From Amazon to Alibaba and Rakuten to MercadoLibre, consumers around the world are increasingly turning to multi-seller marketplaces when shopping online. In North America alone, these virtual shopping malls accounted for more than one-third of online sales last year. Shop.org’s Think Tank group looks at the current state of online marketplaces and offers suggestions for retailers considering a marketplace strategy. Download the article: https://nrf.com/thinktank/marketplaces

1. #shoporgThinkTank
THE PROMISE AND PERILS OF
ONLINE RETAIL MARKETPLACES
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2. An online marketplace is generally a
commerce venue that hosts third parties
(retailers) who, in turn, offer products and
services that the marketplace provider
processes and the third party fulfills.
ONLINE RETAIL
MARKETPLACES
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4. 2
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“Amazon continues to grow in excess of the
organic e-commerce growth rate at roughly
25% to 30%.”
E-commerce
Amazon
EXPLOSIVE GROWTH RATES
1 Source: Shop.org Think Tank Dive into Digital Retail (Video) https://youtu.be/6upbaYZjUic
2 Source: “IRCE 2014: Online Retail Marketplaces: Differentiating Your Brand.” (Video) By Mercent. June 2014
ChannelAdvisor found that last year marketplaces
were the source for fully of North American
online sales, up from in 2005.
22%
2005
36%
2014
1
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5. #shoporgThinkTank
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2006
2015
Third-party retailers
hosted by Amazon
2013
20% of
annual sales
2014 2 billion items sold 40% of annual sales
800 million
items sold
2 million
third-party
merchants
1 million
third-party
merchants
Source: “Sellers Need Amazon, but at What Cost?” By Angus Loten and Adam Janofsky, The Wall Street Journal. (January 14, 2015)
Items sold on Amazon
by third-party retailers
THIRD PARTY RETAILER GROWTH

6. #shoporgThinkTank
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Forrester found in 2012 that
62% of U.S. consumers
at the time had bought
from a marketplace.
Source: Forrester Research
30% of U.S. online shoppers start their search for products on Amazon.
MEET THE MARKETPLACE SHOPPERS

7. #shoporgThinkTank
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101.3 million
items were sold on
MercadoLibre in 2014,
accounting for
$7.1 billion
in gross merchandise volume.
Alibaba rang up
$9.3 billion
in sales on "Singles Day"
in 2014.
Rakuten's 2014 gross
merchandise sales were
$16.5 billion.
2014
2014
$16.5 billion
11/11/2014
$9.3 billion
$7.1 billion
Source: http://www.statista.com/statistics/223341/rakuten-groups-quarterly-domestic-e-commerce-revenue//
Source: http://asia.nikkei.com/magazine/20150205-Changes-in-the-air/Business/Slowing-growth-clashes-with-regulators-cloud-Alibaba-s-future
Source: http://asia.nikkei.com/Markets/Tokyo-Market/Rakuten-lifted-domestic-e-commerce-sales-14-in-2014
INTERNATIONAL SALES

8. Brand
Awareness
Revenue
Liquidation
Logistics
Global
Expansion
#shoporgThinkTank
nrf.com/thinktank/marketplaces
What are 5 business objectives retailers should
consider for selling on marketplaces?

9. #shoporgThinkTank
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Sample
business
objective
Niche, younger or other less
well-known brands can further gain from the
“halo effect” of being part of a well-known
and trusted marketplace, thus
increasing consumer
confidence.
BRAND AWARENESS

10. #shoporgThinkTank
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Participating
in a strong local
marketplace also allows the
retailer to test the market before
potentially investing further.
GLOBAL EXPANSION
Sample
business
objective

11. #shoporgThinkTank
Read more about
marketplace strategies:
nrf.com/thinktank/marketplaces
For more Think Tank articles visit:
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