Live from Mobile World Congress: Mobile technology is bringing enormous upheaval to both retail and payment activities, according to the keynote speech made at Mobile World Congress by John Donahoe, President and CEO of eBay.

“We will see more changes in how consumers shop and pay in the next three to five years than in the last five to ten years,” said Donahoe in his presentation. He compared what’s coming to the impact on the media industry of the Apple iPad. “We are on the verge of the same thing with payment and retail.”

The mobile device he said is “blurring boundaries between e-commerce and retail and between offline and online”.  One half of retail transactions in the US now involve the use of a mobile device at some point.  eBay is seeing significant growth in mobile traffic as is its Paypal business, he said.

The use of mobile devices means consumers are now grabbing control of the relationship with retailers, according to Donahoe.  This means they can use their mobile phone to scan goods in one store and then buy cheaper elsewhere.
However mobile technology can also be used to assist retailers, for instance by making personalised offers and promotions to consumers when they enter a store.

Donahoe had a message for other companies that they must embrace this new ecosystem because consumers want choice and mobile technology has given them the tools to get what they want.

Separately, in a Q&A after his keynote, John Donahoe reaffirmed eBay’s previous scepticism on NFC technology by saying: "I think it will be years not months before you will see NFC deployed in most large retailers." He said until there is a standardised approach to both devices and merchant equipment, retailers will not install it.  “We need a industry-wide standard."

Also at yesterday’s congress eBay announced that it is partnering with UK mobile operator Three to offer Android smartphones preloaded with the auction site’s apps. The idea is to offer a more direct shopping experience on eBay for mobile users.  

In addition PayPal launched its PayPal Carrier Payment Network which is designed to make mobile carrier payments more viable for a greater number of online merchants.  The initiative will require operators to revise standards to boost user experience, increase flexibility of carrier payments and increase payout rates for merchants.