The Marketplace Strategy Blog

In a time of unparalleled flux, UK and US retailers have something in common. They are increasingly looking for the next point of differentiation to stay relevant to their customers. As consumer behavior evolves, many are seeking ‘experiential’ or ‘service-based shopping’, and this new way of conducting commerce could just provide the beacon of hope the industry needs.

Whether the impending end of the summer break fills you with joy or dread (no judgement here!), there’s no denying back to school shopping has become big business for retailers. This year, spending on the second highest retail peak in North America is expected to reach $27.5B (when combined with back to college shopping that figure soars to $87B), equating to a spend of $685 per household.

Touted as the ‘biggest global shopping event in Amazon’s history” - Prime Day 2018, was bound to set new records. So much so, that within hours of launch, the vast web traffic had brought Amazon servers down, losing an estimated $90+ million in sales. The discount day was also marred by the ongoing strikes at Amazon warehouses in Europe. With workers in Spain and German arguing against the poor working conditions. The strikers were urging shoppers not to buy from Amazon for the duration of a strike that is set to last for 72 hours in Spain.

Last week Amazon announced that the Vice President of the Amazon Marketplace (a 12-year company veteran) would lose a number of his responsibilities to Doug Herrington, leader of Amazon's retail group. Amazon marketplace now makes up over half of the retailer’s total revenue, however the marketplace has been recently fallen victim to a surge in seller counterfeits and scamming tactics.

Findings show that Amazon is the go-to site for research as shoppers seek greater product selection and availability, and will reject those that can’t meet their standards.

We polled 1,000 shoppers to understand how they feel about the choice available to them, the impact of out-of-stocks on their experience and what keeps them loyal? And the results are in!