eBay search makes it easy to find what you want. But when you’re trying to find a unique gift for someone else, it’s hard to know what to search for. Because of this, 67% of Australians still prefer to shop for Christmas presents in stores. Which means at Christmas time, eBay’s sales decline.

Our goal: get more Australians, both existing and non-existing eBay users, turning to eBay in search of the prefect present.

Identifying the fatigue and stress that had become associated with Christmas shopping, we used eBay’s search algorithm to create a revolutionary new Christmas present search tool. We educated mums using the insight that by knowing two things someone ‘likes’ you can find them something they'll love. By entering these two likes, a list of unique and personalised items were curated which the user may not have found otherwise.

To complement the new search function we created a Facebook first with The eBay Gift Finder APP. The app aggregated a list of friends’ ‘likes’ based on their Facebook activity to generate Christmas gift inspiration.

To demonstrate how easy it was to use eBay’s new search, we engaged Jeni Bonnell – mother of Australia’s largest family. Jeni has a harder time than most when it comes to finding great gifts because she has 15 kids. Through an intensive media drive, Jeni’s story and how eBay helped her over Christmas was sold into a broad mix of outlets including TV, print, online and radio.

And that’s how we helped eBay Australia land their biggest shopping day in history.

eBay live and breath online shopping innovation, so altering their search algorithm to make them the easiest place to find the perfect Christmas present was a natural fit.

The eBay Gift Engine Facebook APP searched friend’s and family’s Facebook likes to find gift ideas, continuing the innovation and adding some fun to the buying process.

And because eBay are about real people with real stories, we tested their modified algorithm on Jeni Bonnel – mother of Australia’s largest family. Turning a hard job into an easy one and creating some PR while doing it.

1 simple alteration to eBay’s search made a massive difference.

•In the first week of December eBay exceeded 1 million average weekly buyers for the first time ever. In total there were 3.34 million registered visitors that week.

•eBay saw their biggest shopping day in history (number of items bought), 25% bigger than last year’s (factors for all purchases across all platforms). And 47% bigger than last year’s biggest day on mobile.

•Traffic to deals.ebay.com.au, eBay’s Sunday sale component, increased by up to 453%.

•PR generated over $6 million in earned media.

Making it a fantastic Christmas for eBay and millions of Australians.