
Ecommerce Merchants Are Flocking to Online Marketplaces: A Comprehensive Guide
Online marketplaces have drastically changed the landscape of e-commerce by providing a convenient, one-stop-shop for consumers. As more merchants realize the benefits of selling through these platforms, marketplace participation continues to grow exponentially.
In this in-depth guide, we’ll explore why e-commerce merchants are flocking to marketplaces in droves and how you can leverage these shopping destinations to boost your business. By the end, you’ll have a solid understanding of the marketplace landscape and strategies to maximize your success.
The Rise of Online Marketplaces
Online marketplaces give consumers access to a wide array of products from various merchants all in one place IPS. This shopping mall-style experience has won over buyers everywhere. As a result, major marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, and Etsy now account for around one-third of all US ecommerce sales.
Perhaps more importantly for little-known brands, marketplaces expose products to many new potential customers. Shoppers feel secure purchasing unfamiliar items because they trust the marketplace itself. This means any merchant selling on a marketplace gains instant legitimacy in buyers’ eyes.
Benefits for Merchants
For merchants, the rewards of marketplace participation are numerous.
- Access to new customers: Marketplaces allow you to tap into huge built-in audiences instead of struggling to acquire traffic on your own.
- Increased sales and exposure: As demand for online shopping rises, marketplaces direct more buyers to your products. You gain visibility among a vast pool of potential new clients.
- Streamlined fulfillment: Major marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart offer fulfillment services to ship orders directly to customers, saving merchants time and hassle.
- Marketing support: platforms promote featured products and handle much of the marketing legwork through initiatives like sponsored ads and bestseller lists.
- Payment processing: Marketplaces take payments securely on your behalf and handle customer service issues.
With their massive user bases and numerous perks, online marketplaces have become a must-have sales channel for ambitious e-commerce brands. Selling through these destinations helps level the playing field against stronger competitors.
Explore Diverse Marketplace Options
While powerhouses like Amazon may garner the most attention, you should avoid relying too heavily on just one or two marketplaces. Consider the roster of options:
- Amazon: The 800-pound gorilla offers the biggest audience and most robust selling tools. However, also brings the most competition [Amazon].
- Walmart is An excellent option for merchants with products like groceries, household goods, and toys seeking mainstream appeal.
- Etsy: Known for handmade and vintage goods, Etsy draws a creative crowd open to unique items.
- eBay is Still a force for used, rare, and hard-to-find products, with a huge global reach.
- Shopify is Not technically a marketplace itself but offers apps that let merchants sell on channels like Facebook and Instagram.
- Jet: Walmart-owned and growing, Jet focuses on affordable household and personal items.
Exploring different specialty marketplaces helps ensure diversity in your sales channels and discoverability among new types of customers. Don’t overlook vertical marketplaces for niches like books, electronics, or craft supplies either.
Develop Standout Content
On marketplaces like Amazon, clear and compelling product listings often determine whether browsers take that next click to make a purchase. High-quality content promotes trust and enhances the customer experience. Consider the following tactics:
- Clear titles and headers: Use short, descriptive headers containing your primary targeting keywords.
- Bulleted lists: break up paragraphs with bullet points highlighting top product attributes and features.
- Product images: Provide several high-resolution photos from different angles, plus close-ups of important details.
- Human-focused copy: write copy focusing on how the product benefits the buyer rather than technical specs. Use second-person pronouns like “you”.
- Social proof: highlight verified reviews from real customers to build confidence in the purchase decision. Respond to each review respectfully.
- Simple calls-to-action: Make it easy for buyers to learn more or add the product to their cart with clear buttons and messages.
Outstanding content separates ordinary listings from the competition, underscoring the value of each product for prospective customers. Pay close attention to this aspect of your marketplace presence.
Manage Your Online Listings Professionally
To sustain long-term marketplace success, outsource routine operational tasks to experts through a professional services partner like IPS. Some key managed services include:
- Product data feeds: Ensure your product catalog syncs flawlessly across all sales channels with optimized titles, descriptions, images and other attributes.
- Paid marketing: leverage sponsored ads, bestseller badges, and other promotional tools through skillful paid media campaigns.
- Customer support: handle communication and fulfillment issues professionally so you can focus on growing your business.
- Analytics: Gain valuable insight into buyer behavior and conversion funnels for continuous improvement.
- Accounting: handle tax compliance, invoicing, payments, and other financial tasks.
Outsourcing technical and operational needs to experienced marketplace managers allows you to concentrate on product development, strategic planning, and expanding into new categories or channels. Employ pros to maximize every sales avenue.
Key Takeaways
To summarize, here are the most important lessons on why e-commerce merchants are flocking to online marketplaces in droves:
- Marketplaces give merchants access to huge built-in audiences and marketing support. This boosts sales and exposure beyond organic traffic.
- Selling through trusted marketplace destinations legitimizes unknown brands in shoppers’ eyes, lowering barriers to purchase.
- Major platforms handle fulfillment, payment processing, customer service, and other logistics, saving merchants time and money.
- Exploring niche vertical marketplaces opens doors to new, targeted customer communities beyond pure plays.
- Strong, human-focused content ensures products stand out and conveys value to potential buyers.
- Outsourcing routine operations to an experienced marketplace manager optimizes performance on all sales channels.
By understanding these marketplace dynamics and best practices, e-commerce brands tap into a potent sales vehicle for sustained growth. Strategic use of online marketplaces drives more qualified traffic and leads.
FAQ
Q: How do I start selling on online marketplaces?
The setup process varies by platform but generally involves creating an account, providing your product information via templates or feeds, and paying any applicable subscription or listing fees. Most major players, like Amazon and Walmart, offer thorough seller onboarding instructions.
Q: What types of products are best-suited for marketplaces?
Items shipping easily, like cosmetics, clothing, electronics, books, household goods, hobby gear, toys, and personal care products, tend to perform very well. Consumables and subscription boxes also see steady reorder sales. Marketplaces flourish less for heavy, bulky, or highly customized/made-to-order products.
Q: How do I get my listings noticed amidst competition?
A: Prioritize eye-catching images, compelling titles containing top keywords, detailed but reader-friendly descriptions, prominent calls-to-action, positive reviews, competitive pricing, and additional services like Prime shipping. Over time, optimized paid marketing through sponsored ads can boost visibility too.
Q: Can I sync my inventory with marketplaces automatically?
Yes, many online marketplaces support automated data feeds to keep your product catalog, pricing, availability, and other attributes consistent in real-time. OperationsROI offers feed management services to flawlessly populate all sales channels from a centralized inventory system.
Q: How do I compare the major marketplace platforms?
Key factors include target audience size and demographics, commission/fee structure, product categories flourishing there, available sales and fulfillment tools, competitive intensity, and specific perks or shopping behaviors on the platform. Evaluate which destinations align best with your brand positioning and target customers.
Q: Do I need a marketplace sales and marketing expert?
While it is possible to self-manage listings across a few marketplaces, dedicated expertise helps optimize efforts and scale faster over time. Outsourcing core services like catalog feed management, customer service, marketing campaigns, and reporting and analytics to a firm like IPS ultimately frees merchants to focus on product innovation and channel expansion versus routine operations.