Marketplaces Year in Review 2021
2021 was the year of broken supply chains, Amazon aggregators, more advertising, Shopify's almost-marketplace, and one unanswered question - did the pandemic boost e-commerce after all? For now, the world of marketplaces revolves around Amazon - it has doubled in size in two years. No one will challenge it directly, but a different paradigm might.
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Amazon Seller M&A Market Active Despite Aggregator Struggles
Amazon seller acquisitions declined only slightly in 2022 despite slow e-commerce growth and rising interest rates. Seller valuations have decreased, but more buyers that don’t call themselves aggregators allowed strong businesses to stay in demand.
Unicorns Built on Amazon Marketplace
A dozen startups became unicorns betting on the Shopify ecosystem. Amazon has zero. A lot of capital is racing to change that.
Fulfillment by Amazon Chokehold
Amazon has tied selling on Amazon to its fulfillment service, FBA. But it now chaotically restricts how much space it allocates to sellers while at the same time raising fees.
US E-Commerce Sales Surpass $1 Trillion
E-commerce spending in the U.S. exceeded $1 trillion over the past twelve months. A milestone that pre-pandemic trends predicted would only occur in 2024.
Shopify Tests Universal Search
Shopify now allows customers to search for items across all Shopify merchants. The Shop app is thus a complete marketplace. However, the functionality is yet to be available to all users.
Chinese Sellers Didn’t Quit Amazon
Chinese sellers have recouped the market share they lost on Amazon over the past two years. It looked like they were abandoning Amazon for a while, but that has since turned out false.
Amazon Ad Business Growing Faster Than Google, Facebook
Amazon's ad business outpaced Google's and Facebook's growth every quarter for the past three years. It's still smaller, but Amazon is not competing with retailers for advertising dollars - it is going after Google and Facebook.
Amazon Covid Bump Fades
Amazon's growth is slowing, but so has the overall e-commerce sector. Its sales are still in-line with the pre-pandemic trendline.
Data
Proprietary software parses raw data to extract critical pieces of structured data on brands, products, categories, and sellers.
Research
We analyze the data and share insights as research reports and articles.
Analysis
We believe that data is better than opinions for understanding what's next in e-commerce.
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