It is interesting to note that hundreds of European retailers have opened Marketplaces for selling 3rd party products, while only a handful of North American retailers have. Is it possible that North American retailers have already surrendered to Amazon? In the report 20 Startups All Retail eBusiness Executives Should Know In 2016, Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru notes that, “Amazon’s biggest retail weapon is its third-party marketplace: the company increases the selection for customers but avoids incurring large expenses because it doesn’t own the inventory.”
Given the profitability of Marketplace revenue, it is a surprise that North American retailers lag behind Europe. Consumers today demand frictionless commerce. Educated, informed, and empowered, they are also short of time and easily frustrated by even the slightest hiccup in the purchasing process. Simply put, consumers have come to expect a wide array of product choices with high availability and a fair, competitive price. This can be a tall order for a retailer to efficiently deliver directly to the customer.
A recent report by Forrester Research, “Retailers Must Seize The Marketplace Opportunity” recommends that retailers “develop a strategy and build their own Marketplace, enhance technology capabilities to support the Marketplace strategy, and include additional layers of sophistication such as seller management, quality control, and catalog integration.”
Specifically, the study found that Marketplace purchases are already common because of the convenience they provide to shoppers.
With a Marketplace, retailers enhance customers’ shopping experiences by allowing “consumers to explore, discover, and purchase multiple products and services on a single website.” Marketplaces are the most efficient and agile way to extend product assortment and offer customers more choice.
Download a copy of the Forrester Research report “Retailers Must Seize The Marketplace Opportunity” to learn more about how Marketplaces impact a retailer’s business and get supporting data on why you should build yours now.