EBay: fashion friend or foe?

EBay has for some time been trying to move away from being an auction site to a fixed priced etailer and its fixed price business has now overtaken the auction part of the business on which it built its foundations.

Bringing retailers onto its site via its outlet has attracted retailers including Debenhams, Blacks, Tesco and Republic. It is a great way for retailers to take advantage of the huge traffic that eBay still benefits from and get rid of end-of-line stock.

However talk to the luxury sector and eBay is still a dirty word. It believes that sellers on the site are damaging their brands. A handful of fakes that have slipped through the net have also worried them - although this is something eBay has very much tightened up on.

Ongoing battles in courts between luxury brands and eBay are likely to rumble on for some time.

But should these brands spend so much time trying to keep themselves off the auction site which is now becoming a real etail competitor to its fixed price rivals?

Online is a huge part of the discounting world and that is where many are researching the best deals available. If genuine items can be offered by sellers then some argue that in a competitive landscape there is no reason they should not be able to do this.

Brands will always be able to offer luxury goods in their own environments in stores, with the advent of online it is very hard to keep such tight control of your products but it seems that instead of expensive law suits the brands should be working with eBay to work out how they can exist happily in the same space.

The two can work side by side there just needs to be a more open dialogue.

The real danger is the counterfeit sites which have sprung up in recent years tricking customers into buying fakes or parting with their money only to find the site has shut. Links of London recently worked with the Metropolitan police to shut down 1,200 fraudulent sites. These are the real menace of the online world and could lead to customers losing faith in genuine sites.

Again this is where the whole retail community should be working together to protect their brands and their customers.

Keeping up with the Joneses

Keith Jones has just been appointed as chief executive of JJB Sports after a long search to find the right candidate to lead the beleaguered chain through its next chapter of recovery.

With JD Sports selling its stake in its rival yesterday, JJB is now free from competitor shareholders and has finally a boss to lead the way.

As with Sir David Jones, however, Keith Jones does not have a strong sports or fashion background. 

Sir David has made great moves to put JJB on a more solid footing to move forward but has also courted controversy over loans taken from Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley.

Hopefully Keith Jones will be able to focus on just the business of retail.

With OFT enquiries and a tough market still overhanging the business he has taken on a fair sprint though rather than just a jog in the park.