The top online marketplaces in the world sold $2.03 trillion, accounting for 57% of global web sales in 2019, according to Digital Commerce 360. In 2024, it will reach 7 trillion dollars. In the USA, Amazon Marketplace alone weighs an average 44% of the country’s e-commerce market share.
If you’re thinking of selling in a marketplace, it’s in fact a great way to boost some exposure. It is also a good expansion strategy without great investment.
There are more than 100 marketplaces to sell online, so here’s the top 9:
These are the top marketplaces to sell online worldwide
1. Amazon Marketplace
We’ve already talked about Amazon Marketplace here on Digital Affair. Not only is it the largest e-commerce retailer in the USA, but it’s also responsible for a great part of marketplaces deals made in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia.
In total, Amazon has 16 marketplaces which offers a great range of possibilities to consumers all over the globe.
With an overall monthly audience of 197 million people, selling on Amazon is quite easy. Nevertheless, you must have an excellent e-commerce customer service. It is also required to have a valid credit card, bank account, phone number, tax information and a valid VAT number to get started.
Being an Amazon seller has a monthly fee of 39.99$ and a referral fee of 6-20% on each item sold.
2. PayPay Mall
Yahoo Japan launched PayPay Mall in 2019, and it has already become the world’s second largest marketplace. It has an average of 2.3 billion visitors according to SimilarWeb.
Besides clothing, you can find jewelry, beauty products, home goods, electronics and sporting goods.
PayPay Mall is not easy to access for businesses outside Japan. To sell at this marketplace, you have to either set up a local company or work with a local service provider or agency.
From what we could research, PayPay has a listing fee of 3%. As a key feature for future sellers, Yahoo has said delivery and customer service are ranking criteria. So if you’re thinking of creating an account, you have to perform to a high standard on these two features.
PayPay Mall was based on the PayPay payment app, launched in June 2018. PayPay is modeled on the success of Alibaba in China, which has a close connection between Alipay (payment app) and Tmall (online marketplace). Besides PayPay Mall, there’s also PayPay Flea Market, with second hand products.
3. eBay
eBay started its journey as a platform for secondhand goods and auction website. Nowadays, it’s a household name known across the world for selling both new and used products.
Founded in 1995, eBay runs now 23 international marketplaces which serve more than 190 countries worldwide. On eBay, you can find electronics, toys, clothing, beauty, entertainment, home goods, sporting equipment, pet supplies, collectibles and antiques.
The expansion of this marketplace gives access to a set of 168 million active buyers across the world. Ebay alone can generate $95 billion of annual gross market value altogether.
Selling products on eBay requires an insertion fee while creating the listing as well as a final value fee when the item gets sold. There is no set up for any monthly or annual fee for the retailers and marketers.
The platform also provides a business efficiency guide, free business consultation and seller development resources. Those features have particularly been designed for the merchants who are successfully selling their products.
4. Walmart Marketplace
Walmart Marketplace holds a 7% share in the US e-commerce market. It’s one of Amazon’s biggest competitors, with more than 130 million visitors monthly, according to Digital Commerce 360. It is a great option if you’re considering expanding your business in the American or Canadian market.
Recently partnered with FedEx, Walmart has created the FedEx Advantage. This program offers a 37% discount if orders get shipped through FedEx.
It is quite rough to be approved by Walmart and become a seller. Some sellers explain that it takes around six weeks to get an approval, when applying without any official marketplace integrator.
The platform prefers sellers based in the USA, with a recognizable brand and a wide range of products. At Walmart, seller referral fees vary according to product category and get calculated per sale.
5. Etsy
If you’re in a creative business, Etsy it’s a great channel to sell your products. Founded in 2005, Etsy aims at selling handmade products, vintage items and craft supplies.
Started as a niche marketplace for artisans, it now has more than 54 million members, 198 million sellers in 83 countries across the world and over 45 million buyers.
Etsy is a great choice if you sell customisable items, since it’s a feature commonly found in the platform. It also provides sellers a targeted customer base that tend to find handmade items that can’t be found anywhere else. It also has as well intuitive marketing tools to make it convenient to create promotions and coupon codes.
To be an Etsy’s seller, the marketplace offers a free listing of your first 40 products. From that point on, the vendor will be charged a listing fee of 0,20$ and 5% of each sale.
Etsy also offers Facebook integration, allowing you to ease your connection to your potential buyers. In 2020, the platform launched a “risk-free” advertising. It pays to promote seller products and will only charge you when there’s an actual conversion.
6. Zibbet Marketplace
Just like Etsy, Zibbet is a marketplace made for artists. On Zibbet there’s an opportunity to sell any handmade item, either hand-altered or hand-assembled, vintage goods and craft supplies.
Zibbet is as intuitive as Amazon or Etsy. It is a great choice if you don’t have time or budget to create your own online shop. The great pro on selling on Zibbet is that there are no fees when listing or selling on the marketplace.
Much more than a sales channel, Zibbet can be a sales tool. It allows you to manage your Zibbet seller account as well as other marketplaces accounts, like Etsy for example.
It has a monthly cost of 5$, adding any listing fees on a third-party platform. The Zibbet platform also supports Facebook and Instagram Shops, boosting your cross-platform presence.
7. IndiaMart
Founded in 1996, IndiaMART is an Indian B2B marketplace. IndiaMART provides lead-generation services to sellers listed on their platform, earning revenues through subscription fees paid by premium sellers or on a pay-per-lead basis.
IndiaMART is a great solution for B2B companies looking to expand its network. Last year, IndiaMART reached the news for achieving 100 million users registered on the platform.
The marketplace provides ease and convenience to buyers, by offering a wide assortment of products and a responsive seller base. All this while offering lead generation, lead management and payment solutions to its sellers. You can either get an international contact to develop your business or buy products, like tonnes of steel.
To become an IndiaMART seller, there’s no cost associated, and no commision or transaction fee. In 2020, IndiaMART became the number one marketplace on Asian market.
8. Mercado Libre
Mercado Libre is the leading marketplace in South America. Operating in 18 Latin countries, Mercado Libre has a cross-border trade program that allows sellers to reach customers in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia.
If you sell electronics, clothing, home goods and garden accessories, this may be an option for your business. In Mercado Libre you can reach 400 million potential users on the marketplace.
It’s free to become a seller on Mercado Libre. However, you have to be screened, be in business for at least a year and have a monthly sales volume of 100,000€ to guarantee approval. The platform also gets 16 to 17,5% of each sale.
9. Taobao
With over 500 million monthly visits, Taobao is the biggest marketplace in China, and the 5th most visited marketplace globally. What does Taobao sell? Everything you can imagine. From jewelry to groceries, you can find anything on Taobao. Just like eBay, it offers users both fixed-price and auction-style listings.
Taobao belongs to the Alibaba Group and is a great option to sell products in China, as well as other Chinese-speaking places like Hong Kong or Taiwan.
If Taobao is a price-driven platform, its bigger sister Tmall sells bigger brands and charges commission fees between 2% and 5%. Taobao, on the other hand, doesn’t charge any commission fee.
From 2019, Taobao is making an effort to connect to small retailers. It has recently created services like live streaming channels, which will help engage potential new customers.
Final thoughts: should I sell on an online marketplace?
As we have said before, marketplaces are booming. The process of reaching new audiences, as well as new markets can be quite easy, considering using marketplaces to sell online.
Whether it’s in Asia, Europe or Latin America, there’s always a solution that can help you grow your business in different parts of the world.
However, before you start selling on any of these channels, it is important to check if it’s adequate to your business. Don’t forget that these are mostly price-driven platforms, where clients seek to get the best bang for their buck, instead of top quality pricey products.
It is important to review your pricing strategy before considering selling in a marketplace, so that your margins won’t be affected with shipping costs, return or refund policies.
