eBay Advertising launches new ‘predictive targeting’ tool for reaching parents

·      The first in a new series of ‘Advanced Targeting’ segments set to improve shopper experience and increase advertising ROI

·      Pilot campaign shows a two-fold increase in ad effectiveness

London, 12 November, 2015 - eBay Advertising today announced the launch of a new, predictive targeting tool for identifying and segmenting five different types of ‘parent’ shoppers on ebay.co.uk. 

The product - available from today – will use insight from eBay’s 18 million monthly unique users to enable brands to engage with shoppers in a hyper-relevant way with minimal wastage. Using search and purchase insights it segments shoppers into five distinct stages of early parenthood - expectant parents; new parents; tiny tot parents (those with children up to two years old); toddler parents (with two and three year old children); and pre-school parents (those with 4+ year old children).

A series of pre-launch pilots revealed a big impact on performance, with one A/B test with a leading, high-street pharmacy chain reporting a two-fold increase in ad effectiveness using this new targeting. 

As well as allowing brands to target more accurately based on current needs, the tool also opens the door to predictive targeting on ebay.co.uk – allowing marketers to pre-empt what different parent groups might be receptive to in the future. 

Commenting on the launch, Alessandra Di Lorenzo, Commercial Director, eBay Advertising UK said, “With millions of items sold from our UK ‘baby clothes’ category in 2014 alone, ‘parents’ are an undeniably lucrative shopper group for marketers, but their needs change rapidly from one stage of parenthood to the next so it’s not effective for brands to lump them all together.
 “Our new tool will take the guesswork out of targeting this group – resulting in a better experience for our shoppers on site, and ultimately greater returns for the brands that advertise with us,” she added. 

Di Lorenzo explained that this will be an attractive prospect for numerous sectors beyond the ‘baby’ market: “Take ‘new parents’ for example – they may be buying nappies and baby grows now, but the chances are that in 18 months time, they will be shopping for their toddler’s first bike, pre-school toys, family cars and kid-friendly holidays. The opportunities are endless for brands in other sectors to use these insights to pre-empt future customer needs.”

eBay Advertising also announced today that this is just the first product to be released from a new ‘eBay Advanced Targeting’ range of predictive targeting tools to be rolled out in the UK over the next 12 months. 

These new tools will help brands to more accurately segment shopper groups according to a host of life-stages, seasonal events and shopper milestones – such as ‘premium’ and ‘sales’ Christmas shoppers; ‘home-movers’; ‘new car buyers’; ‘holiday makers’; and many, many more. 

Di Lorenzo concluded: “Targeting based on life stage and seasonal hooks is nothing new in the industry, but our ‘eBay Advanced Targeting’ will be based on actual behaviour on the site, rather than demographic assumptions. By looking at search and purchase history we can help brands step away from stereotyping shoppers, and greatly improve their relevance and results.”

eBay Advertising’s parent targeting product is available to UK brands and agencies on request from today.