Shelly Banjo says, “Investors cheered a fourth consecutive quarter of sales increases, and maintaining a full year of gains helped quiet concerns that without PayPal Holdings Inc., the subsidiary it split from in 2015, eBay would be left for dead.

It’s no time for self-congratulatory pats on the back, though.

Growth initiatives touted by eBay management during its earnings call last week, such as ramping up millennial-focused TV advertisements and making it easier for consumers to find new stuff on its sites, just aren’t aggressive enough to match eBay’s grand ambitions to take on internet retailing behemoth Amazon.com Inc., No. 1 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 500 Guide. It has to move faster.

Sales growth online still outpaces that of traditional retail, but e-commerce in some parts of the world is starting to decelerate as the industry matures. Market contractions tend to usher in consolidation, and Amazon and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. are getting bigger by the day. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (No. 4 in the Top 500) is starting to understand that, which is why it recently shelled out more than $3 billion for a one-year-old company, Jet.com Inc., and boosted its stake in JD.com Inc., China’s second-largest e-commerce play”.

Why eBay should think big and be ready to buy

Internet Retailer

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