I was privileged to attend the recently concluded and very successful launch of X.commerce,  one of the many facets of eBay, PayPal and Magento that will soon be changing the ecosystem of e-commerce.  Actually, we will soon be removing the ‘e’ in that word,  just simply commerce because now shopping, either from a retail site or business site, is about buying when you want, what you want and how you want.   It is, afterall, our current way of life, what with mobile phones and tablets.  I went to cover this developer conference from a user’s point of view and was thrilled to see so.many.new.applications that will give us choices on how we want to conduct our shopping adventures.  Don’t worry, the brick and mortar stores will always be there, but you might be happy to note that those check out lines may never be Disneyland long anymore.  Or, soon – you’ll be able to go shopping without your wallet.  Mobile phone in hand, with a PayPal account, and you’re fully loaded, ready for retail therapy.

Formally announced fun eBay startup!

To begin with, I had no idea that there were so many cool partners and small developer companies within the realm of eBay.  I couldn’t count, but trust me ~ they have been buying these small companies with great services and products that will make merchants lives much simpler and more efficient, and consumers time more worthwhile.   Ultimately this is about the consumer – making sure that they spend their money wisely, while saving time.  One of the keynoters said we are going from “Conspicuous Consumption” to “Calculated Consumption”.  This means that we’re all going to have the ability to do comparison shopping, local shopping, mobile shopping,  so it’s more cost effective and  more convenient for the shopper.  The challenge to stores and businesses is getting this particular type of information out to buyers:  what’s available that meets your precise needs ~  is it available, in your size and specifications,  how close is it to you, when can you get it, and a host of other conveniences that we probably havent even thought of yet.

X.com's Ecosystem

Putting it all together for a frictionless merchant and consumer experience. eBay's partners and developer companies

For small mom and pop stores, there will be services they can eventually buy for very little money, install at a click of a button,  that will drive foot traffic to their stores, and help them set up an online presence really easily.  This is like Nirvana to both small/medium stores AND to consumers.    They get to see everywhere, we get to buy really easily .

Betsy Poirer. Toys R Us Director of Digital Channels presenting at Innovate 2011

DID YOU KNOW that Toys R Us now has a local, pay and pick up service powered by eBay?  If you want something for a child, logon to www.toysrus.com.  Check out that new “LOCAL” tab at the top right.   It will tell you which store closest to you has the inventory, you can pay for it from your phone with your PayPal account, then you can swing by and pick it up at the customer service counter.  Or Geoffrey the Giraffe will hand it to you.  HOW COOL IS THAT??!!  Can you imagine if drug stores, groceries, beauty supply stores, coffee shops, and all these stores we have to park, go down, browse the aisles, stand in line, walk back to the car…all had this service?  A 30 minute activity is now 5 minutes!!

  

 Click on image to enlarge

One for everything: Credit card, debit card, gift cards all in one singular sensation.

So, shopping as we know it is about to change in a big way.  eBay seems to have gotten it right.  Their days of just being an online auction site are long gone.  Yes they do that too and they do it well, but eBay marketplaces is all about “BUY IT NOW”, PayPal is still the digital payment leader and X.commerce is the engine within eBay that’s going to allow the developers to create some really cool apps that will make our lives much much easier.  Think iPhone apps on steroids – but it’s all about shopping.

Now, WHO doesnt like shopping!!!

If you want a glimpse into the near future, check out this video of the soon-to-be-available PayPal Card.  Please pardon the background noise, this place was buzzing!