Marketplaces Year in Review 2020
2020 was the best year for e-commerce marketplaces in over a decade. E-commerce growth had a step change, and marketplaces captured most of it. In aggregate, it was the most successful year for sellers and brands that transact through them, too. The Year in Review looks at the state of marketplaces and describes the most important trends.
Read the report
Chinese Sellers Losing Market Share on Amazon
Chinese sellers have been losing market share on the Amazon marketplace for most of 2021. This year, after increasing market share for years, the trend has unexpectedly reversed.
Amazon Launches in Egypt
Amazon launched in Egypt on September 1st. It is Amazon’s 20th global marketplace and follows Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the region, where it launched during the past two years.
25 Amazon Aggregators Raised at Least $100M
Twenty-five different companies acquiring Amazon sellers have now raised at least $100 million. A year ago, there was just one. Nearly $7 billion has been raised so far in 2021.
Amazon Is Adding Employees Faster Than Revenue
Amazon went from $229,000 quarterly revenue per employee ten years ago to $84,000 now. The ratio has more than halved, despite Amazon scaling automated businesses like AWS, marketplace, advertising, and others during that time.
Google Promised a Marketplace but Then Gave Up
During 2019-2020, Google actively recruited sellers and attended conferences to promote its Google Shopping marketplace. What appeared like a new competitor in the marketplaces ecosystem seems to have since been abandoned.
eBay’s Plan Is More Ads
eBay is introducing more advertising types as sellers are increasingly promoting their listings. It hasn't found a way to grow sales on the platform but is getting better at monetizing them.
Only 50% of Amazon Is Retail
Amazon's retail sales are down to only 50% of the company's total revenue. It now generates nearly as much revenue from its services businesses like AWS cloud hosting, Prime memberships, the third-party marketplace, and advertising.
Amazon’s Revolving Door of Brands
The list of best-sellers on Amazon is different day-to-day. And it’s not new trends replacing old ones. Instead, it is brands that didn’t exist just recently pushing out other short-lived brands. Unrecognizable, unpronounceable, and unmemorable and only created for the sake of selling on Amazon.
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.
"According to Marketplace Pulse..."
Journalists all over the world rely on Marketplace Pulse insights and data for their stories. Marketplace Pulse works with leading magazines, newspapers, and online publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, and CNBC.
