can you beat EBAY at their own game?
You can't beat EBAY, just in the same way that you can't beat Coke, Nike, Microsoft or James Hird, but you can steal market share, differentiate and offer a a product that caters to the needs of a different niche of users.

Every market has competitors, the followers and those that simply thought it was a good way to launder some cash. There can be only one market leader, but they are all capable of servicing segments of that market. As seen in even the most basic industry life cycle, competitors will enter the market when there is profits to be challenged for and I am very glad to see people challenge EBAY.

Josh's Opinion
EBAY is not a unique and beautiful creature (Fight Club, circa 2000), it is not beyond competition... far from it. In actual fact, the more competition there is, the more it forces EBAY to give customers the service they want. For example, I can't believe they are moving to PayPal only payments, that is just ridiculous, give me and option to vote with my feet and I will.

Sam's opinion
I have to applaud the move into the online zone, I know they were already running an online cataloge, but this move to tackle EBAY head on is very strong. They have a brand name to trade off, they offer exceptional value to customers and they already have fiercely loyal customers. This can only be a recipe for success.