In a rather odd pairing comparable to Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian, eBay has partnered with Snapchat to allow its users to post their listings on the social media platform, the two companies announced on Thursday.
A new feature on Snapchat will let users share their eBay listings with their followers by integrating them into their snaps. Here’s how it will work, you’ll have to start on the eBay website by selecting the listing you want to share, then by clicking share, a Snapchat option will now pop up. The new Snapchat option will open up the app’s camera, with an automated eBay sticker that includes a picture of the item and a description. Whether it’s a personal snap sent to other users, or posted on a snap story, people can then click on the eBay sticker to be redirected to the listing on the website.
E-commerce on social media platforms has been a growing trend with Instagram Marketplace, Facebook Marketplace and TikTok’s partnerships with Shopify and Square that allows its users to shop directly on the app. Social commerce is expected to rake in profits, having already earned $US492 ($683) billion in 2021, which is expected to nearly triple by 2025 to $US1.2 ($2) trillion globally, according to a report by Accenture.
So it’s no wonder that eBay is trying to get in on the action. But as someone who feels like they are too old for Snapchat and too young for eBay, I wonder if there will be a successful overlap between the two platforms that would allow for the proper utilization of this upcoming venture. Snapchat is primarily used by the Gen-Z generation with users as young as 15 years old, while eBay is mainly used to sell electronics with computers, scanners, laptops and printers as the top selling items on the website. But it could make for some interesting opportunities for eBay sellers to display their products to a new target audience, let’s just hope things don’t get…umm, weird.