Image Credit: https://andrewchen.com/

The Time of the eCommerce Marketplaces

According to Adobe, online marketplace sales accounted for 67% of total global eCommerce in 2021, with a total of $3.23 trillion spent in the top 100 marketplaces. It may even be that you have purchased something from an online marketplace like Amazon or eBay. US marketplace ecommerce sales will reach over $357 billion despite decelerating growth. And the emergence of marketplaces as a key growth driver in eCommerce is not just limited to the US alone.

The e-commerce marketplaces boom is a global success story and its continued success will be because of the below factors:

Marketplace provides brands the opportunity to diversify the channels they are selling on, in return increasing volumes, but also retailers to enable those sales and take % of the sales revenue generated.

On top of the marketplace platform, if a retailer provides added managed solutions like logistics and shipping, and retail media as Amazon does, it’s another channel for upselling revenue.

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Mirakl doesn’t just boast a very impressive pan-global clientele, but their marketplace as a solution platform has been behind the launch and success of many marketplaces in the recent past.

This, also, is one of the reasons behind the marketplace boom. Retailers now can pretty much outsource marketplace platform building, and use Mirakl, and other such technologies to heavy lift the work for them. This return means a quicker GTM, and a reliable partner to scale.

Marketplaces launches have been a success story so far, but the success does generally come at a cost.

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This in return raises questions of #brandprotection and product scrutiny on Marketplaces. The influx of 3P sellers might lead to channel and sales conflict between owned channels and 3P sales.

It also opens up the challenge of counterfeits, damaged products, fake products for brands to tackle.

In short

Edge by Ascential in its 2022 Future of Marketplaces Report anticipates that third-party sales through online marketplaces will add $1.3 trillion in sales over the next five years. By 2027, the four largest global online marketplaces–Amazon, Alibaba, Pinduoduo and JD.com–will be responsible for $4.3 trillion in sales.

Retailers are taking into account consumer preferences and diversifying revenue channels which means great times ahead for marketplaces. Brands in return would reap the benefits by reaching out to more consumers and hitting more volumes.

But keeping a close eye on the products and investing in #brandprotection technologies like GreyScout would just help retain consumer confidence and brand margins.

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Aditya Labhe

Thinker | Writer | Photographer | Learner | Adboy | Idea builder | Design enthusiast