Ecommerce Marketplaces Comparison

Great to speak to BBC News about Kingfisher plc’s (B&Q) latest update. The UK DIY and home improvement market remains challenging. So, UK & Ireland sales up 0.4% (LFL) driven by Screwfix (LFL +1.8%) and TradePoint UK (LFL +4.9%) reveals respectable trading through difficult conditions. Across the group ➡️ Core (69% of sales): Repair, maintenance and renovation -0.4% (LFL). ➡️ Big-ticket (16% of sales): -4.0% ➡️ Seasonal (15% of sales): Wetter and milder weather hit sales in key markets (LFL -0.9%) However, significant headwinds from the UK’s Autumn Budget and similar moves in France have reshaped the cost landscape. Put simply, the painful impact of wage inflation will be a catalyst for boards to rethink cost architectures. 💥 Behind the numbers As margin management grows tighter, the sophistication of digital operations, data analytics, and marketplace curation will become essential levers to enhance productivity and maintain shareholder value. Kingfisher is blurring the lines with their ecosystem of marketplace, retail media and digital platforms. It’s been fascinating to watch Screwfix’s digital evolution, which for many tradesmen has transformed a “transaction point” into a “productivity tool” with frictionless purchases and rapid delivery (think Deliveroo and Screwfix trials). Similarly, B&Q’s progressive approach to digital commerce - leveraging data-driven personalisation – has unlocked loyalty cycles, increasing average order values and enhanced loyalty. Tools like AI-powered product recommendations contributed to c.10% of B&Q’s e-com sales. AI-powered markdown optimisation tools are also improve clearance efficiency. B&Q’s marketplace expansion (with GMV +45% in October and penetration reaching 41%) signals a fundamental pivot. Marketplaces aren’t just incremental range extensions – it’s a strategic “bet” on the future of the market. I see this as giant experiment, allowing B&Q to rapidly test emerging categories, gauge consumer appetites for niche products, and scale the most successful lines at pace. Huge value lies in the intelligence mined from the data-rich ecosystem: every click, view, and conversion on the marketplace informs future category strategies, pricing models, supplier negotiations – and the huge retail media opportunity. 💥 The challenge Balancing the speed of expansion with the risks of operational misalignment is a huge challenge: compromising a solid infrastructure with speed is risky. A marketplace isn’t just a new revenue stream; it’s a seismic shift in the operating model, moving from a controlled inventory to an interconnected ecosystem reliant on external merchants, dynamic pricing, and real-time logistics. This demands a new kind of digital backbone, one that not only scales transaction volumes but also anticipates complexity – especially in the age of GenAI. Platform reliability, merchant experience, and customer trust will be the key pillars of success in this emerging model.

We are often asked how to measure incrementality on your Affiliate program. Unlike standard ad buys, you can't just turn off affiliates in, say, half the country, and run a geo experiment. Affiliate is comprised of a few different categories. There are Content-based affiliates (editorial, influencers and blog sites like reviews on Wirecutter), and then there is the Coupon/Loyalty/Cash-Back category. Advertisers have real concerns that the latter eats into margins while delivering no incremental revenue to your business, yet we continue investing more and more because last-click performance makes it one of your best performing channels -- seemingly. Our advice for the brave - shut it off for 4-6 weeks as part of an experiment. We just helped a well-known DTC business with this. They fortunately have a global footprint, so we could deactivate all of their Loyalty partners in the US and construct a synthetic control model using the handful of countries that remained on. We then analyzed the difference in revenue between the treatment and control markets to assess incrementality. We also ran a product-level analysis to understand if products with higher affiliate shares before the shutoff fell in revenue relative to product SKUs with lower affiliate shares. This brand will save millions of dollars based on the results. A key learning - the tests that are least straightforward are often the most worthwhile!

These are the 59 most relevant European B2C marketplaces for FASHION & SHOES 2024! 🛍️👖👚 UPDATE No. 8 – October 2024! Once again, a lot has happened and the marketplace industry keeps evolving. From 50 marketplaces in our last March 2024 update to now 59, this growth underscores the dynamic shifts in the marketplace landscape. With these marketplace overviews, we've already generated tens of thousands of views on LinkedIn. We aim to support our Marketplace Universe community with the best insights available. Therefore, we've created this updated overview for you. What is the marketplace quadrant? I invented the Marketplace Quadrants last year to provide overviews of relevant B2C marketplaces in Europe by category, starting with Fashion and Sports. This Fashion quadrant covers categories including Fashion, Shoes, Accessories, and Bags. This effort is based on our long-term experience and your feedback. What's Changed: Some marketplaces we now list as “relevant,” while two have left the market—and it’s never getting boring. New in: - John Lewis & Partners: UK Department Store started silently, now among the top 5 marketplaces in the UK. - Happy Sizes: Relaunched in Germany by Popken Fashion Group after acquiring from Klingel Group. - LE BHV MARAIS: French department store now emerging as a marketplace. fashionette: Ascends as a luxury platform from Germany. - Skroutz: Greece's largest marketplace ramps up with a lot of relevant fashion products. - SHEIN: Continues to grow across all European countries, despite concerns over sourcing transparency. More insights here. Off-Price Marketplaces New/back in: - Privalia: Spanish Off-Price Shoppingclub from Veepee. - CLUBEFASHION: Portuguese Shoppingclub. Staying Steady: - FARFETCH, INNO, and GLOBUS have remained strong despite market fluctuations. Out: - kleertjes.com now part of wehkamp. - Afound: H&M's discounted marketplace ceased operations. The Big Four Stand Firm: - Zalando continues to lead, expanding with ZEOS. - ABOUT YOU remains a close contender. - Amazon is omnipresent, especially for basics and evergreens. Market Summary: This update saw the most additions to the quadrant, not because they are all new, but because their models have recently evolved to become more relevant, like Fashionette and Shein, or because they have been revitalized, like Happy Size. As the fashion marketplace industry continues to mature, it becomes increasingly complex. What other marketplaces for Fashion & Shoes should we include in our overview? Drop your suggestions below! ⬇️ Ready to forge ahead? Stay informed and never miss a marketplace quadrant update by signing up for our Marketplace Universe Weekly NEWSLETTER at https://lnkd.in/dS6XANqB . Check out the extended version of this Fashion quadrant on our website (link in the comments). #marketplacequadrant #fashionmarketplaces #onlinemarketplaces #marketplaceuniverse

If there’s one Indian brand I’d bet on over the next decade… It’s Balaji Wafers Pvt. Ltd Founded from a cinema canteen in Rajkot. Bootstrapped with ₹20,000. Zero outside funding. Now at ₹5,010 Cr revenue in FY23 with ₹409 Cr net profit. That’s an 8.2% net margin in a hyper-competitive FMCG sector. So, how did Balaji do it? Let’s talk market share: • 65% share in Western India (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan) • 12% national share in India’s ₹43,800 Cr salty snacks market • #3 behind Haldiram’s (21%) and PepsiCo India (15%) • Outselling Lay’s, Kurkure, and Bingo in its home states Now let’s talk strategy. 1. Cost Leadership Balaji wins by pricing 20–30% lower than national brands. They sell 35g chips for ₹10 vs 23g from Lay’s. More chips. Lower price. Same quality. (That’s a price-value moat most can’t match.) 2. Regional Focus → National Scale Started deep in Gujarat. Built dominance city by city. Then scaled into MP, Rajasthan, Maharashtra. Now building plants and distribution in North + South India. Strategy: Grow deep → then grow wide. 3. In-House Ops, No Ad Spend They manufacture in-house across 4 automated plants. <2% of sales on ads (vs 8–12% by competitors). Reinvest into factories and supply chain → not media buys. This lean model = more margins, faster reinvestment. 4. Distribution Mastery Over 2,000 dealers. Rural-first approach. Focus on railway stalls, canteens, tier 2/3 cities—before competitors even arrived. Meanwhile... • Haldiram’s revenue: ₹14,000 Cr (all snacks/sweets) • PepsiCo India: ₹8,200 Cr (snacks + drinks) • ITC FMCG: ₹17,500 Cr (bingo holds <10%) • Parle: ₹13,000 Cr in biscuits + snacks All spend crores on branding. Balaji? Builds trust through value + word-of-mouth. 2025 Outlook: • Expanded to Indore (MP) with ₹250+ Cr plant • 21 new SKUs launched post-2020 • Modern packaging, e-comm trials, new flavor labs • Estimated valuation: ₹15,000–₹25,000 Cr (privately held) In a market ruled by ad budgets and global giants… Balaji Wafers won with grit, not glitz. • No flashy campaigns • No celebrity endorsements • No billion-dollar funding rounds Just one bold promise kept for 50 years: "Best quality at the most affordable price." Who’s winning the Indian snack war—Balaji, Haldiram’s, or Pepsi? #casestudy #business #marketing

I don't usually vent on social media, but maybe some brands will learn from it, and I know that many of the good affiliate managers around here will relate to it. I've just begun working with a major brand, selling in multiple countries, the kind of client you dream of as an affiliate manager. But I still can't believe the findings so far... 😥 Affiliate programs on 3 different networks + an influencer program on a separate platform + deals outside the affiliate networks relying on affiliate reports. Naturally, many orders were touched by multiple affiliates on different networks, and the brand ended up paying 2-3 commissions on the same orders. 😑 One affiliate network tracks the "Compare At" price as order amount, so the company unknowingly paid 30-40% higher commissions than they should have, because whoever tested the integration and reviewed later reports didn't notice the difference in order amount. And we're talking about thousands of orders! 😵 All affiliate programs were set to auto-approve affiliate applications, so they now count around 4000 affiliates, even though less than 200 are worth working with. 🔎 And if the above weren't enough, in some of the affiliate programs, affiliates were encouraged to target TM+ keywords, and no one ever monitored keywords or coupon usage, so you can imagine the disaster. The issues with affiliate communications and creatives seem insignificant at this point... "Agencies" like the one I've taken this client over from shouldn't exist, and it's disheartening to be put in the same boat with them when some of us go above and beyond to secure the growth of the brands we work with, and others just waste budgets and suffocate valuable partnerships with low-quality ones -- just to show higher numbers and justify their earnings. Dear merchants, please choose carefully and monitor! You may be saving some money by choosing the cheapest management services but some of you are paying ten times more in unnecessary commissions by working with people who have no idea what they're doing or simply don't care!

Green Shopping Spree: How Retailers are Embracing Sustainability Gone are the days of "eco-friendly" being a niche label. Today, sustainability is taking center stage in retail, driven by conscious consumers who demand more from the brands they support. So, how are retailers responding? From Shelves to Supply Chains: Sustainable products: Eco-friendly materials, recycled content, and ethical sourcing are becoming the norm, not the exception. Think organic cotton clothing, refillable beauty products, and locally sourced groceries. Transparency reigns: Consumers want to know where their products come from and how they're made. Retailers are increasing transparency through certifications, detailed product information, and even factory tours. Packaging rethink: Gone are the days of excessive, single-use plastic. Retailers are exploring innovative packaging solutions like compostable materials, reusable containers, and even eliminating it altogether. Circular economy models: Repair, reuse, recycle! Retailers are offering take-back programs, promoting product lifecycles, and exploring circular business models to minimize waste. The Impact and the Road Ahead: Consumer loyalty: By aligning with customer values, retailers are building brand loyalty and attracting new eco-conscious shoppers. Supply chain transformation: The shift is pushing suppliers to adopt sustainable practices, creating a ripple effect across the industry. Environmental benefits: Reduced waste, lower emissions, and resource conservation contribute to a healthier planet. Of course, the journey towards true sustainability is ongoing. Challenges like greenwashing, affordability, and infrastructure gaps persist. But the momentum is undeniable. Retailers are adapting, and consumers are driving the change. Join the conversation! What sustainable practices impress you at your favorite stores? What more can retailers do to meet consumer demands? How can we ensure true sustainability becomes the norm, not the exception? #SustainableRetail #Consumerism #EcoFriendly #Transparency #CircularEconomy #FutureofRetail

Most businesses go after the big fish. "We want to rank in California, Texas or Arizona." "We need to compete with industry giants." "We must go national ASAP." But here’s what smart businesses do: → They own their local market first. A real estate client came to me frustrated: "We can't break into the top rankings for major cities!" Instead of competing head-on, we did this: 📌 Step 1: Used Google Trends to identify underserved local markets. 📌 Step 2: Found high-intent, low-competition regional keywords. 📌 Step 3: Created geo-specific content tailored to smaller cities. The result? -  250% increase in local leads. -  #1 rankings in multiple regions. -  Expanded to top-tier cities within months. SEO isn’t about competing where everyone else is, It’s about owning the markets others ignore. Most companies chase big markets. The smart ones?  They dominate local areas first. #ContentMarketing #GeoTargeting #GoogleTrendsMarketing

Cross-border payments are getting more complicated, not less. Every country seems to be building their own solution instead of working together. This report from OMFIF breaks down where cross-border payments are headed and the biggest challenges ahead. Here are my key takeaways: 🔶 68% of central banks say high transaction costs are the biggest issue in cross-border payments. 🔶 Interest in connecting CBDCs has dropped, with only 13% seeing it as the best solution, down from 31% last year. 🔶 47% of central banks believe linking instant payment systems is the most promising way to improve cross-border transactions. 🔶 Many banks are behind on adopting the ISO 20022 standard, with some unlikely to meet the 2025 deadline. 🔶 76% of central banks support using tokenised bank money and wholesale CBDCs, but implementation is still in the early stages. The technology exists to fix cross-border payments. What's missing is agreement on which path to take. #Payments #Finance #CBDC #couchonomics #payments #fintech #embeddedfinance #digitalassets #futureofmoney #futureoffinance @couchonomics with Arjun - ⁠- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 👍 Hit like ♻️ Share it with your network 📢 Drop a comment 🎙️ Check out my podcast Couchonomics with Arjun on YouTube 📖 Get my weekly newsletter on LinkedIn: Couchonomics Crunch 🕺💃 In the MENA region? Join our Fintech Tuesdays community! 🤝 Let's connect! - ⁠- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Staying ahead of the competition requires more than knowing what your rivals are doing right now—it demands a strategic understanding of why they make the decisions and how they are likely to act. This is where Porter’s Four Corners Analysis comes into play. Developed by Michael Porter, this strategic tool goes beyond surface-level assessments of competitors by diving into the motivations and capabilities driving their actions. It allows businesses to anticipate competitive moves and align their strategies proactively. The model consists of four critical components: 1️⃣ Drivers (Motivation): What are your competitors' long-term goals, and what internal and external factors drive their strategies? Understanding their motivations can reveal future strategic directions. 2️⃣ Current Strategy: How are your competitors competing today? This involves analyzing their market positioning, key activities, and resource allocation to identify strengths and weaknesses. 3️⃣ Capabilities: What resources and skills do your competitors have at their disposal? Assessing their capabilities helps determine if they can realistically pursue their goals, revealing potential opportunities and threats. 4️⃣ Management Assumptions: What beliefs shape your competitors' strategic decisions? Understanding their assumptions about the market and competition allows you to identify potential blind spots or miscalculations. Why Use This Analysis? Predict Competitor Actions: Anticipate moves before they happen and adjust your strategy accordingly. Identify Weaknesses: Pinpoint gaps between competitors’ aspirations and their actual abilities. Strategic Decision-Making: Use insights to inform market entry, pricing, product development, and investment decisions. Incorporating Porter’s Four Corners Analysis into your strategic toolkit can provide the foresight needed to outmanoeuvre competitors. It’s not just about knowing what they’re doing—it’s about understanding the why, the how, and the what’s next. Ps. Interested in business strategy and innovation? Please follow for insights and updates. 😀

What makes a SaaS Marketplace a great choice for companies to buy their SaaS? In addition to qualities like speed, savings, easiness, and proactiveness, it should empower software buyers by reducing the ever increasing complexity, fragmentation, and intransparency in the SaaS ecosystem. I have been in the SaaS Marketplaces business for over 10 years. I’ve even thought of this as "destiny" since my second last name is “Mercado” (“Market” in Spanish) 🙂. Since 2012, I've worked alongside incredible professionals to build over 20 SaaS Marketplaces worldwide, including a SaaS Marketplace in Latin America from the top telco in the region, a SaaS Marketplace in China from a Chinese conglomerate, a SaaS Marketplace in the US from a leading Managed Service Provider (MSP), etc. Despite these companies' best effort to make SaaS accessible to customers, the SaaS space has become so complex, fragmented, and intransparent, that it is nearly impossible to become a “one-stop shop” (what used to be the "holy grail" among SaaS Marketplaces). That’s why, today, most SaaS Marketplaces have become specialized in a specific customer segment, SaaS category, region, etc. Unfortunately, that still leaves companies with the challenge to navigate this difficult environment on their own and to figure out where to go to address their software needs. That’s why I believe that the approach we’ve taken at Sastrify with the launch of the SastriMarket is so unique and has the potential of becoming that true “one-stop shop”. On the one hand, we’ve taken the traditional path as other marketplaces of partnering directly with leading SaaS Vendors to offer their products at preferential conditions to Sastrify customers. We’ve also partnered with top distributors to get access to a broader array of SaaS products. But here is our secret sauce: 1. We’ve also partnered with other marketplaces and resellers, some who compete on specific products with us, but who have a strong track record in a specific SaaS category that complements our portfolio and with whom we have established special agreements to benefit Sastrify customers. 2. If you already have a great SaaS deal in place, we will let you know! We are not in the business of winning new customers just for the sake of it, only when it makes sense to our customers. 3. If the Sastrify marketplace team realizes that you could get a better deal by engaging directly with the SaaS Vendor and the “time/effort vs savings” tradeoff is worth it, we will also let you know! You can then do it on your own or you could leverage Sastrify’s procurement services to support you. Big kudos to all of my talented colleagues at Sastrify who were behind the SastriMarket launch and also to our incredible partners such as Google, Miro, Asana, 1Password, Ingram Micro, ALSO Group, DoiT International, and Zesty who have made all of this possible! Check the comments for more info. #SaaS #Procurement #Marketplace #BetterTogether