Targeting holiday shoppers, eBay Inc. has added local shopping results from recently acquired Milo to its RedLaser bar code-scanning application for both Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android.

With the integration of Milo, shoppers on RedLaser can immediately find out through a single scan which nearby retailers currently have that perfect gift in-stock and who has the best local price. Holiday shoppers can scan thousands of products across the shelves of approximately 50,000 stores in the United States, saving time and money.

“By including Milo shopping results in the RedLaser iPhone and Android apps, we are providing access to real-time, accurate local inventory and the power of offline and online comparison-pricing,” said Steve Yankovich, vice president of mobile at eBay, San Jose, CA. “This provides our RedLaser users even more choice and flexibility when they come to us first to comparison shop.

“Local commerce continues to blur the lines between traditional and online retail, presenting new opportunities for eBay to innovate and connect buyers and sellers globally,” he said. “With RedLaser in a single scan, shoppers can be confident that they are finding the best deal online or at a local retailer.

“Since RedLaser already had local listings, it was a natural fit to incorporate Milo’s inventory of over 50,000 stores in order to provide a richer shopping experience for our users.”

EBay’s core iPhone application, which is available free via iTunes in eight languages and 190 countries, has been downloaded more than 13 million times and lets users to browse and buy without leaving the application.

The eBay application for the iPad debuted in the top ten most downloaded free iPad apps in the iTunes Store.

EBay’s suite of mobile applications, including RedLaser, Selling, Classifieds and StubHub, enable selling and buying virtually anywhere, anytime.

In 2009, eBay’s mobile gross merchandise volume (GMV), the value of all goods sold, was more than $600 million.

EBay expects to generate $1.5 billion in GMV through mobile commerce in 2010.

EBay’s PayPal division has been delivering mobile payments since 2005 and has a mobile application for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 smartphones, as well as SMS and WAP-based payments platforms.

PayPal offers merchants a way for shoppers to checkout on mobile Web sites via Mobile Express Checkout and mobile developers can use PayPal for in-application payments using its Mobile Payments Library.

In 2009, $141 million in payments were transacted over PayPal’s mobile applications and PayPal expects to close out 2010 with more than $500 million in mobile payment volume from five million PayPal members worldwide.

RedLaser focus on mobile shopping
The total downloads of RedLaser’s bar code scanning application in the Apple iTunes store has tripled since June.
With interest in mobile shopping on the rise, eBay is now also bringing the RedLaser bar code-scanning application to millions of Android shoppers.

The RedLaser application for Android lets shoppers scan products to compare prices and find deals both online and at retailers near them.

The integration of Milo into the RedLaser iPhone and Android applications was expected after eBay’s acquisition of Milo.com last week.

EBay expects more than $1.5 billion worth of goods to be bought worldwide this year through its mobile applications.

Milo local shopping results are available immediately in both the iPhone and Android versions of the RedLaser application and online at Milo.com.

The RedLaser Software Development Kit, which is already being used by more than 100 third-party iPhone developers and select retailers, will soon be available for the Android platform.

“We’re excited to be a part of the eBay family,” said Jack Abraham, director of local at eBay. “Our integration with eBay enables us to provide local search results to a larger audience, providing consumers with more choice, online or in stores.

“Specifically, our integration with RedLaser will provide local search results in real-time with one single barcode scan – it’s simple, easy and saves users time from searching all over for specific products,” he said.

Final Take
Mr. Abraham