Marketplaces

“Increasing seller fees by 30 percent after two years of record sales is nothing short of pandemic profiteering. After the planned increase, our fees as sellers will have more than doubled in less than four years.” That’s how an online petition at Co-Worker.org characterizes a planned fee increase by online retailer Etsy, an increase that…

There's an e-commerce gold rush happening right now and Amazon.com is leading the charge. Last year, Amazon generated $386 billion in annual revenue, with third-party sales accounting for 54 percent of it, according to Jungle Scout. However, selling on Amazon can be challenging as sellers battle a competitive marketplace that requires them to be agile…

Something strange has been happening recently with Brand Posts on Amazon.com. In case you’re unfamiliar with them, Brand Posts are Instagram-like entries that companies can add to their pages. They can be about anything — from promotion to simply a quick hello. Historically, these posts have been something of an afterthought for brands, often getting…

Business-to-business (B-to-B) online retail sales were projected to reach $1.2 trillion last year, up from $889 billion in 2017 — and show no signs of slowing down. With e-commerce marketplaces evolving and becoming more complex, each with its own set of issues and obstacles, success in these markets is critical to a company’s growth and survival. However, navigating the…

Heading into another year clouded with the effects of COVID-19, business leaders across the globe had concerns about the success of their brands and the pressures on e-commerce in general. B-to-B and B-to-C e-commerce and brick-and-mortar sellers alike have felt the impact of COVID-19 in one way or another. We may be gearing up for…

Giant Food, the regional grocery chain, announced on Tuesday the launch of Ship2Me, an e-commerce marketplace for non-food items like health and beauty care, home décor, seasonal items, kitchen and dining, outdoor, and pet. The marketplace is now available for customers in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., according to a press release. Items are…

In episode 325 of Total Retail Talks, Joe Keenan interviews Bill Ready, president of commerce, payments and next billion users at Google. Ready discusses his professional background and current role, as well as how Google is trying to create a different online commerce experience for both consumers and merchants, fostering democratized choice and transparency. He…

The pandemic created long-term structural changes to consumer buying behavior and accelerated retail e-commerce by an estimated five years to 10 years. In a recent Alvarez & Marsal Consumer and Retail Group survey, 85 percent of consumers indicated they will maintain their shopping habits post-pandemic, which bodes well for marketplaces. Alvarez & Marsal estimates retail…

Amazon.com represents a complicated relationship for many consumer brands. The e-commerce giant, which has grown to be the largest online retailer in the world, leverages its vast scale to collect data, optimize revenue, and refine operations — while luring third-party sellers with access to the world’s most important online marketplace. Big brands in particular have…

Gone are the days when retailers and brands could rationally fear one platform cannibalizing another. Conventional retail wisdom used to tell us that if a consumer was buying your brand in one place, they couldn’t possibly be learning about or buying from it in another, let alone during the same purchase journey. In today’s world,…