2024年度欧洲在线电商平台市场格局报告

2024 Introduction Marketplaces in Europe havecome to dominate the ecommercespace. For consumers, they offersimplicity and convenience,while for sellers they representan easy way to reach the widestpossible audience. No wonder then that there is now an array ofmarketplaces that service general retail right throughto some very particular niches – such as second-handconsumer electronics or cheap fashion. These havenow been joined by a raft of retailers setting up theirown marketplaces ‘to be where the consumers are’and to expand their businesses. This has all created a highly competitive environmentacross Europe for marketplaces. While the sectorgrows at an unprecedented rate, it is heading towardsoverheating, with competition too fierce and aprice-led race to the bottom potentially underway. But we aren’t there yet. The sector, as this 2024edition of our annual report attests, is booming andthe rich variety of marketplaces featured reveals adiverse and evolving environment, where consumersare very firmly the winners. The road ahead: Where thesector goes nextP.69 Ian Jindal, CEO, RetailX Market context Marketplaces dominate Europeanecommerce and attract the lion’s shareof consumer traffic, making the sectorvery competitive The European marketplace market is one of themost buoyant in the world and one of the fewretail sectors that has sustained growth across thepandemic years and the cost-of-living crisis. According to data, 21% of Europe’s Top 1000retailers are marketplaces. However, this belies theirpulling power. This fifth of top players draws in morethan half (53%) of ecommerce traffic to those Top1000 retailers, increasingly dominating ecommercein the region. Source: RetailX There are some 400 D2C marketplaces operatingacross Europe[1], with a further 250-plus B2Bplatforms also in play[2]. That’s a lot of online realestate, even taking into account the levels of trafficseen within the sector. and Temu, which have commanded a significantproportion of sales in the region in a short time. More and more consumers are using marketplacesas the jumping off point for their ecommercejourneys, essentially using them as retail searchengines. This pushes up traffic and makes these sitesamong the most powerful in ecommerce. This has added to the overall competition in themarket and puts more pressure on both existingplayers and retailers (with or without their ownmarketplaces). That said, these large players alsoadd to the overall use of marketplaces amongconsumers across Europe. As the Sankey chart shows, the vast majority ofthese retailers aren’t Europe-based. Of the Top1000retailers in Europe, 49% have their HQs in the region.However, 74% of the traffic to that same Top1000goes to retailers – including marketplaces – that arenon-European companies. COMPETITIONHowever, this success also produces challenges. The continued growth has seen the marketplacesector become more crowded, leading toincreasingly fierce competition. This has seen notonly a raft of new marketplaces launching acrossthe region – servicing everything from the generalmarket through to those that service highly specificverticals – but also many retailers launching theirown marketplaces. Naturally, this includes Amazon and eBay, whichdominate the marketplace landscape in the regionand globally. But it also points to the increasingpower and reach of the likes of Shein, AliBaba [1] https://info.mirakl.com/en/en/the-ultimate-guide-to-online-marketplaces-2022[2] www.hokodo.co/resources/the-state-of-european-b2b-marketplaces-2023 RETAIL MEDIA: A NEW REVENUE STREAMFOR MARKETPLACES? ADVANTAGES FOR SELLERSFor marketplace sellers, retail media networks This diverse ecosystem is particularly evident inthe fragmented European market, which offersbrands and sellers multiple options for reachingtheir target audiences. offer significant advantages: A growing cohort of retailers are embracing retailmedia, while marketplaces have also have turnedto it as a way to diversify their income streams. •Increased visibility Amazon, for example, already leads the packamong European retailers, logging a staggering$34bn (€31bn) in retail media ad revenues in2022, way ahead of all other retailers by a factorof ten. Indeed, according to data, the top ten retailmedia networks by ad revenue in Europe in 2022are all marketplaces[1]. Sellers can promote their products directly onthe platform on which its target consumers arealready shopping By offering advertising opportunities to brandsand sellers on their platforms, marketplaces cangenerate additional revenue beyond traditionalsales commissions. This has become a powerfulcash generator for many online marketplaces. •Targeted advertising Access to the marketplace’s user data allows formore precise targeting of potential customers There has been a notable shift in consumerbehaviour, with more users starting their productsearches directly within marketplaces rather thanusing traditional search engine.