Retailer-owned marketplaces are growing in strength
Retailer marketplaces in both the UK and France outperformed Amazon during the first three weeks of the country’s second lockdown, data reveals. Marketplaces enabled French retailers to enjoy sales increases of 75% during the first three weeks of November, and those in the UK by 63%.
Amazon, by contrast, saw sales grew 40-50% during the same period.
According to data from marketplace platform Mirakl, French retailers also enjoyed substantial growth during Black Friday through Cyber Monday, with $160 million worth of goods sold on marketplaces across the globe during the Black Friday sales period, a 60% increase on last year. More than 1.6 million orders were made on Mirakl-powered marketplaces - a 60% increase on 2019
Mirakl’s data also revealed that retailers in France and the UK were able to unlock significant gains from marketplace sales during the Black Friday period, with sales increasing 70% and 63% respectively compared to the previous year.
During lockdown marketplace popularity has surged amongst consumers. In the UK, for example, between March and June 2020 consumers were four times more likely to buy from an online marketplace than a retailers’ own website. While the outlook has appeared bleak following the bankruptcy of major high street brands, including the Arcadia Group and Debenhams, Mirakl’s findings clearly demonstrate that by tapping into the popularity of marketplaces, retailers can recapture vital lost revenue.
“Amazon may have paved the way with its marketplace model, but as our results show, brands can achieve even greater success through building their own platforms,” says Brendan Walsh, UK General Manager, Mirakl. “In today’s difficult climate, it is critical that retailers re-evaluate their eCommerce strategies, and look for new ways to engage consumers outside of bricks and mortar stores.”
Mirakl, which counts the likes of Carrefour, Afound by H&M Group, Harvey Nichols, and Urban Outfitters amongst its customers helps clients quickly build marketplaces at scale. It has consistently proved its ability to help companies weather the Covid storm, with its marketplaces generating over £940 million ($1.2 billion) in GMV in the first half of 2020, representing a 111% year-over-year increase.
“With retailers throughout the world having been forced to close their doors at their busiest time of the year, marketplaces provide a clear path to business success,” Walsh concludes. “They enable brands to quickly extend ranges or pivot their offering in the face of changing consumer demands - critical in today’s turbulent environment. And they remove the need for warehouses, helping retailers to streamline operations and reduce costs. With such evident advantages, we expect a significant number of businesses to shift to a marketplace model in the coming months.”
The data backs up the research findings of our own RetailX report into European marketplaces, which finds that a growing number of retailers across Europe are opening their own marketplaces to increase online sales.
via https://AiUpNow.com December 16, 2020 at 04:30AM by Paul Skeldon, Khareem Sudlow,
