eBay Hires A VP Of Data To Focus On Personalization Across The Marketplace And Other Properties

We know that eBay has been looking for ways to add personalization to its marketplace and other products and properties but today the company is brining in new leadership to direct this efforts. Zoher Karu, who was formerly Vice President of Marketing Analytics and Insight at retailer Sears, will be joining the company as its first Vice President of Customer Optimization and Data.

In his new role, Karu will leverage the company’s customer data to drive a more personal and relevant experience across eBay properties, says the company. A Sears, Karu made similar efforts in organizing customer data, extracting analytical insights and then integrating those insights into customer channels. He also holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

“Karu’s passion for customers, coupled with his outstanding business experience and professional track record, will significantly advance the company’s efforts to drive data-driven innovation, delivering a personalized and intuitive omnichannel shopping experience to customers around the world,” said Marketplaces President Devin Wenig in a release.

The hire isn’t surprising, as eBay has been talking about data for some time now. At eBay’s analyst day a few weeks ago, CEO John Donahoe said “data will enable us to drive better experiences for our customers. It also will allow us to help merchants of all sizes drive deeper consumer engagement and loyalty in a connected commerce world. We have massive amounts of data. And we are just beginning to leverage our data to drive innovative, personalized customer experiences. Our advantage is not just the amount of data we have…But we have a massive amount of closed loop data. What other companies struggle to create, we already know – each step of a consumer’s commerce journey.”

eBay has been using customer data in its new homepage experience but it sounds like we’re going to see similar products coming from the e-commerce giant soon.