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Exclusive CEO Insights: 3 Reasons Brands Need An Online Marketplace Strategy

Josh Neblett eTailzToday’s fiercely competitive online marketplaces have changed marketing. With the advent of behemoth online marketplaces like Amazon, gone are the days of throwing ideas against the wall and hoping something sticks. Achieving exceptional marketplace sales requires an exceptional marketplace plan.

Here are three reasons why brands need an online marketplace strategy:

1. More Consumers Are Turning To Online Marketplaces First

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Online marketplaces present rich opportunities for growth. Every year, more consumers turn to online marketplaces as their first and sometimes only shopping stop. In 2017, over 49% of U.S. consumers began their searches on Amazon, and 44% of U.S. e-Commerce sales occurred on Amazon.

  • Online marketplaces enable you to reach millions of consumers through just a handful of sites. In terms of exposure, it’s a marketer’s dream because you get maximum return on investment, as long as your marketing efforts are consistent, targeted, and strategic.
  • If you’re not on online marketplaces, your competitors certainly are. Don’t risk losing customers without a fight.

2. Marketplaces Are Saturated — You Need To Stand Out From The Crowd

When everyone is vying for shoppers’ attention, how do you ensure you’re the one to capture it? There are literally hundreds of millions of products sold on Amazon alone, which means that your marketing must be spot on. How do you do that? With a data-driven and holistic approach. 

  • In the digital age, people have shorter attention spans and are easily distracted. If you can speak to shoppers at every step of their journey, you maximize your products’ visibility, listing traffic, and conversions. If you don’t, only a fraction of your could-be customers will make it to your listing and convert.
  • Imagine a funnel, with consumers entering at the top and buyers exiting the bottom. Without holistic marketing, your funnel is riddled with holes and leaking potential revenue.
  • Marketing on sites like Amazon has a cyclical effect. Paid marketing campaigns increase traffic and conversions, which in turn improves your listings’ rank in Amazon’s A9 search algorithm. Done well, a digital marketing campaign can boost your organic discoverability, cultivating sustainable growth for the long-term.

 3. Conversion Rates Are Higher On Marketplaces Than On Other Search Engines

People go to marketplaces to buy things. The average conversion rate for U.S. online shoppers hovers around 3%, while the average conversion rate on Amazon for non-prime members was a whopping 13% in 2017. 

  • Digital marketing on search engines, direct web sites, blogs, social media or news sites is important, but your marketing efforts have the greatest impact on online marketplaces because when consumers go there, they already have an intention to buy.
  • Amazon continues to expand its marketing services, providing new opportunities to increase your visibility and refine your marketing strategy. If you are willing to put in the legwork, new tools are constantly becoming available that you can use to get ahead of the competition. 

With plenty of reasons to justify a digital marketing strategy for online marketplaces, the next question is “where to begin?” Evaluate your marketing for strengths and weaknesses. Where are you losing consumers, and why are you losing them there? Create a plan of attack to address the gaps in your marketing, building towards a holistic digital marketing strategy.

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