eBay forecasts 2013 mobile commerce volume will eclipse $20B

January 17, 2013 | By Jason Ankeny

eBay anticipates its mobile payment volume will exceed $20 billion in 2013. The company also said its PayPal unit will handle around $20 billion in mobile transactions this year. The figures are up significantly from what the company reported for 2012.

eBay reported full-year 2012 revenues of $14.1 billion, up 21 percent over 2011; in the fourth quarter, revenues grew to $4 billion, an 18 percent year-over-year leap. eBay adds that U.S. gross merchandise volume (excluding vehicles) increased 18 percent last year, crediting the gains to mounting mobile adoption, double-digit user growth across its portfolio and the expansion of its Marketplaces business.

"eBay mobile finished the year with $13 billion in volume--more than double the prior year--and PayPal mobile handled almost $14 billion in payment volume, more than triple the prior year," said eBay President and CEO John Donahoe.

eBay's suite of mobile apps attracted more than 4 million new customers in 2012. Speaking to Bloomberg, Donahoe said mobile device users represent a quarter of all new eBay customers, bringing a younger demographic to the site. He added that mobile users complete purchases more often than consumers browsing on the desktop.

Donahoe said eBay will look to streamline the mobile signup process in the year ahead, pointing to the company's mid-2012 acquisition of card.io, which developed data capture technology that automatically reads credit card information using a smartphone's camera. "Picture by the end of this year, you download the eBay or PayPal mobile app, you take a picture of your driver's license, and you take a picture of your credit card, and that's registering," Donahoe said.

PayPal ended the year with 123 million registered accounts, a 15 percent hike, and added close to 2 million accounts a month during the fourth quarter. The unit's mobile efforts include PayPal Here, which enables small businesses and other users to process credit and debit transactions by swiping cards through a dongle that attaches to their smartphone or tablet. In addition, PayPal is teaming with retail chains including Home Depot, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters, JCPenney, Foot Locker, Office Depot and Toys "R" Us to trial mobile wallet services across more than 18,000 physical U.S. stores.

For more:
- read this release
- read this Bloomberg article

Special Report: Mobile payments: User-driven vs. vendor-driven