Online marketplaces are an important trading centre for goods of all kinds, continuing a millennia-old tradition. There are 335 online marketplaces in Europe alone, as shown by the recent study by the Federal Association of Online-Trade (BVOH) and p.digital. „I like to repeat this frequently: online marketplaces are so much more than eBay and Amazon. Many people will be surprised that there are as many as 335 marketplaces,“ says BVOH President Oliver Prothmann. In Germany alone, there are 60 online marketplaces, 30 in France, Italy has 24 and the Netherlands and Spain have 18 each. Today, Oliver Prothmann presents for the first time the new European study „Marketplaces across Europe“ at the DISTREE EMEA trade fair in Monaco. Besides the presentation, visiting traders and manufacturers will learn about the many special features of online marketplaces.
The basic idea behind online marketplaces is that they offer a variety of traders the possibility of offering their goods on one platform. But not all marketplaces are the same. „The charm of the many online marketplaces are the different approaches, and not only in Germany“ says Oliver Prothmann. The 335 online marketplaces are operated by 74 different companies and offer either a full range of different goods or specialize in one category, such as fashion, wine or weapons. „Again and again we see that these very online marketplaces offer the ideal springboard for entrepreneurs or start-ups within cross-border trade,“ explains Oliver Prothmann.
The mechanisms used by the operators are highly variable. This is where most marketplaces differ significantly from their competitors. There are open and closed marketplaces. In the open version, traders can register themselves at the marketplace while with the closed type the operator decides who may or may not be included. Online marketplaces also differ significantly from one another in the type of transaction (immediate sale, auction, listing/classified ad). This has a particular bearing on whether the transaction – the change of ownership – is carried out directly on the marketplace or only on delivery of the goods.
The type of operation is of particular importance. Whether the marketplace is operated by an actual trader (Amazon, Otto, Pixmania, Zalando) or by an operator acting as an intermediary (Allyouneed, eBay, Rakuten), online marketplaces can provide the right offer for every customer. A service which is made use of more and more.
Core: N=Neutral, S=Seller
Type: A=Auction, C=Classified, T=Transaction
Source: Traffic-Ranking by alexa.com and SimilarWeb (calculated by p.digital) Februar, 1st 2016; updated Feb, 21st 2016
