Retailers Toys R Us, Aeropostale and Dick’s Sporting Goods have partnered with eBay to reward online shoppers with coupons to be redeemed in-store. The initiative launched Dec. 16 and runs through Dec. 19.
Consumers who spend $100 on the participating retailers’ e-commerce sites or the Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores on eBay will receive an emailed coupon from the retailer for a $10 discount to be used in the respective retailers’ brick-and-mortar stores. Payments must be made using PayPal and consumers must redeem the coupon before the end of the year.
John Pluhowski, VP of corporate communications at eBay, said via email that retailers will not be able to attach an email marketing opt-in to the emails containing the coupon. Asked how the participating retailers came to be involved in the program, Pluhowski said that the three retailers are customers of GSI Commerce, which eBay acquired for $2.4 billion this year.
EBay has been ramping up its efforts to connect online and offline retail. As part of its larger multichannel retail initiative, PayPal said on Dec. 14 that it would launch a mobile deals service in 2012 that could push offers to consumers when passing by a merchants’ brick-and-mortar location. On Nov. 18, Toys R Us launched an initiative with eBay’s mobile barcode scanner app, RedLaser, that enables consumers to scan a product via the app, find out if a local Toys R Us store has it in stock and complete the purchase in-app through PayPal.
The eBay program reverses the approach Amazon.com used when it incentivized consumers to use the Amazon Price Check app in stores to compare product prices and subsequently purchase products on Amazon.com on Dec. 10.
