Marketplace Study 2020

STUDY IS IN GERMAN ONLY, THIS IS A TRANSLATED SUMMARY

We are very pleased about the publication of our marketplace study, which we have worked out together with our friends from ecom consulting GmbH over the past months.

The last weeks of the pandemic have clearly shown the (system) relevance of online marketplaces in global e-commerce. However, anyone who talks about marketplaces today, and thus thinks only of Amazon and eBay, fails to appreciate the complexity and dynamics of this market. With our study “Marketplace World 2020”, we are now shedding light on the subject for the first time and providing an important basis for discussion for business and politics.

Even before the outbreak of the corona pandemic, it was clear that the age of platforms had dawned and online marketplaces were becoming increasingly relevant. COVID-19 further reinforces and accelerates this trend. The boom now includes an enormous number of providers and offers a wide range of potential. In total, more than 480 players worldwide and more than 170 in the GSA region operate various marketplace models. This means that the number of players in the GSA region alone has more than doubled in the last five years. On a global level, the growth figures as well as the dynamics of change and innovation are also remarkable.

For the first time, the consulting firm ecom consulting and the review company gominga have systematically recorded the international marketplace landscape in the period September 2019 to January 2020.

Brand manufacturers and dealers, politics and research as well as media and opinion leaders can now reassess their actions on this factual basis. In its analysis, the team of authors comes to the following conclusions in its 10 Key Findings.

Exponential growth with many new players: The marketplace landscapes illustrate the enormous number of marketplaces, which all compete for traffic and sellers (manufacturers, brands and retailers) alike. On a global level, we have more than 480 individual players.

When counting country stores such as amazon.de, amazon.co.uk, amazon.com etc. individually, then the total number of marketplaces is well above 900.

This shows the difficulty every CEO faces: which is the right marketplace for us? How should we prioritize our resources?

Marketplaces In A Risky Double Role: Globally and in the GSA region, 1/3 of all marketplaces not only offer the technology platform and adjacent services but sell their own goods on the marketplace. This means that they are directly competing with sellers on the platform, and thus creating antitrust related questions.

Ongoing Differentiation Of Marketplace Models: Due to the enormous growth of new players, various models have evolved. We have categorized the marketplaces into B2C, B2B, C2C, Social & Content Commerce and Price Comparison.

We are fully aware that there is not always a clear line to distinguish between one format and another, and many players are active in more than one field. This makes it even more complex for manufacturers and retailers to find the best partner in this jungle.

Consolidation Is Still To Come: Players come, players go. The recent marketplace mania will see not only new companies entering the playing field but also marketplaces to fail.

Especially in the B2C segment, one must question how many firms can co-exist and gain enough customer attention (i.e. traffic) to survive in the long run. Let alone the technical expertise and services needed to maintain a convincing value proposition for sellers.

Generalists And Specialists Keep The Balance: In GSA (44%) and globally (55%), generalists with a broad product offering mirror the “ancient” offline situation with large department stores.

Interestingly, this is similar in countries with major international players such as Amazon to those without, where local heroes are strong (e.g. Allegro in Poland, bol.com in The Netherlands, or Cdiscount in France).

Category killers are particularly successful in the fashion and DIY segments.

Social And Content Commerce Conquer The Market: Advertising and content merge when consumers become influencer and interact with each other.

Add a buy button to social media channels and you get a new form of marketplace. Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat are examples of this but China leads the way here with many new and innovative formats emerging.

Only Customer Interaction Transforms A Marketplace Into A (Social) Network: To “combine” the benefits of User Generated Content with those of Social and Content Commerce, marketplaces and their partners can make use of customer interaction in form of reviews & comments as well as questions & answers.

Community-like communication between users and brands brings the good old store employee into the digital world. Many manufacturers and retailers still do not see the potential in this.

Price Comparison Sites – The Underestimated Force: Germans love their bargains. Consequently, price comparison players are very successful here.

With up to 20 million visits per month in Germany, the likes of Idealo or Check24 compare prices and reviews in order to create transparency and trust for consumers.

Both price comparison sites and marketplaces benefit from the increasing share of affiliate advertising.

Marketplaces already dominate the e-commerce landscape in many industries. The dynamics will not decrease in the next few years. Managers must themselves deal intensively with this topic and (possibly re)align their organization to it.

Marketplaces are not just another sales channel, but a true market-changing force that transforms structures and rules of the game. The marketplace hype may well sound exaggerated and sometimes zeitgeisty, but the power of marketplaces is already a reality and most likely we currently see only the tip of the iceberg.

Until we publish the next study on this, we must keep the following trends and aspects in mind:

Outlook:

COVID-19-Remark: the pandemic and its effects on most countries’ economies is likely to become another supportive factor for the marketplace development. …..