According to eMarketer, worldwide e-commerce is anticipated to spring up to $3.5 trillion by 2019. Are you aware of the fact that 45% of Amazon’s business is now acquitted via Amazon Marketplace? Retail giants like Sears, Walmart, and Best Buy are also launching their own online marketplaces. Online marketplaces are effective retail trends over the past 5 years, driven by Amazon’s success and other retailers’ marketplaces.
95% of consumers have purchased from an online marketplace. Thus, almost 8/10 shoppers said that online marketplaces improve choice, save time, and are more practical. Slowly and Gradually, every sector, art, professional services or travel, will be utilizing online marketplaces. Is Online marketplaces gaining fame with retailers? Can any retailer really afford to ignore the potential of an online marketplace? Why are retailers launching online marketplaces? Know the answers in this article.
Online marketplaces are aiming multichannel retail and offering a greater scope for expansion combined with higher profit growth and lower risk. By opening up their websites for select sellers to list products on, retailers can increase the volume of products, keep shoppers on their website and begin a lucrative new e-commerce channel. There’s cut throat competition to attract the best sellers to an online marketplace, so the retailer ought to let it be easiest for the quality sellers to join and ensure that they match the overall proposition. An Online marketplace is complex, involving many different parties simply cannot succeed without the right technology behind it. For an online marketplace, marketing is no less important than it is for any retail store. Marketplace can’t operate without the the right kind of sellers & appropriate commercial proposition. A better good online marketplace will react quickly to customer expectations and expand its range at the shortest notice.
Marketplaces, suitable for B2C and B2B, are an effective way to create an infinite passage. But there are certain marketplaces that aren’t delivering what they must for the retailer because they aren’t following the three pillars (Technology,Commerce, Marketing) of success that every good online marketplace should comprise of.
Many online merchants don’t realize that with their competitors a click away and without richer product options online, their e-commerce offering can seem like walking through a half-empty physical store. Retailers are analyzing their traditional eCommerce offerings being negatively affected by the Amazon and Alibaba, so launching their own marketplace is one way to compete importantly. It also serves retailers the ability to offer more products which are more profitable for the retailer and cheaper for the customer. Let’s consider couple of big brands as an illustrations to understand the whole process.
For the first time in the last financial year, Halfords’ online sales reached £100 M, and with its plans to expand its SKU range to 40,000 with its new marketplace, the retailer trusts that this will continue online growth momentum. Recently US evidenced the launch of marketplace called Jet.com which raised $255 million before launch and lays claim that its partner prices are 10-15% cheaper than elsewhere online. Darty which has 224 physical stores include service costs, compared to other third-party products which do not. French electronics retailer Darty was one such company which was sceptical about online marketplaces as it is in its bricks and mortar stores and a marketplace. Just 9 months after launching, Darty’s online marketplace is offering 1000s of new products. This definitely wouldn’t have been feasible without a marketplace.
According to eMarketer, worldwide e-commerce is anticipated to spring up to $3.5 trillion by 2019. Online marketplaces are aiming multichannel retail and offering a greater scope for expansion combined with higher profit growth and lower risk. It also serves retailers the ability to offer more products which are more profitable for the retailer and cheaper for the customer. Why are retailers launching online marketplaces? Can any retailer really afford to ignore the potential of an online marketplace? Know the answers in this article