The acquisition will help boost eBay’s structured data efforts.
Ebay announced July 11 that it is acquiring SalesPredict, an Israel-based company that uses advanced analytics to predict customer buying behavior and sales conversions. The SalesPredict team will join eBay’s structured data center and support eBay’s artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science efforts.
Ebay said that the acquisition of SalesPredict builds on a recently completed acquisition of Expertmaker, which offers predictive analytics and personalization powered by artificial intelligence. The addition of SalesPredict, however, will help eBay predict factors that can affect the price of a product and enable its sellers to increase customer sales conversions.
The move is also in line with eBay’s efforts to transform itself into a structured online marketplace that can better take on Amazon and other large online retailers that use machine learning in product recommendations and other features.
In addition to data processing and enrichment, which SalesPredict falls under, eBay’s structured data efforts also include data collection and the creation of product experiences.
Predictive marketing, along with IoT, is becoming essential for retailers, online and offline, as they look for ways to boost and optimize sales.
