Marketplaces are extremely popular and in some markets are often the best sales channel.
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Your business is going great in the UK and you’re now looking to reach an overseas market, but what’s the best way to do this if you’ve a small budget?
Thankfully there are multiple sites where you can simply add your products and let the website do the hard work.
Best in the West
There are two dominant marketplaces in the UK and USA, with considerable clout across Europe too: Amazon and ebay. However there are also lesser known marketplaces with millions of active users.
Amazon
As you know, Amazon has a huge reach, and its marketplace and handmade channels help you to reach customer base in the millions.
Listing products on Amazon does require a lot of work, as everything needs to be accurately described with as much information as possible to make them stand out in a very busy market. Those who are ready to dig in, however, will access over 300 million possible customers.
eBay
eBay isn’t just for individuals looking to get rid of the preloved items they’ve found in the loft or garage, there’s a massive market for retail sales too.
Launched in 1995, eBay now has over 1 billion listings and over 130 million users worldwide and you can sell almost anything.
You’ll need to take the online selling site’s fees into which can be complicated and cause your costs to jump if you’re not careful, but you’ll have access to a massive audience base across the world.
Etsy
Etsy is one of the most well know and best-selling sites for handcrafted and vintage items and in 2015, it began including maker-developed manufactured goods for select accounts.
Recent stats show that there were over 90 million buyers on Etsy, making it a very lucrative was for new or established online shops to reach new customers worldwide.
Storenvy
US based, Storenvy is mostly used for arts, crafts, and household items from independent sellers.
Sellers can customise their own pages and even have their own domain name. Categorising your products is more flexible, so you can create more as your business grows. They also offer international shipping.
Poshmark
Launched just over 10 years ago, Poshmark is one of the most popular eCommerce marketplaces in the US, Canada, and Australia for buying and selling clothing and other lifestyle accessories.
Their transparent pricing, reputation for taking care of both buyers and sellers, and ease of use, has made this a fast grower and is perfect for anyone who’s just getting started or looking to take their business to the next level.
They have over 80 million registered users, so sellers immediately benefit from their large community of eager buyers. All they need to do is sign up, list their items, and share on social media.
See a comprehensive list of marketplaces around the world here.
Chinese Giants
Chinese consumers spend most of their online shopping budget on marketplaces, and these are becoming increasingly popular with consumers overseas too.
Tmall
Also part of the Alibaba group (like Taobao, above), Tmall is one of the most popular online marketplaces in the world. Tmall came into existence as a dedicated B2C ‘mall’ under the Taobao umbrella, but has now become something much more. Customers spent more than US$596.9 billion on Tmall in 2022, up 0.3% on the previous year. A great way to reach customers across Greater China.
JD.com
JD.com is the biggest online retailer in China, based on net revenue for the company, but it takes the #4 spot, based on GMV. The company has extensive fulfillment infrastructure and a prominent vendor-model (1P) sales stream that generates healthy revenues for the company while allowing brands to gain new customers in an effortless way. In 2010, JD.com launched the JD.com marketplace for 3P selling, and the JD.com Worldwide platform now facilitates cross-border selling with a very low threshold. JD.com generated GMV of US$570.1 billion in 2022 (including JD.com’s own net revenue of US$151.7 billion), and this is growing at 11.5% annually.
See a comprehensive list of marketplaces around the world here.
International Shipping
Of course, whatever platform you use to list your items, be sure to ship them safely and quickly or you’ll end up losing repeat customers and even gain negative reviews.
Keep in mind shipping costs, packaging, border taxes and returns policies that don’t eat into your profits but also give incentives to customers to choose you over a competitor.
Some of these sites may have their own shipping options to support you, but if you’re already using another eCommerce platform, or would like to use one that offers more than a marketplace, you can read our guide at our insights pages.
To find our even more, and also see how Asendia’s global delivery network can help grow your business overseas with unrivalled and affordable shipping solutions, drop us a line.
