EBay Advertising International will be led by Christian Kunz at its headquarters in Bern, Switzerland, while Philip Rinn will lead the international sales bureau in London. Previously, Kunz was head of European strategy at eBay and Rinn held the role of business development director, international, for eBay-owned Shopping.com. Rinn is looking to expand eBay's London-based international ad sales team.
Ad campaigns on eBay have to date been handled by territory-specific eBay ad sales teams. The company will continue to operate local ad sales teams and ad sales houses, with the new international division acting as an umbrella for both. As well as direct sales, it will offer services such as marketing, analytics and sales support.
"Some markets were successful and some struggled," said Kunz. "What we never managed was to offer a great international experience. We have noticed increasing demand from advertisers and agencies to create a one-stop shop, enabling them to reach multiple markets more smoothly."
EBay is one of the top 10 most popular websites in the UK, according to Nielsen Online data for June, attracting 15.2 million unique users. Ebay was also one of only three websites in the UK - alongside MSN Messenger and Facebook - to average more than one billion total user minutes in June.
The international ad unit launch is supported with an online resource centre www.ebayadvertising.com which showcases advertising opportunities. Visitors can browse information on display and strategic partnerships, and view examples of previous brand campaigns.
While advertisers can already target eBay users by age, gender and product category, the creation of an international advertising division will enable eBay to target users' searches and interests on a multi-territory basis.
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