Recent survey acknowledges that 38% of shoppers start with Amazon, 35% start with Google, Brand or Retailer Sites account for 21% and other eCommerce Marketplaces (eBay, Etsy, Wall Mart, etc.) attract only 6 % of shoppers!
The heydays of conventional “brick and mortar” as well as catalogue channels are over. The online multichannel transformation has made it more difficult for businesses to acquire and retain shoppers; it has added major challenges to a product online visibility and stock management. Organic search engine optimization takes a lot of time and “marketing dollars”, given a highly competitive environment, may not bring desired results. Marketplaces such as eBay or Amazon may generate incremental sales in no time.
Amazon draws nearly 304 million active accounts and eBay is home to over 171 million active buyers. Nobody visits Amazon or eBay searching for your store. But they may be searching for—and discover—your products.
Once you’ve got a customer in the door, even if it is through a marketplace, you’ve got a chance to win repeat business through excellent service and fulfilment. You may also cross sell or up sell by offering customers various deals or incentives.
Some people prefer shopping ONLY via marketplaces and marketplaces are all about strength in numbers. This is as true for online marketplaces as it is for real-world examples like local farmer’s markets or shopping malls.
eBay | Amazon | |||
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customer profile |
Impulse buyer, very price sensitive |
convenience buyer, very amazon loyal, may have prime account |
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business model |
simply a business partner |
may compete by offering similar products |
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sales drivers |
customer feedback, listing detail & presentation, images, item specifics for search |
price optimization to guarantee “Buy Box” or “One click”, prime service |
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competitive advantage |
world leader in auto motive |
logistics company |
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value add service |
global shipping programme |
B2B, FBA |