The online auction platform launched a predictive analysis instrument to help private vendors to sell more and better.

Online auction platform eBay, increasingly active on innovating the user experience front, launched a tool that is based on the combination of machine learning, predictive analysis, and structured data. The goal is to help private vendors to sell more and better through an intuitive interface.

Available both in desktop and mobile versions for Android and iOS, the new tool works as follows: it makes a real-time screening of the products currently being sold on the platform and guides the vendor through the creation of his/her own listing. For example, it can provide advice on what would be the most competitive price, the ideal selling option (fixed price, simple auction, auction with reserve price, etc.), which words should be included in the title and the most suitable delivery options.

This represents an important update to the platform, as users ask for ease of use of both the purchasing and selling process. These needs are even more important for private sellers who want to use eBay’s functionalities to do business in a fast and intuitive way. Along these lines, artificial intelligence and machine learning offer innovative and ground-breaking possibilities to ensure that customers have an increasingly better experience.

Private sellers are often more inexperienced and they risk to fill the platform with incomplete or confusing listings. Do you think that this tool could increase the overall quality of the platform’s content?
Could a similar solution be implemented for businesses using eBay to sell their products?

A kit to prepare the most iconic dishes of Italian culinary tradition and that eliminates logistical hassles through direct-to consumer delivery.

In 2016, while thinking about a name for their startup, Alessandro Savelli and James McArthur decided to transform their love for pasta in a religion to be spread door to door. Pasta Evangelist isn’t a random name, as the peculiarity of this Italian-British startup is direct-to-consumer distribution. Various varieties of pasta, from tortellini to pappardelle, are delivered to customers in thin parcels that can fit through typical door-fitted English mailboxes. The parcels contain the selected raw pasta, paired with its ideal sauce and dressings in separate compartments.

The culinary arts are not in everyone’s reach. Well aware of that, Alessandro and James devised a product that needs only five minutes to be cooked and assembled. The result is a truly Italian dish, with handmade pasta and garnishments imported directly from Italy. Now available in all British islands, this idea seems to be perceived well by the public, with over 10.000 portions delivered only in September 2018.

The convenience of this solution lies in the possibility to fit the pasta box through the mailbox. This implies that it is not necessary that the recipient is at home at the time of delivery. For what concerns the sauce and condiments, the parcel is refrigerated and allows perfect conservation until the customer returns home. The kit itself can be stored in the fridge for three days, or up to a month in the freezer.

Direct-to-consumer is an interesting concept that completely discards the need for external distributors. Most importantly, it gives companies the opportunity to establish a tighter brand relationship with customers, while allowing to collect a much larger amount of customer data.

What do you think? Can direct-to-consumer pasta deliveries be a winning proposition in the long term?