Research

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.

Nearly $1 billion in fresh capital was committed in 2020 to firms looking to acquire Amazon sellers and brands (money invested is a mix of equity and debt). The market had a breakout year because of three factors: the pandemic accelerating spending on Amazon, Thrasio raising hundreds of millions of dollars, and Anker, an Amazon-native brand, going public.

Marketplace Pulse 100 ranks the most important companies in the e-commerce marketplaces ecosystem. Tens of billions of gross merchandise volume (GMV) on various marketplaces are transacted, enabled, or managed by one of them. The rank considers the company’s size, capital raised, estimated user base, and industry influence.

In 2019, sellers on the Amazon marketplace sold $200 billion worth of products. Amazon marketplace is so large it would rank as the 50th largest economy in the world if it were its own country. Below New Zealand’s economy, but bigger than Qatar’s. The Year in Review looks at the state of marketplaces, their challenges, and makes predictions what’s to come next.

On Prime Day 2019, the biggest winners were known brands and Amazon devices, as Amazon-owned private label brands took a back seat, according to Marketplace Pulse research. Over a million products were available with a Prime Day deal, but as competing retailers like Walmart and Target launched their shopping events, Amazon shifted focus to exclusive products and new product launches.

According to Marketplace Pulse research, Amazon-owned private label brands are not nearly as successful as many paint them to be. Amazon has been successful in creating generic items at low prices, but only when using the Amazon brand name (i.e., AmazonBasics and Amazon Essentials). Otherwise, the hundreds of brands and tens of thousands of products launched are not resonating with customers.

The Year in Review looks at the state of marketplaces and their challenges, and makes predictions on what’s to come next year. It’s a deep-dive report built on our research, highlighting more than twenty different metrics and the context surrounding them.

Top Amazon marketplace sellers globally and in each local marketplace. Seller rank is based on the number of positive reviews received during the last 30 days. Providing feedback is optional for customers, and the percentage of customers who leave a seller review is anywhere in the range of 5-25%. The global list is dominated by the Amazon.com marketplace, with the majority of the worldwide top sellers.

Amazon marketplace metrics. Amazon is the largest online retailer in the world. They run a marketplace on all of their websites allowing third-party sellers to sell products, totaling to 50% of total sales.

eBay is an e-commerce company running customer-to-customer and business-to-customer marketplaces. Over time eBay has transitioned towards fixed-price listings, meaning products which are sold just like on Amazon without an auction. This type of buying is now the majority of sales on eBay.

In 2009, Walmart launched Walmart Marketplace. Products from retailers are displayed alongside Walmart’s own inventory and are called out as Walmart Marketplace items, with the seller’s name displayed on the items. While initially requiring an invite, in 2016 they made it easier to join the marketplace in hopes to accelerate its growth.

Etsy is a marketplace launched in 2005 focused on handmade and vintage items and supplies, as well as unique factory-manufactured items. Etsy went public on April 16, 2015. Uniquely Etsy has sellers and buyers from most countries in the world. Key markets is the US and UK, Canada, Australia, France, and Germany.

Statistics and metrics compiled from press releases, financial earnings reports and Marketplace Pulse data