Are you looking to develop your sales and/or reach a wider audience (nationally, but also worldwide)? Marketplaces are the key! Already accounting for 40% of global sales, these platforms have become a must. Discover our complete guide and marketplace strategy to find out how to optimize your presence on marketplaces and transform your e-commerce strategy into a high-performance omnichannel strategy.
With shopping habits constantly evolving, e-tailers need to adapt to stay competitive and increase their sales. Today, marketplaces are becoming an essential part of the market and cannot be ignored: they account for 40% of global sales. According to a 2022 Ascential study, this share is set to rise to 59% in the next five years.
A marketplace is an e-commerce platform where independent sellers, whether professionals or individuals, offer their products or services in exchange for a subscription fee and a commission on each sale.
How do you explain the rise of marketplaces?
Marketplaces have become a central pillar of online commerce, distinguished by their multi-vendor model, which enables various companies to offer their products on a single platform. This e-commerce concept has evolved over the decades, with key milestones marking its development. In 1994, Jeff Bezos revolutionized online sales with Amazon, creating the first virtual bookstore that offered a much wider range of products than physical bookstores. Two years later, eBay introduced the CtoC (consumer-to-consumer) model with an auction system, enabling anyone to sell on its platform.
The marketplaces landscape continued to evolve with the creation of Cdiscount in 1998 and PriceMinister in 2000, a pioneer in the online purchase and sale of cultural products. In 2003, the advent of online payment and Amazon’s transformation into a BtoC and BtoB sales platform marked an important turning point. From 2009 onwards, the first retailers began to invest in marketplaces, and platforms such as La Fnac created their own sales spaces.
2011 saw the birth of the “C le marché” marketplace (now Cdiscount Marketplace), the takeover of PriceMinister by Rakuten, and the creation of Mirakl, a marketplace design platform. In 2012, ManoMano launched the first marketplace dedicated to DIY. The real boom in marketplaces came in 2014, with an explosion in sales and massive adoption by professionals.
In 2016, Facebook integrated the marketplace concept into its social network, and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to a spectacular 80% growth in business volume on these platforms, due to global confinements. Today, marketplaces continue to grow, with new platforms emerging every month in diverse sectors such as accommodation, mechanics and home decoration. This historical development and the diversification of offerings explain the rise of marketplaces, which are now establishing themselves as key players in online commerce.
Success on marketplaces: key advantages and points to watch out for
Marketplaces have become a must for consumers, especially since the COVID-19 crisis, which saw sales on these platforms explode. Today, 56% of global sales and 35% of purchases in France are made on marketplaces. This model, comparable to an online shopping mall, appeals for its practicality and the diversity of products on offer.
However, success on marketplaces requires an understanding of both the advantages and the pitfalls: increased visibility, consumer confidence and simplified operations are major assets. On the other hand, intense competition, low margins and dependence on these platforms call for a well-defined strategy and optimal management to maximize profits.
5 key benefits
Marketplaces offer many advantages for e-businesses. Here are the top five:
- Access to a huge audience: With 42 million cumulative buyers, marketplaces enable you to reach a new clientele who prefer these platforms for their purchases.
- Increased sales and visibility: Marketplaces can represent a significant growth driver, boosting your sales and offering new visibility for your company.
- Diversification of distribution channels: Selling on marketplaces allows you to smooth out your activity, secure your income and clear your unsold products.
- Cost reduction and anticipation: Marketplaces manage their own marketing and SEO, which limits your development costs and makes them easy to anticipate.
- Experimentation ground: Marketplaces provide a space for testing new offers, products or strategies at no extra cost, enabling us to assess their reception by customers.
Points to watch to adopt an informed and proactive approach to marketplaces
To take an informed and proactive approach to marketplaces, it’s crucial to recognize that some products, such as niche or bespoke ones, may not be well suited. Using marketplaces as a destocking channel or for standardized production can be a viable alternative. Note that customers primarily belong to the marketplace, limiting your ability to contact them directly for marketing purposes. Make sure you offer impeccable service to retain these customers.
The technical and operational constraints of marketplaces require the use of specialized solutions to efficiently manage inventory, orders and deliveries. Marketplaces are also very demanding in terms of performance, influencing crucial aspects such as Buy Box allocation. Adapt to the specific uses of marketplaces by taking care of your product sheets and optimizing your SEO. Finally, prepare thoroughly before you launch to maximize your sales and outperform the competition.
Maximize profits on marketplaces in 9 steps
Success on marketplaces requires rigorous preparation and a well-defined strategy. Here are the nine keys to developing and implementing an effective sales strategy.
- Define your growth objectives: start by establishing why you want to sell on marketplaces. Do you want to raise your profile, reach new market segments, test new products, increase sales or diversify your sales channels?
- Choose your marketplaces mix: consider the reputation, traffic, image, commissions and acceptance conditions of each marketplace. Diversifying your presence can maximize your reach and reduce your risk.
- Define your product strategy: adapt your product strategy to your objectives and to the marketplace you’ve chosen. You can put your entire catalog online, target a specific range of products, or create specific offers such as packs and seasonal promotions.
- Define your branding strategy: use the tools offered by marketplaces to create a virtual showcase reflecting your brand’s identity. This will reinforce your brand image and raise your company’s profile.
- Define your pricing strategy: this can include charging different prices on your site and on marketplaces, adjusting prices to take account of shipping costs and commissions, promoting certain products, and positioning yourself in relation to competitors. Using repricing tools can help you automate and optimize your pricing strategy.
- Define your logistics strategy: choose an appropriate logistics strategy, whether external management with a logistician, internal management with technological tools, or hybrid management combining the two.
- Define your internal organization: mobilize resources to manage content on marketplaces, customer relations, performance monitoring and accounting specific to marketplaces.
- Define your action plan: plan your marketplaces sales project in phases tailored to your business. This includes registration, catalog integration, brand showcase creation, and the use of marketing levers to maximize your sales.
- Get started and adopt a model of perpetual improvement: register on marketplaces, integrate your catalog, create your brand showcase, and continuously optimize to sustain your business and maximize your sales.
By following these nine steps, you can maximize your profits on marketplaces and achieve your growth objectives effectively and sustainably.
5 essential tools for (successful) selling on marketplaces
To succeed on marketplaces, you need the right, interconnected technical tools. The OMS(Order Management System) centralizes your orders, synchronizes stocks in real time and intelligently routes orders, optimizing your delivery times and costs. The WMS (Warehouse Management System) automates order preparation, manages inventory in real time and unifies stock levels across multiple warehouses, reducing errors and increasing efficiency.
The TMS (Transport Management System) optimizes shipments by connecting to all your carriers, managing labels and tracking packages through to delivery, thus improving customer satisfaction. A Repricer automatically adjusts your product prices to stay competitive and increase sales without sacrificing margins. Finally, the Flow Manager centralizes and distributes your product catalog to all your sales channels, increasing your visibility and sales. By integrating these tools, you can optimize your logistics, reduce errors and offer your customers the best possible shopping experience.
Marketplaces, a strategic lever for your growth
Having explored in detail the dynamics and opportunities offered by marketplaces, it’s clear that these platforms represent much more than a simple sales channel. They represent an essential strategic lever for business development, offering unrivalled access to a massive audience.
To take full advantage of marketplaces, preparation is crucial. A well thought-out strategy, selection of the right tools and efficient management of logistics operations are essential to maximize your success. By considering marketplaces as a gateway to internationalization, you open the door to new growth opportunities. Marketing your products on French marketplaces enables you to reach new audiences and explore global markets easily and cost-effectively.
For a winning strategy, discover our guide to selling on marketplaces in 2024 and the steps involved in setting up an order management system. Finally, track your performance with e-commerce KPIs to measure and optimize your results on these platforms.
We explain it all in our complete guide:
