One in five pounds, dollars or yuan spent online goes to sellers through marketplace platforms, and in the case of consumer purchases they already account for more than half of online sales. Online marketplaces, which were once the domain of micro-businesses, are attracting big players. Some, however, instead of joining existing platforms, are setting up their own, more niche ones and inviting outside sellers to join them.

At the end of July, the French sports store chain Decathlon opened its Polish online shop to external sellers. It had already taken a similar step earlier in Belgium, and is now replicating it in further European markets. This is therefore not an experiment, but a well-thought-out development strategy. As a result, the shop becomes de facto a marketplace, similar in operation to the popular Allegro, Amazon or eBay, though focused on the sports sector.

Decathlon opens up to sellers

Decathlon's approach is not entirely novel. Brands such as Carrefour, Best Buy, Conforama, Go Sport and Zalando had already taken a similar step globally or in selected markets. In Poland, Empik.com and Morele.net can be considered successful examples of creating a marketplace around an e-shop.

More and more brands are betting on marketplaces

Marketplace-based sales solutions, until now popular in the B2C sector, are also being adopted by entities trading mainly with companies. An example is Zetwerk - a company that creates B2B solutions for sellers of heavy goods, steel components and others.

Who is investing in their own marketplaces?

Larger players with a well-known brand are trying to strengthen their position in the industry by inviting external sellers to their portals. Such cooperation does not stem solely from a desire to satisfy the diverse needs of consumers and expand the customer base.

- One of the biggest challenges facing shops, not only online ones, is ensuring adequate warehouse space. Opening up to partners means that shops can not only significantly expand their range, but at the same time partially relieve themselves of logistical duties - calculates Marcin Rutkowski, Brand Operations Manager at merce.com, a cloud-based e-commerce platform that supports companies in the transformation and automation of sales processes.

How big brands enter marketplace platforms

Big brands are aware of how important both brand building and controlling the most important distribution channels are.

- This should be the main direction of development also for smaller entities. While it is worth including a presence on external marketplace-type platforms in your trading strategy, in the long term the most important thing is building your own sales systems - explains the merce.com expert.

Pitfalls and advantages of marketplaces

The advantages of marketplace-type sales platforms from the customer's point of view are fairly obvious: access to a wide range of products, easy comparison of prices and opinions about sellers and items. At the same time, all of the above elements pose a challenge for sellers.

- Too much choice and a multitude of reviews to browse may ultimately discourage a customer from making a smooth purchase of a specific product. Ultimately, it should be remembered that a marketplace is only as good as the large stream of customers and revenue it provides to sellers. However, basing a trading platform on a widely recognisable brand - as happens in the case of strong brands such as Decathlon, Empik or Zalando - can constitute a strong foundation for success - explains the merce.com expert.

Practical aspects of cooperation

In the current era of online shopping, an important, indeed crucial, issue is the "first search". If a large proportion of customers start shopping directly on a given marketplace rather than from a search on, for example, Google, this means that the platform has won customers over, so it will in all likelihood relatively easily attract further sellers and buyers.

- Intermediation in a large number of transactions gives participants of trading platforms access to data that allows them to notice the repeatability of customer expectations and developing trends. Search and sales analytics reports, due to their scale, provide good guidelines for diversifying sales channels for a brand. Access to platform data makes it easier for sellers to adjust stock levels and prepare promotional and logistics activities not only on marketplace platforms, but also in other sales channels - says Marcin Rutkowski.

Presence on marketplaces is only one element of effective online sales. However, the greatest success in e-commerce is still achieved by those entities that invest mainly in their own sales channels and their own recognisable brand. It is therefore no wonder that more and more well-known shops are deciding to develop their own marketplaces and attract more buyers also thanks to external sellers.

Summary

More and more big brands, such as Decathlon, Empik or Zalando, are deciding to transform their own online shops into marketplaces by inviting external sellers. This is a strategy that allows them to expand their range without having to invest in additional logistics. Experts emphasise that controlling one's own distribution channels is crucial, and a presence on external platforms should only be a supplement.

Marketplaces offer sellers access to data on trends and customer behaviour, which makes it easier to plan promotions and stock levels. However, their advantage depends on scale — only large platforms with a recognisable brand are able to attract sufficient traffic.