Proving Brand Image Matters: eBay

One of the most important aspects of business is brand image, and this is why it has been one of the main aspects of Profit Duck since I started. If you missed any of these previous brand image posts, please take a look under our brand image tag.

Anyway, brand image, it is one of those aspects of business which everyone considers, but not everyone takes it as seriously as everyone else. In my personal opinion, brand image is everything. It can help you gain customers, it can help you get investment and it helps massively when everyone else struggles. Therefore it is always one of the aspects I have to take into account when doing something new.

However, many people have different opinions and obviously here I’m going to mention those people who think brand image doesn’t matter that much. Many people believe it doesn’t really impact on a company and instead of aiming to build a brand image; you should have a decent product and then a decent marketing campaign. Although, I believe they are both aspects of building a brand image, many people think differently.

Proving Brand Image Matters?

In this post I want to prove that brand image matters. I want to put across why brand image matters and why it is so important in certain markets. On the other hand, I will be doing a series of these types of posts showing that brand image isn’t necessarily important in every aspect of business.

Why Brand Image Matters on eBay?

eBay is an online selling portal which allows people to sell items and also buy them. The company behind the website earns commission from each sale. Before I go on any further, I would like to point out that I am not discussing eBay’s brand image, but I am discussing the brand image of people who sell on the website.

When you first sign up to eBay you have a trust rating of zero, this little number and star image is a representation of your brand image and reputation, just how trust worthy you are and that in turn shows people whether they should trust you to buy form them and also trust you to sell something which is what they expect. That little number means everything and can affect how much you sell. At the start, you will only be able to sell small items, as no one with trust your brand if it is an expensive item. As well as this, you with be followed a lot closer when going through transactions, as people want to be sure that they are getting what they paid for.

What does this little number mean then? It means brand image matters; it shows that people are more likely to go with your business if you are more trusted, if you have a better reputation and if you are a business who has been able to build up a good brand image because it operates how it should do. That little number proves the point of how important brand image is, it proves that a business must take its brand into account, especially if it is in a competitive market.

eBay is very competitive and if you are selling the same product as everyone else, at the same price, for the same P&P etc then you need a USP. Obviously this goes down to who has the biggest number, who has the best brand image.