Marketplaces

Marketplaces have raised the bar for what consumers can expect when shopping online. Brands operating marketplaces can gain useful insights on customer experiences, data that can be adapted into their other e-commerce channels. Retailers that start a marketplace now may be better equipped for the future. In fact, according to Forrester, two-thirds of global B-to-C…

The other day I purchased a hoodie from a direct-to-consumer brand that I like. “The softest hoodie ever” was how they hooked me, but post-checkout I found myself upsold to buying eye cream. How did they do it? Co-selling. And it’s going to transform every brand into a marketplace. Co-selling is on the rise, and…

Urban Outfitters announced Tuesday it would launch a secondhand apparel and accessories marketplace for consumers to resell their clothes. The new online thrift store, called Nuuly Thrift, is launching in the fall in the form of an iPhone app. Users will be able to post their clothing and accessories from any brand and can choose…

On Tuesday, Amazon.com updated its longstanding returns policy, referred to as the A-to-z Guarantee, to address defective product claims, reports CNBC. Beginning in September, consumers can contact Amazon with a personal injury or property damage claim, and the company will then connect the consumer with the seller. Currently, buyers are encouraged to contact the seller…

Retail has had it tough. As consumers, we may be emerging from the pandemic with pent-up demand and a clutch of savings ready to spend, but it’s come too late for many businesses. No one was too big to fail. From Francesca’s to Century 21, big names tumbled among the 128 national retailers to declare bankruptcy…

In a lucrative new phenomenon, e-commerce investors are pouring billions into marketplace sellers who are often still operating from their own homes, transforming them into international brands in the process. This phenomenon is known as "rolling up" and helps to scale the business, boost sales and maximize profits. As international stay-at-home mandates forced brick-and-mortar stores…

It’s widely known that 40 percent of new product launches fail. This data point has held true since the 1970s. But that was before the ascent of Amazon.com. Today, the online retail giant’s marketplace lists close to 350 million products. Competition is fierce and many brands can expect to fail. However, Amazon does offer new…

We all know how much the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have altered consumers’ buying and shopping habits. As a result, brands have spent the past 16 months changing their business approaches, operations and delivery models to meet constantly shifting expectations. Retailers have had to first abandon and then reinvent their brick-and-mortar stores. Consumer goods…

2020 was an incredibly successful year for Amazon.com. Home-based working and buying gave the e-commerce giant more market share and sales volume than ever, with sales up 44 percent, hitting $108.5 billion. That’s equivalent wealth to that of a small nation. If Jeff Bezos was president of such a country, it would register as the…

The COVID-19 pandemic altered the future of retail in many ways. Ten years of projected e-commerce adoption was compressed into three short months, as the world shifted to online shopping amid regional and national lockdowns. As a result, online shopping increased by 44 percent, and consumers spent over $861 billion with U.S. merchants last year.…