The COVID pandemic has shifted e-commerce in 2020, maybe more than any other time in history. While traditional retail sales declined, it was the best year for e-commerce marketplaces in over a decade.
Across the world, people shifted their buying habits, and the lockdown has even forced the more traditional boomer generation to shop online – some for the first time.
While we are seeing the acceleration of the e-commerce industry’s growth and more new online businesses are emerging every day, it’s not as simple a process as you would think. Creating a website and selling your products is not easy and the cash won’t just flow in once you hit publish on that new Amazon site.
The competition is now steeper and online shopping behaviors are changing faster than ever before. Here’s how the biggest marketplace platforms adapted to new landscape:
See Also:
Amazon
- Sellers sold over $295 billion worth of products
- Emergence of companies who are looking to acquire FBA businesses
- Bigger doesn’t always mean better
- Fulfillment and shipping issues caused interested sellers to go to other marketplaces
- 3rd party sellers grew faster than 1st party sellers
- Diversified marketplace
- The percentage of top sellers who occupied the marketplace shrunk
- More competition and more players in the game
- Rise of Amazon Advertising and CPC
ETSY
- Biggest winner of all marketplaces
- Increased supply met with increased demand
- Best-selling product was face mask
- New sellers flocked to the marketplace
Walmart
- Trying to compete with Amazon with fulfilled by Walmart
- This solves the problem of sell through rate, which few sellers on the platform experience
- Merged with Shopify
Target
- Has invite only policy with its sellers
- Introduced Target+
- A new marketplace with similar capabilities as competitors
- More stores for brands to come together
eBay
- Initial growth but numbers have slowed down
- Outperformed by Shopify
Wish
- Business model was based on Chinese merchants and supplies
- Struggling to meet expectations set forth in their services
Google Shopping
- Wants to compete with Amazon but has not made any competitive changes to give them an edge.
To wrap up, the e-commerce industry is primed to have another record year and we are excited to help online business owners grow and succeed in 2021. To learn more about our services and how we are helping empower e-commerce sellers
I work with companies that sell products on platforms such as Amazon, Shopify, Walmart, Ebay, Etsy, etc. I understand that every business is unique and thats why I form genuine relationships with owners so I can help them reach their goals and find success through our working capital solutions.
