03 February 2022 @ 16:35pm | Dan Wilson
New research carried out by Mirakl, the marketplace platform provider, revealed that 70% of shoppers believe marketplaces are the “most convenient” place to shop.
According to Mirakl’s State of Online Marketplace Adoption survey, online marketplaces maintained strong growth in 2021, after an obviously significant surge in popularity at the start of the pandemic in 2020.
The worldwide report surveyed 9,000 consumers and almost all respondents (94%) expect to either maintain or increase their use of online marketplaces in the future. 70% of consumers consider online marketplaces to be the most convenient way to shop. Just about half of all those surveyed have increased their marketplace use over the past year. That rises to 56% for Gen Z consumers.
According to the report from Mirakl, the value and selection offered by online marketplaces are crucial. Predominately shoppers cite competitive prices and product choice variety as the top reasons for preferring marketplaces. The core reasons given for 66% of consumers preferring digital marketplaces to first-party ecommerce sites included better prices (62%), more product selection (53%) and the overall shopping experience (43%).
The report says: “Notably, marketplace adoption has held its gains from the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic: in 2019, 42% of consumers said they shopped exclusively on or a lot on marketplaces; that figure rose to 57% in 2020 and held steady at 57% in 2021 – a 35% increase.”
Marketplaces have also increasingly become the first port of call for consumers. As consumers shop more on marketplaces, they then come to prefer prefer them over conventional branded retailers own websites. Perhaps for reasons of trust, payment convenience and privacy, many now think about shopping on marketplaces first.
Marketplaces should not be considered a threat to either independent retailers or the UK High Street according to Eleanor Thomas, from online retailer Wholee because “online marketplaces allow businesses to reach a far greater pool of consumers, and consumers clearly want to see local businesses in these spaces,”
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