Five global marketplaces. Forrester Research

Five Global Marketplaces All Brands Must
Know
by Zia Daniell Wigder and Lily Varon, June 9, 2014
Forrester Research, Inc., 60 Acorn Park Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140 USA
Tel: +1 617.613.6000 | Fax: +1 617.613.5000 | www.forrester.com
For: EBusiness &
Channel Strategy
Professionals
Key Takeaways
Marketplaces Offer Brands Access To Millions Of Online Shoppers
Marketplaces provide brands with instant access to millions of local customers: All of
the marketplaces in this report have registered user bases of 100 million or more. These
marketplaces also provide a series of localized offerings in areas such as payments and
customer service that brands can take advantage of when they launch their stores.
Brands Must Be Aware Of Marketplaces’ Shortcomings As Well As Their
Benefits
Marketplaces come with challenges. Many global marketplaces are known for providing
discounts on products, and creative options on some marketplaces can be quite limited.
Additionally, many marketplaces don’t share as much data on online shoppers’ purchase
behavior as businesses would like to see.
Five Marketplaces Stand Out Today
eCommerce marketplaces exist around the globe, but five have gained particular
prominence in key markets and regions around the globe: Amazon, eBay, MercadoLibre,
Rakuten, and Tmall. eBusiness leaders interested in expanding their offerings in the
countries served by these marketplaces should understand the brand store options
provided by all five.

For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
Five Global Marketplaces All Brands Must Know
The Opportunities For Brand Owners On Amazon, eBay, MercadoLibre, Rakuten,
And Tmall
by Zia Daniell Wigder and Lily Varon
with Carrie Johnson and Rebecca Katz
Why Read This Report
The global expansion process has changed substantially over the past five years, with eBusiness leaders no
longer expanding internationally just by launching a series of direct-to-consumer websites. Many now
create official storefronts on different marketplaces to extend their global reach. Five leading marketplaces
provide particularly compelling options for brand owners looking to extend their global footprints. Why
are brands increasingly turning to marketplaces as a supplemental online sales channel? What options
exist for brand owners to build storefronts on different marketplaces? What are some of the challenges
companies may face as they work together with these marketplaces? This report will help eBusiness
leaders and brand owners understand the opportunities that exist with five key marketplaces across North
America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.
Table Of Contents
Marketplaces Have Taken The World By
Storm
Five Global Marketplaces Stand Out Today
Other Global Marketplaces Also Offer
Opportunities For Brands
recommendations
Don’t Be Shy About Providing Feedback To
Your Marketplace Partners
Supplemental Material
Notes & Resources
Forrester interviewed the following
marketplaces: Amazon, eBay, MercadoLibre,
Rakuten, and Tmall (Alibaba).
Related Research Documents
The Evolution Of Global eCommerce Markets
March 28, 2014
The Global eCommerce Opportunity
March 28, 2014
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June 9, 2014

For EBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals
Five Global Marketplaces All Brands Must Know 2
Marketplaces Have Taken The World By Storm
Virtually all consumer brands should assess the value of a marketplace strategy in the global markets
in which they operate. In some countries, the brand store options on marketplaces span so many
different categories and represent such a large percentage of online sales that almost no seller should
fail to evaluate the opportunity. In China, for example, it’s rare to find a global brand exploring
eCommerce that hasn’t analyzed the potential benefit of launching a store on Tmall, Alibaba’s
platform for official brand owners. Other brands extend their reach onto rival platforms in China
such as JD.com. In other countries, brand store options are often less developed and are focused
on only a few categories — in these markets, eBusiness leaders can still bide their time as they
determine whether a marketplace approach makes sense for their company.
Marketplaces Offer Brands An Easy Point Of Entry To Global Markets
Global online marketplaces are typically powered by thousands of small and medium-size
businesses (SMBs) selling on their platforms, but these marketplaces are increasingly providing
more sophisticated storefronts that can be designed and managed by the official brand owners
themselves. Many global brands are exploring these new options. Why? Because marketplaces:
■ Offer a sizable audience upfront. Perhaps the most compelling component of selling through
a marketplace is the sheer number of buyers who flock to these sites to make their purchases.
Every one of the marketplaces included in this report is among the top one or two eCommerce
sites in its home country; all are reported to have registered users of 100 million or more across
their global offerings. For companies looking to build an online customer base outside of their
home markets, marketplaces aggregate a large number of online shoppers looking to make
purchases across a wide variety of different categories.
■ Streamline market entry. Another area where marketplaces play a key role is in streamlining
entry into new markets. Many brands are tentative about investing sizable amounts to build
and launch a new direct-to-consumer website for a specific market or region. For these budget-conscious
or risk-averse companies, marketplaces provide a relatively easy, low-cost way of
entering or expanding their footprint in a market. Additionally, most marketplaces already
have strong relationships with third-party providers that support their sellers in areas such as
customer service or fulfillment — brands can take advantage of these partnerships rather than
having to identify and evaluate a list of partners on their own.
■ Provide localized offerings. Marketplaces also excel in their understanding of local markets.
These companies have operated in their core markets for years and have evolved their offerings
to remain competitive as new entrants arrive. Marketplaces typically offer sellers a series of
localized options ranging from local payment types to customer service options. Additionally,
marketplaces tend to select their third-party partners based on their ability to meet local
customer expectations, ensuring brands have access to solution providers that are well versed in
the demands of local online shoppers.
© 2014, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited June 9, 2014

Marketplaces Also Present Brands With Some Key Challenges
Marketplaces offer brands a unique opportunity to tap into local audiences, yet a marketplace
approach is not without its challenges. eBusiness leaders should note that:
■ Marketplaces often mean discounts for buyers. One of the biggest challenges sellers face on
marketplaces is the perception that they are a destination for bargain hunters. eBay’s Fashion
Galleries feature many outlet shops; Rakuten’s home page is filled with a variety of deals. Tmall,
known for offering discounts on products year-round, sees a number of brands extending their
discounts to 50% on Singles’ Day. While it is not inherently negative for a site to be known for
its competitive prices, too much of a discount reputation can scare away brands that aim to sell
products as close to retail price as possible.
■ Creativity can be curtailed. In an attempt to ensure uniformity across brand stores, some
marketplaces offer fairly rigid templates that don’t give brands much creative license to develop
their storefronts. Additionally, enhanced tools and features are often lacking in comparison to
what brands can do on their own direct-to-consumer sites. However, marketplaces’ global brand
stores are relatively new offerings: Virtually all marketplaces are building out their brand store
options and working to give brands more tools and flexibility.
■ Customer behavioral data is hard to come by. Finally, eBusiness leaders often find it
challenging that they don’t glean as much customer data as they would like from the
marketplaces. Some data is indeed shared: Tmall, for example, provides sellers with the
number of unique page views for product listings, store traffic volume, conversion rates, and
average transactional prices.1 Where many marketplaces fall short is in providing brands with
information on their customers’ purchase paths. Brands interested in learning more about
consumer browsing behavior often have to rely on metrics from their own websites rather than
on data from their marketplace partners.
Five Global Marketplaces Stand Out Today
Marketplaces have cropped up in every region of the world — however, not all marketplaces are
created equal. Today, five marketplaces stand out in providing brands with the ability to create
their own official stores: These marketplaces deal in billions of dollars of gross merchandise volume
(GMV) and enable brands to extend their reach into multiple countries. Below, we profile five
marketplaces that brands should know as they look to extend their offerings across North America,
Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.
Amazon’s Brand Stores Span Different Regions Of The Globe
Established 20 years ago in 1994, Amazon is the one company profiled in this report that operates
global marketplaces alongside traditional online retail businesses. Amazon’s combined online retail
and marketplace offerings dominate online retail in the US, as well as a handful of international

markets. Outside of North America, Amazon sees 85% of its revenues from three markets: Germany
(35% of international revenues), Japan (26%), and the UK (24%).2 Brands looking to partner with
Amazon should note that:
■ Amazon’s brand stores extend across multiple countries. Amazon brand stores exist in the
10 countries in which it operates marketplaces: the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany,
Spain, Italy, Japan, China, and India. Amazon’s global reach and uniform technologies mean
it is relatively easy for brands to launch official stores across multiple markets: A number of
brands such as Monsoon have Amazon brand stores in multiple countries (see Figure 1).
Additionally, customers that use the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service can use Amazon’s
localized customer service and logistics options to provide offerings in line with local customer
expectations. Amazon’s commission rates vary, with rates for categories like electronics coming
in at 8% while those for apparel and accessories are 15%.3
■ Amazon reviews brand stores and recommends areas for improvement. Amazon’s
brand stores can incorporate different tools and features — interestingly, many of the more
sophisticated tools are rolled out on the company’s Asian sites first and subsequently elsewhere
in the world. Some of the enhanced offerings include features like online video and the ability to
provide deep product information. Where Amazon differs from some of the other marketplaces
is in the nature of the customer data it provides to its sellers: Brands do not get data from
Amazon on their customers’ shopping behavior. Instead, Amazon provides a service where stores
are automatically reviewed for performance in key areas, with the results being provided in a
dashboard that indexes the seller against others in that category. For example, if a seller does not
provide a zoom feature on images in a category where zoom has been shown to drive conversion,
Amazon will recommend altering the types of images used to boost conversion rates.
■ Amazon’s market share varies greatly by country. While businesses that want to access
and analyze their own customer data may balk at Amazon’s approach, Amazon offers brands
extensive reach in a number of countries. In the US, Canada, Germany, Japan, and the UK,
Amazon has established itself as a huge force to be reckoned with; in other countries, its market
share is lower due to strong local competitors and its tenure in the market. Still, eBusiness
leaders should note that in some markets, Amazon has maintained pricing integrity with many
brands in a way that not all local online retailers have done: In India, for example, footwear
brand Crocs recently dropped all online distributors of its products other than Amazon and
Jabong due to excessive discounting of its products on other eCommerce sites.4

Figure 1 Monsoon Leverages A Similar Approach For Brand Stores In Germany And The US
Navigation and layout
are almost identical
across countries.
Source: Amazon.de Monsoon storefront
115420 Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
eBay Is Working With Brands To Reach Global Consumers
eBay started as an online auction site in 1995 and has since grown into one of the world’s largest
online marketplaces. eBay currently operates localized online consumer-to-consumer marketplaces
in 22 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America; well over half of its revenues come
from outside the US.5 Although the largest share of the company’s revenues today comes from its
three biggest markets — the US, UK, and Germany — eBay is investing heavily in developing its
offerings for Brazil, Russia, and India, among others.6 Brands looking to enter global markets with
eBay should note that:
■ eBay’s brand stores are currently focused on key markets and key categories. eBay’s
international marketplaces are widespread, but its enhanced offerings for brand owners are
more concentrated. In 2011, eBay established a commission-based brand store offering called
Fashion Gallery in the UK and Australia; both offerings tout well over 100 brands and include
apparel, footwear, and accessory brands. In the US, an option called eBay Fashion Outlet plays
a similar role. eBay offers brands the option to use its fulfillment options or leverage its existing
logistics systems; brands can also use eBay’s resources for Fashion Gallery-related customer
service inquiries. In addition to these brand store offerings, there have been rumors this year
that eBay plans to launch an offering called “The Plaza,” a Tmall-style offering targeted at brand
owners, but eBay hasn’t publicly commented on these rumors.7

■ Brand store offerings are localized and customizable. eBay’s Fashion Galleries have their
own hub pages to set them apart from the rest of eBay’s marketplaces. Individual brand stores
are highly customizable, with some sellers opting for more marketing-heavy landing pages
and some embracing traditional eCommerce catalog layouts. Sellers can customize search and
navigation and feature brand-store-specific promotions (see Figure 2). eBay also offers shopping
experience staples like the number of people viewing an item per hour, product alerts, inventory
visibility, and auction-bidding. In addition to the eBay Fashion Gallery and Outlet offerings,
eBay has built a few customized storefronts for apparel brands: For example, Superdry operates
a branded eBay Store in the UK. Additionally, part of eBay’s proposition is the fact that it can
migrate growing businesses from marketplace sellers to standalone sites through the use of eBay
Enterprise solutions: Magento and the full-service solution formerly known as GSI Commerce.
■ eBay is well established in global markets but has its cross-border work cut out. While eBay’s
fashion-centric brand store options are limited to the UK, US, and Australia, the company has
taken significant steps to establish itself in key emerging eCommerce markets, in particular
Russia, where the company did an estimated $400 million in cross-border sales in 2012.8 Brands
selling on eBay can now tap into Russian online shoppers with more localized offerings: These
shoppers see machine-translated product descriptions of sellers that elect to ship to Russia. A
similar option is now available to shoppers using eBay’s mobile fashion app in Brazil and its
localized sites in Latin America. Part of eBay’s challenge will be getting shoppers to buy apparel
cross-border when consumers may be unfamiliar with a brand’s sizing and when they may be
unaccustomed to returning products purchased online. eBay’s machine translation efforts have
been quite groundbreaking in the industry, however, and the company has been a clear leader
when it comes to streamlining cross-border eCommerce for global sellers.

Figure 2 eBay Fashion Galleries Give Brands Flexibility To Customize Storefronts
Brands on eBay have taken different approaches to their
stores by customizing color, banners displays, buttons,
search and navigation and scrolling versus static displays.
Source: eBay Mothercare and Ed Hardy Fashion Gallery storefronts
MercadoLibre Has New Official Stores That Help Brands Sell Online In Latin America
MercadoLibre remains the dominant online marketplace in Latin America. Founded in 1999, the
company now operates its marketplaces in 12 countries across the region. In 2013, over 40% of
marketplace revenues came from Brazil (where the company is known as MercadoLivre) and almost
25% were from Argentina; in addition, Venezuela and Mexico are key markets for the company.9
Brands interested in expanding in Latin America through MercadoLibre should note that:
■ MercadoLibre brand stores are a relatively recent addition. MercadoLibre has operated a series
of successful marketplaces across in the region for 15 years; its brand stores, however, are newer.
The first one launched in Argentina in June 2013, followed by Brazil later in the year and Mexico
in early 2014. A large number of sellers on the new brand stores focus on the rapidly growing
categories of apparel, footwear, and accessories, although MercadoLibre’s marketplaces overall
have traditionally seen a large percentage of sales from consumer electronics and computer

hardware (two of the largest online retail categories in the region).10 Brands selling on the new
branded marketplaces typically use MercadoLibre’s existing shipping and fulfillment partners
in the countries in which the brand stores operate — for example, the national postal service,
Correios, in Brazil. Free shipping options are quite common among sellers. The revenue model is
commission-based; rates vary by category but are consistent with many other global marketplaces.
■ The brand stores provide localized features for the Latin American market. MercadoLibre’s
offerings for brand owners are highlighted as official brand stores to distinguish them from
other marketplace sellers; shoppers have the option to search for products only on the official
brand site (see Figure 3). Localized features include installment payments and local payment
types. In addition to its own digital wallet, MercadoPago, the company also offers consumers the
option to pay via other local methods such as boletos bancários in Brazil or Oxxo convenience
stores in Mexico. Given the company’s reach across the region, any future brand store options
can be expected to include similarly localized offerings.
■ Local online retailers dominate the brand stores today. For brands looking to enter Latin
America, MercadoLibre offers deep expertise in the region and access to its over 100 million
registered users.11 Mobile revenues are growing rapidly, with 14% of GMV now sold through
mobile devices.12 However, the brand stores are in their first iteration, which means brand
owners don’t yet have a large suite of advanced tools and features at their disposal. Many of the
initial brands using the stores are local multibrand retailers rather than global monobrand ones,
although as MercadoLibre enhances the customer experience across its brand stores, it will be
well positioned to attract large global brands to its offering and to the region as a whole.

Figure 3 MercadoLibre’s Brand Stores Span Three Markets
MercadoLibre highlights the ofcial stores and
products with a blue “veried” check-mark icon
and adds an ofcial store-only lter option in
the global search bar.
Source: MercadoLibre Mexico Skullcandy storefront
Rakuten’s Marketplaces Target Consumers In Japan And Beyond
Founded in 1997, Rakuten is Japan’s largest eCommerce company: With 85 million registered
users in Japan, estimates have put its market share at almost 30% in the country.13 For the greater
part of the last decade, the company has been establishing its global footprint by acquiring global
eCommerce and fulfillment companies around the world, offering international shipping from
its domestic marketplace and launching marketplaces outside of Japan. The company currently
operates marketplaces in Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, Spain, Taiwan,
Thailand, the UK, and the US. Brands interested in selling through Rakuten should note that:
■ Rakuten operates different types of marketplaces. Rakuten brands its marketplaces slightly
differently around the globe. In countries such as the UK, France, and Thailand, the company
operates a cobranded site with the name of the marketplace it acquired. In others such as the
US and Brazil, the marketplaces now carry only the Rakuten name. Brand store options are
available on the flagship Japan site and, as of early 2013, the US, as well; options are also available

For EBusiness Channel Strategy Professionals
on certain other marketplaces. These brand stores are most established in Japan, where the
company can provide a variety of enhanced services including fulfillment and customer service
(a challenge, given that Japanese online shoppers are considered to have some of the highest
customer service expectations in the world).14 In the US, Rakuten also provides customer service
while fulfillment options are being built out. Commissions on the Rakuten marketplace range
from 8% on electronics and computer hardware to 15% on other categories such as apparel.15
■ Brand stores available on Rakuten’s Japan site are heavily localized. Brand stores on Rakuten’s
flagship Japan site, such as those by Reebok and Toys R Us, are localized for the Japanese market
in terms of the site design. These brand stores are highly customizable: The company describes
them as “completely blank canvases with only a thin [Rakuten Marketplace] header across
the top” (see Figure 4).16 Payments on Rakuten are tailored to the Japanese consumer, with
shoppers able to pay at convenience stores as well as via several other online payment methods.
In other markets, payments are similarly localized, with cash-on-delivery options available
in metropolitan areas of Indonesia and installment payments available in Brazil. In terms of
customer data, Rakuten provides its sellers with sales reporting, customer feedback, cancellation
rates, on-time fulfillment rates, and return rates.
■ Rakuten provides brands with marketplace access to underpenetrated markets in Asia.
Rakuten provides a high-trafficked point of entry or additional sales channel for brands
interested in the online retail market in Japan. The company also has extensive experience with
mobile commerce in the country, as over 30% of sales are reported to be mobile.17 In other
countries, the marketplace doesn’t have the same reach that it does in Japan, and its brand
store options remain at an earlier stage. Still, Rakuten offers brands access to online consumers
in parts of the world that are underpenetrated by other global eCommerce giants such as
Indonesia and Thailand. Brands looking for a marketplace partner with reach into key emerging
eCommerce markets will find Rakuten to be one of the few with such a wide network of sites
and emerging options for brands.

Figure 4 Rakuten’s Branded Storefronts Are Well Established In Japan And Emerging Elsewhere
Source: Rakuten Japan Toys R Us storefront
Brands heavily customize
storefronts on Rakuten
Japan.
Tmall Is A Critical Sales Channel For Many Global Brands In China
No other global brand marketplace commands the same market position that Alibaba’s Tmall does
in China. Tmall was launched as a separate site from its consumer-to-consumer (C2C) counterpart
Taobao in 2008; today Tmall also serves online shoppers in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Tmall
was established to provide a marketplace where consumers could be guaranteed genuine products
and where brands had the opportunity to control the user experience surrounding their brand. The
site dominates business-to-consumer (B2C) eCommerce in China. Estimates put the company’s
market share in the range of 50% of the B2C market in the country, a percentage that is larger than
any other marketplace in this report.18 Brands looking to sell on Tmall should be aware that:
■ Many global brands use Tmall to sell online in China. Tmall boasts over 100,000 brands,
of which an estimated 2,000 are foreign; the site has over 500 million registered users.19
The companies selling on Tmall vary greatly: Consumer electronics brands like Apple and
Samsung and apparel brands such as Levi’s, Nike, and Uniqlo are joined by brands across a

variety of other less obvious categories such as food. Haagen-Dazs, for example, sells RMB 2
million (approximately US$325,000) worth of products on Tmall every month; a recent Tmall
promotion on fresh food imported from different countries generated RMB 20 million (US$3.2
million) in sales.20 Sellers on Tmall pay commissions of 1% to 5% based on the category, with
many popular categories like apparel and accessories, home décor, and appliances falling into
the 5% category.21
■ Tmall stores allow brands more creativity than in years past. In previous years, the rigid
template offered by Tmall was a frequent complaint of brands building storefronts on the site.
Today, however, the list of tools and features has grown: Brand stores can now use sound and
video on the site, although more enhanced options like virtual fitting rooms aren’t yet available.
Many Tmall stores are sleek, graphics-intensive sites developed by brands and their digital
agencies. In addition to site design, brands are also responsible for managing their own logistics,
warehousing, and customer service (Tmall provides a list of third-party providers in these areas,
but does not manage them on behalf of sellers). The marketplace offers a series of localized
features to sellers, including local payment methods and access to its instant messaging tool,
AliWangwang, for customer service. Brands selling on Tmall must meet certain sales volume
requirements in order to maintain a storefront on the site.22
■ Tmall is an essential channel for many brands, although concerns about discounts remain.
For global brands, Tmall represents a relatively low-cost way to either supplement existing
direct-to-consumer sales channels (e.g., Gap or Nike) or act as the primary online sales channel
in the country (e.g., Levi’s). Indeed, many brands see far more revenues driven by Tmall than on
their direct-to-consumer sites — some brands operating in China told us sales are in the range
of three to five times higher on Tmall. The biggest challenge brands have faced with Tmall is the
fact that it has been perceived as a discount channel: Brands often provide deep discounts on
the site and consumers have come to expect good deals when shopping on Tmall. This discount
reputation has meant it has been a challenge for Tmall to attract a large number of high-end
and luxury brands, although the company recently scored a significant win in the luxury sector
when Burberry opened a Tmall storefront with full-priced items (see Figure 5).

Figure 5 Tmall Scored A Win In Luxury When Burberry Opened Up A Storefront
Source: Tmall Burberry storefront
Burberry offers full-priced
items on its
Tmall storefront.
Other Global Marketplaces Also Offer Opportunities For Brands
The five online marketplaces profiled above are the largest in the world in terms of revenue. However,
they are by no means the only options for brands looking to sell in different markets around the
globe. Highlighting just a few other markets, we see that:
■ India’s Snapdeal aggregates sellers of brands. In India, the fragmented nature of the retail
landscape means brands selling direct don’t control a large percentage of the market; by contrast,
marketplaces dominate, with players such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Amazon playing leading
roles in the market. Brand store options are evolving. Snapdeal, for example, plays a role in
aggregating sellers of brands into one brand page on the site: A central brand page exists for
sellers of brands such as Nike and Puma. Snapdeal’s experience will also be interesting for
brands, given how mobile its user base is: The company now sees over 50% of orders coming
from mobile, up from 5% last year.23

■ Russia’s Ozon provides different options for brands. In Russia, domestic players such as Enter,
Ulmart, and Ozon have launched marketplace options on their sites. The options for brands are
growing: Ozon, for example, creates special pages that highlight key brands on its site. While
Ozon controls these pages, the company offers other options that enable brands to sell on Ozon
but control product assortment, pricing, storage, and delivery using Ozon (or Ozon-owned
footwear website Sapato) as a “window” into the offering.
■ Others are extending brands in areas such as the Middle East and Africa. Marketplaces are
extending their reach the world over: In addition to those mentioned above, marketplaces such
as Gmarket in Korea (acquired by eBay in 2009) and sahibinden.com in Turkey hold leading
positions in their markets. Options for brands are also evolving in areas such as the Middle East
and Africa. In South Africa, for example, online marketplace bidorbuy.co.za offers brand stores:
Local online retailers like BigBrandStore operate their own sites as well as a brand store on
Bidorbuy. Others, like Souq.com, a marketplace that operates in the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia,
and Egypt, manage fulfillment on behalf of brands and have put in place strict policies on the
sale of counterfeit products.
Recommendations
Don’t Be Shy About Providing Feedback To Your Marketplace Partners
The opportunities for brands to sell through marketplaces are growing — at the same time,
marketplaces are evolving to meet the demands of their growing client base. eBusiness leaders at
global brands must heed these recommendations:
■ Evaluate what — and where — each marketplace can get you. Some marketplaces will
enable your brand to extend into multiple markets; others will allow you a deep dive in a
single one. As you evaluate partnerships, determine whether the partner you select offers
marketplace options that align with your global expansion road map and whether you can
realize economies of scale through your marketplace partners as your business extends into
new markets.
■ Realize a marketplace approach does not preclude other local offerings. Many brands
rely exclusively on marketplaces to sell their products in certain markets, but a large number
also employ a multipronged strategy. Some brands offer local shoppers a broader product
selection through a direct-to-consumer website, for example; others ship internationally
from their home market into different countries. A branded store on a marketplace should
be evaluated as both an alternative and a supplement to other offerings.

■ Provide marketplaces with feedback on the tools and features that matter to your brand.
Most official brand store offerings are still being built out, and today’s offerings are evolving
to meet the needs of local shoppers. Brands partnering with marketplaces should help them
prioritize the tools and features necessary to convert users, as most marketplaces have a
laundry list of different options they are assessing.
■ Discuss with your marketplace partner the customer insights you need to be successful.
Similarly, brands should be encouraging their marketplace partners to provide them with
key data to understand their customers’ purchase path while shopping on the brand store.
Most marketplaces today provide some data, but brands still complain they need more in
order to effectively optimize their offerings. While some marketplaces are reluctant to share
more data than they currently provide, it is critical for them to understand the needs of their
clients in order to remain competitive as the eCommerce landscape evolves.
Supplemental Material
Companies Interviewed For This Report
Amazon
eBay
MercadoLibre
Rakuten
Tmall (Alibaba)
Endnotes
1 Source: Melanie Lee, “How Big Data Helps Virtual Stores,” Alizila, March 11, 2014 (http://www.alizila.com/
how-big-data-helps-virtual-stores)
2 Source: “Amazon.com, Inc. Form 10-K,” Amazon, January 31, 2014 (http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.
zhtml?c=97664p=irol-SECTextTEXT=aHR0cDovL2FwaS50ZW5rd2l6YXJkLmNvbS9maWxpb
mcueG1sP2lwYWdlPTkzNTE3NDEmRFNFUT0wJlNFUT0wJlNRREVTQz1TRUNUSU9OX0VOV
ElSRSZzdWJzaWQ9NTc%3d).
3 Source: Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=1161240).
4 Source: Vaishnavi Bala and Kirtika Suneja, “Crocs logs out of 10 e-commerce sites on discount pinch,” The
Financial Express, April 2, 2014 (http://www.financialexpress.com/news/crocs-logs-out-of-10-ecommerce-sites-
on-discount-pinch/1237524).
5 Source: “eBay Inc. Form 10-K,” eBay, January 31, 2014 (http://investor.ebay.com/secfiling.
cfm?filingID=1065088-14-10).

6 Source: Marcus Wohlsen, “Amazon Who? Why U.S. Success Matters Less To eBay,” Wired, April 17, 2013
(http://www.wired.com/2013/04/ebay-emerging-markets/) and Danielle Kucera, “EBay Focuses on $195
Billion Global Emerging Markets Push,” Bloomberg, May 23, 2013 (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-
05-23/ebay-focuses-on-195-billion-global-emerging-markets-push.html).
7 Source: Greg Bensinger, “EBay to Introduce New Brand Mall, Analyst Says,” The Wall Street Journal,
January 15, 2014 (http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/01/15/ebay-to-introduce-new-brand-mall-analyst-says/).
8 Source: Katie Evans, “Mission to Moscow,” Internet Retailer, May 1, 2013 (http://www.internetretailer.
com/2013/05/01/mission-moscow).
9 Source: “MercadoLibre, Inc. Form 10-K,” MercadoLibre, March 3, 2014 (http://investor.mercadolibre.com/
secfiling.cfm?filingID=1193125-14-78151).
10 To learn more about the state of online retail in Latin America, please see the December 17, 2013, “Latin
America Online Retail Forecast 2013 To 2018” report.
11 Source: Katie Evans, “Latin American e-marketplace company MercadoLibre sells 28% more in 2013,”
Internet Retailer, March 4, 2014 (https://www.internetretailer.com/2014/03/04/latin-american-company-mercadolibre-
sells-28-more-2013).
12 Source: “MercadoLibre, Inc. Reports Financial Results for First Quarter 2014,” MercadoLibre press release,
May 8, 2014 (http://investor.mercadolibre.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=846649).
13 Japanese Credit Agency, a Japanese financial services company, indicated that Rakuten Ichiba “holds the
largest share of nearly 30% in Japan’s e-commerce market.” Source: “JCR Assigned A-/Stable, Pre. A- and
J-1 Rating on Rakuten,” Japan Credit Rating Agency news release, February 14, 2014 (http://www.jcr.co.jp/
release/pdfen/13d0935ARTen.pdf?PHPSESSID=6793a9537be8447743bcb1369f56e29d) and “Rakuten To
Acquire Global Video Streaming Service Viki,” PR Newswire, September 2, 2013 (http://www.prnewswire.
com/news-releases/rakuten-to-acquire-global-video-streaming-service-viki-222033951.html).
14 In an American Express study, consumers in 11 countries were surveyed about how long they would wait
on hold by phone for a customer service representative: Japan had the lowest wait times of 6 seconds.
Source: “2012 Global Customer Service Barometer,” Echo Research report prepared for American Express,
2012 (http://about.americanexpress.com/news/docs/2012x/axp_2012gcsb_markets.pdf).
15 Source: Rakuten (http://www.rakuten.com/sell/membership/).
16 Source: Forrester interview with Rakuten, May 2014.
17 Source: “In Japan, Mobile Commerce Attracts New Capital,” The Business of Fashion, June 9, 2013 (http://
www.businessoffashion.com/2013/06/in-japan-mobile-shopping-attracts-new-capital.html).
18 Source: “China Online Shopping Maintains High Growth in Q3 2013,” iResearch, December 3, 2013 (http://
www.iresearchchina.com/views/5301.html) and Peter Gothard, “Alibaba boasts of impending $140bn US
IPO as e-commerce dominance dips,” Computing, March 17, 2014 (http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/
news/2334514/alibaba-boasts-of-impending-usd140bn-us-ipo-as-e-commerce-dominance-dips).

19 Source: Juro Osawa and Kathy Chu, “Why Foreign Brands Use Alibaba’s Tmall,” Wall Street Journal Digits
Blog, March 26, 2014 (http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/03/26/why-foreign-brands-use-alibabas-tmall/)
20 Source: “Case Study: Nike China Store,” Baozun (http://en.baozun.com/english/Success_Case/Case_Study/)
and phone interview with Tmall, May 2014.
21 Source: Tmall (http://about.tmall.com/tmall/fee_schedule?spm=3.6635889.0.0.DhS6B3#place).
22 To learn more about requirements for brands selling on Tmall, please visit Tmall’s support page (http://
service.tmall.com/support/tmall/knowledge-5214344.htm?spm=0.0.0.0.6gaQ0I).
23 Source: Radhika Nair, “Mobile users contribute 50 per cent of Snapdeal’s sales,” The Economic Times, April
30, 2014 (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/mobile-users-contribute-50-per-cent-
of-snapdeals-sales/articleshow/34436391.cms).

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