Achieving growth on marketplaces requires more than simply listing your products on a popular platform.
Marketplaces accounted for 58% of global retail e-commerce sales in 2024, growing by 9% in constant terms. Given their increased relevance for both grocery and non-grocery products, backed by significant investments in their scale and technology, marketplaces are a highly competitive channel for brands.
What is a marketplace?
Marketplaces are digital platforms that bring together multiple independent sellers and buyers, providing a unified ecosystem where merchants can list products or services and customers can discover, compare and transact.
Unlike a traditional retailer that sells its own inventory, a marketplace facilitates transactions between third-party merchants and consumers as sellers list their products and control pricing. Beyond facilitating listings and purchases, marketplaces typically handle infrastructure and payments, enforce trust (via ratings and reviews) and often support fulfilment and customer service. Leading e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Alibaba’s Tmall, MercadoLibre and eBay are prime examples.
25 questions to consider for your marketplace strategy
Before you start selling on a marketplace, review these 25 questions across five key areas to help you pick the right platform.
Strategic readiness and brand alignment
- What role will marketplaces play in our overall e-commerce and omnichannel strategy? What is the size of the opportunity in terms of category share, traffic and conversion?
- How do marketplaces align with our brand’s value proposition and pricing strategy?
- Which categories perform best on each marketplace relative to our portfolio?
- Will our participation enhance or cannibalise our DTC or retail partner sales?
- Can we influence how our content, pricing and assortment appear?
Channel fit and competitive dynamics
- Which marketplaces are most relevant based on our category and markets of operations?
- Who are the leading competitors in our category by brand share and company share across each platform?
- What is the average unit price landscape for our core SKUs vs competitors on these platforms?
- Are there gaps or white space opportunities in our category (e.g., premium vs value tiers)?
- What’s the price positioning of top-selling SKUs and brands in our category? How do we compare?
Data, insights and measurement
- What KPIs will define marketplace success (e.g., sales growth, share gain, price realisation)?
- How will we track our brand share growth across these platforms?
- Do we have visibility on competitors’ share and pricing trends?
- How often should we benchmark our performance against competitors?
- Can we isolate performance by platform (e.g., Amazon vs Sephora) and fulfilment model (first party vs third party)?
Operational capability and retailer fit
- Are our teams equipped to manage fulfilment, performance marketing and digital shelf optimisation for marketplaces?
- Are we set up to handle returns, inventory control and out-of-stock penalties in a marketplace model?
- How do algorithmic changes on these platforms affect discoverability and ranking?
- Can we monitor and respond to customer reviews, unauthorised sellers and dynamic pricing shifts?
- What are the commission fees, ad costs and fulfilment obligations—and do these allow for sustainable growth?
Partnership and platform-specific opportunities
- Does the platform sell its own private label or first-party offerings in our category—and how will these impact our positioning?
- What exclusive opportunities exist for product innovation, early access or branded storefronts?
- What level of support or customisation does a marketplace offer to strategic suppliers like us?
- Are there growth levers (e.g., subscribe and save, loyalty programmes, sampling) that have worked for similar brands?
- Is there an overdependence on one marketplace or an opportunity to grow with an underutilised platform?
With channel fragmentation, shifting algorithms and heightened e-commerce expectations, you should approach marketplaces as distinct, high-stakes environments that require tailored strategies.
Asking the right operational, commercial and platform-specific questions helps you assess readiness, align internal capabilities and determine the most effective marketplace mix. This strategic discipline separates brands that scale profitably from those that stall in reactive mode.
Download our free report, FMCG e-commerce in 2025, created in partnership with Semrush Traffic & Market to learn about the evolution of online shopping. And if you’re ready to dive into these questions, start with our e-commerce data and insights to determine whether marketplaces are your next move.
