Word: globalize
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Global auctions are the kind of ideal market Adam Smith could only have dreamed of. Sellers are, at least in theory, guaranteed a price that isn't too low: they get to sell to the highest bidder anywhere in the world. And buyers are assured the price isn't too high because they get to choose the lowest one being offered by any seller in the world. Location becomes unimportant. You're not penalized for being a seller stuck in low-traffic, low-price Bismarck or a buyer shopping in high-cost Manhattan. Auctions also minimize transaction costs ("friction...
Still, today eBay is one of the most dazzling sites on the Internet. Log on and feast your eyes on a global garage sale that includes--well, just about any inanimate object you've ever seen, heard of or lusted after. That Partridge Family lunch box that made you feel like the Man in third grade? The bidding starts at $5. That Art Deco clock you always wanted? There were recently 19 of them being auctioned on eBay. Sure there's kitsch (Elvis snow globes, anyone?), and a scary number of Beanie Babies. But there's also luxe (usually...
...just a push for market share. Omidyar and his colleagues are still driven by the company's original goal of creating a global market where everyone competes on an equal footing. One pet project is an effort to bring a Guatemalan village into the global economy by hooking it up to eBay. Consumers in the developed world could buy local handcrafts at lower prices, and eliminating layers of middlemen would allow villagers to keep more of the purchase price for themselves...
...global online marketplace will be here before we know it, and eBay's refrain "eBay everywhere" seems destined to become a reality. It's something the National Flea Market Association members are starting to accept. Several members of the association have begun moving online, working to put together virtual-flea-market sites like Fleamarket.com And even diehard thrift-shop mavens are becoming reconciled to the fact that the future belongs to eBay. "You can't stop the wheels from turning," sighs Hoff. "In fact, I have to confess: I just bought something on eBay this morning...
...analyst at Jupiter Communications, an e-commerce research firm in New York City. "A single point of sale can be used to reach an entire country or the entire world." As Jay Herratti, president of Boo.com North America, a sportswear e-tailer, put it, "We could be global from...