Did you know that Walmart Canada gets more than 23 million unique visits each month? Or that UntilGone’s average seller sees $50,000 to $100,000 a month in gross merchandise value (GMV)?
Expanding to new marketplaces like these is a smart way to grow your business. But first, it’s important to determine which marketplace opportunities are the best fit for your products.
Recently, we told you about five emerging marketplaces to consider. After getting so many positive responses to that webinar, the ChannelAdvisor e-commerce experts decided to analyze five more:
- Shop.com
- AllSale
- UntilGone
- MassGenie
- Walmart Canada
That webinar, The Marketplace Front Lines Series: Where You Should Expand This Summer, is loaded with details you’ll need to determine which of these e-commerce marketplaces are ideal for your product catalog. In the meantime, here’s a quick recap of the key takeaways.
Shop.com
Powered by a company called Market America, Shop.com is based around a unique “UnFranchise” model that allows buyers to create their own personal Shop.com sites. Because they’re incentivized to bring traffic and conversions to the marketplace, this setup makes for a very loyal customer base. With 180,000 independent UnFranchise owners and more than 3 million customers, Shop.com is an excellent opportunity to reach an ever-widening pool of purchase-ready consumers.
The typical Shop.com buyer is:
- Between 30 and 55
- College educated and married
- Most likely female
- A homeowner and pet owner with an average household income of $78,000
Important considerations for third-party sellers:
- Shop.com lends itself well to products that are likely to be reordered, since many of the marketplace’s consumers return for repeat purchases
- Popular categories include consumer packaged goods, health and beauty, personal care, grocery and pet supplies
AllSale
AllSale is an online wholesale club that makes international products available to South African consumers, with a membership model similar to that of Costco. It’s a unique e-commerce marketplace designed to give members access to goods from around the world, and works like many other quick-start cross-border trade opportunities. Once a purchase is made, the order is shipped to an AllSale warehouse within the US or UK to have it sea freighted to South Africa.
AllSale appeals to young professionals and families who tend to be:
- Brand conscious and brand loyal
- Proactively searching for savings by comparing prices and searching for promotions
- Accustomed to purchasing products from international websites
Important considerations for third-party sellers:
- AllSale looks for sellers that can provide low-price and wholesale pricing
- Key categories include fashion, food, home, health and beauty, toys, baby and toddler
UntilGone
Previously known as Yugster.com, UntilGone helps sellers unload excess inventory. Launched in 2005 as one of the original daily deal sites, the marketplace has developed a fiercely loyal customer base. It focuses primarily on consumer electronics and premium products that can be offered at highly competitive prices. Thanks largely to a recent rebranding effort, UntilGone is currently experiencing a higher-than-average abandoned cart recovery rate of 10%. (The industry average is 7%.)
The typical UntilGone shopper is:
- Between 35 and 74
- College educated
Important considerations for third-party sellers:
- UntilGone is looking for retailers and brands with deep inventory and competitive pricing—ideally sellers who do not have to abide by MAP policies
- Refurbished items and “last season” products tend to perform very well
- Top performing categories include electronics, home, kitchen and health and beauty
- The marketplace is also working to actively grow its luggage, home improvement, sports and outdoors categories
MassGenie
Launched in 2017, MassGenie is the only e-commerce marketplace that crowdsources deals. Its unique social commerce model promotes deal sharing through a “Power Buy” option, where social sharing can be used to lower product prices and drive more sales. The site has been designed to provide a “fun, memorable” shopping experience where consumers can discover products together.
Most MassGenie consumers:
- Are between 25 to 44
- Access the marketplace on smartphones
- Are eager to maximize savings
Important considerations for third-party sellers:
- Deal-driven retailers and distributors tend to perform best on MassGenie
- Key categories include consumer electronics, home, fashion, health and beauty
Walmart Canada
To say that Walmart Canada is growing quickly would be an understatement. The online marketplace currently has 25 times more sellers and ten times more SKUS than it did when the site launched in 2017, and is up to 10 million monthly visitors representing a broad consumer demographic. An estimated one-third of Canadians visit Walmart.ca, which has been designed to offer them one-stop shopping for a wide variety of needs.
Walmart Canada shoppers are usually:
- Urban, affluent and educated
- Between 18 and 34
Important considerations for third-party sellers
- Walmart Canada is a closed marketplace for sellers who can ship directly to consumers and manage their own listings, prices and return policies
- Key categories include apparel, home, consumers electronics and baby
These are just a few of the many marketplaces we encourage brands and retailers to consider, although they’re currently some of the best options for fast-growing sellers. Each one offers yet another way to get products in front of highly targeted audiences who may be eager to discover the items you sell.
Looking for more marketplace opportunities? We’ll be sharing another set of strong options in our upcoming webinar: The Marketplace Front Lines Series: Roadmap to Success in 2020. Join us on October 22 at 11 a.m. ET to hear about Secret Sales, MoreCommerce, Tophatter and Motoroso.
