Leveraging supply change advantage to create new market segment from the case of eBay Now

I just joined this class for one week and surprisingly, I found the subjects extremely interesting for me. I thought supply chain management would merely be about estimating the demand/supply and make sure everything goes well. However, after taking into a deep look into the course materials provided, I think it is super beneficial for me.  I am very interested in the nexus of business and technology. This summer, I interned in eBay. Though eBay is an e-commerce company, it does not have any inventory. While comparing its rival Amazon which is almost four times bigger than eBay in terms of market capital, eBay has started thinking what can they do to provide better customer service since Amazon's two day or even one day shipping service has become so critical and almost everyone's expectation in today's fierce e-commerce competition.

So I think the answer from eBay would be eBay Now service. Here is a description of eBay Now from Business Insider:

eBay Now, an on-demand delivery service, picks up goods from local stores. Its couriers—they call themselves "shoppers"—deliver your purchases to your door in about an hour. You pay a $5 delivery and local sales tax.[1]
eBay Now service currently works only in the California Bay area. It corporates with department stores like Macy's, Target, Walgreens and also stores like Bestbuy, HomeDepot, OfficeDepot.

By leveraging the supply chain advantage from these local stores, eBay does not need to build its own supply chain system while offering fantastic customer experience. The item purchased from either mobile or desktop site will be delivered to the customer in an hour.

Citation

[1] We Just Tried eBay Now And It Rocks — Here's How It Works

from: http://www.businessinsider.com/ebay-now-walkthrough-2012-8?op=1#ixzz2ebwhdl8q