Overall this has been a fairly unspectacular quarter for eBay.

Certainly total revenue growth looks reasonable enough at 5.6 per cent, but this is a long way below the double digit growth rate of the global ecommerce market in which eBay plays – an indication that it continues to lose market share. It also comes off the back of an incredibly soft comparative from the prior year when total net revenue fell by 2.4 per cent.

The latest eBay results show profits also fell, with net income down by 23.4 per cent on a year-on-year basis. This was partly a function of the investments the company has been making in marketing, branding, and the technical capabilities of its site – all of which are necessary and prudent. Nevertheless, it is a disappointing outcome that dilutes some of the profit gains made across the first half of the year.

The main source of the disappointment is eBay’s marketplace division where growth came in at an anemic 1.7 per cent. Admittedly this is better than last quarter’s decline of 0.2 per cent, but as it comes off the back of a negative comparative in the prior year it indicates that eBay is making very little progress in building up this part of its business. Given that this remains the largest single component of the group, this is a worrying trend. Fortunately, StubHub posted a much better set of numbers, growing by 30.5 per cent in revenue terms – and in so doing, helped overall transaction revenue to grow by 5.2 per cent.

There are three main issues with the marketplace part of the business:

• It is hard for consumers to use.
• It is overshadowed by larger players like Amazon.
• It has faced much more competition from other players.

The fact the site is hard to use is not lost on eBay, which has been investing in improving the website and mobile experience with more compelling product display pages and information that is easier to digest. This is a good move, but it is correcting deficiencies rather than putting eBay on an innovative footing. As such, eBay needs to go much further in revamping the whole online experience in order to bring it up to par with the likes of Amazon. This includes a more compelling landing page, easier search and navigation, and better pages for individual products.

This is especially important in a segment that has become gradually more competitive and crowded with other marketplace players, including niche businesses like Etsy and global powerhouses like AliExpress. Compared to many of these the eBay proposition feels a little tired – one of the reasons why the company is updating its brand messaging.

As much as we believe eBay management understands the issues and problems, and is working to remedy them, this is a longer-term project that is unlikely to yield significantly more positive results over the near-term.

• Neil Saunders is CEO of Conlumino.