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The Decade of Chinese Factories Selling Directly to the World

The Decade of Chinese Factories Selling Directly to the World

Every year at least tens of billions of dollars worth of goods are sold directly from China to consumers in the US and elsewhere. Without the excitement, attention, and venture capital other parts of e-commerce have received, it is this quiet industry capturing the profits. It didn’t exist before 2010.

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Shopify Overtakes eBay

Shopify Overtakes eBay

Shopify’s Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) for the second quarter was $30.1 billion compared to eBay’s $27.1 billion. For the first time, Shopify processed more transaction volume than eBay. Shopify is not a marketplace directly comparable to eBay; however, like all e-commerce companies, they compete for the same customers.

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Walmart Doubles Marketplace Size in a Year

Walmart Doubles Marketplace Size in a Year

Walmart marketplace has surpassed 50,000 sellers, doubling in size from July 2019. The partnership with Shopify, announced on June 15th, has accelerated its growth, bringing over 5,000 new sellers during the six weeks since.

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The Number of Products on Amazon Is Infinite

The Number of Products on Amazon Is Infinite

Amazon's sales growth is unrelated to its catalog increase. No matter how many products Amazon adds to the catalog, there are only 48 items on the first page of search results. The outdated retail concept of the catalog size disregards the nuances of e-commerce, where shelf space has no cost and is thus endless.

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Amazon Lost Web Traffic Market Share

Amazon Lost Web Traffic Market Share

Amazon lost some market share, as measured by web traffic, to the next ten biggest online retail rivals: down from 52% in January to 47% in June. Yet, as the pandemic brought accelerated e-commerce adoption, top players remained the same.

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Shopify’s Pivot to an Integrator

Shopify’s Pivot to an Integrator

Despite Shopify's new-found narrative of being an integrator, it's a poor one. And as a business, it assumes other channels will not succeed, because that would render Shopify obsolete.

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Amazon’s Struggles Sent Traffic to Rival Retailers

Amazon’s Struggles Sent Traffic to Rival Retailers

As e-commerce spending accelerated, Amazon grew slower than the next ten biggest online retail rivals. Amazon’s struggles with fulfillment as well as unique strengths by Walmart in grocery and Target in same-day delivery have created a growth spike.

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Marketplace Winners and Losers During the Pandemic

Marketplace Winners and Losers During the Pandemic

As e-commerce booms during the pandemic, some marketplaces have greatly benefited, a few prepared for the future, while others were caught unprepared to react. A typical seller relied on Amazon, saw growth on Walmart, got excited by Facebook, and didn’t care about Google.

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eBay Pulled Along by the Pandemic

eBay Pulled Along by the Pandemic

eBay expects gross merchandise volume (GMV) to grow between 23% and 26% in the second quarter, a remarkable acceleration from the 2% average over the past thirteen quarters, since the start of 2016. That will make it its biggest quarter ever due to the net increase of $5 billion compared to the second quarter of 2019.

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Walmart Marketplace Is Outperforming Amazon, eBay

Walmart Marketplace Is Outperforming Amazon, eBay

Sales on Walmart marketplace increased more than on its main rivals Amazon and eBay. The marketplace, which provides over 90% of the assortment on the website, is surging, driven by the significant increase in the number of shoppers on Walmart.

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