In 2018 in the U.S. alone, total ecommerce sales on marketplaces are worth $473 billion, with a projected increase to as much as $526 billion in the next year. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, in the first quarter of 2018 ecommerce accounted for 9.3 percent of total sales in this country.
Canada, in turn, is worth less, but sees a spectacular growth. In 2015, Canadian ecommerce revenue was worth $18.34 billion, but by 2021it is expected to increase to $28.66 billion.
A lot of this action happens on marketplaces. We have compiled a list of marketplaces that either take the lead in North America or are growing rapidly as potential new industry unicorns.
AMAZON
Amazon has marketplaces in 15 countries globally. It also runs a dedicated marketplace for businesses (Amazon Business). In the U.S. alone, Amazon is set to clear $258.22 billion in retail sales in 2018. This is 49.1 percent of all online retail spend in the country, and 5 percent of all retail sales.
BEST BUY
As of May 5, 2018, the company had a total of 1,355 stores, including 1,140 stores in the U.S. and 215 stores internationally, as well as bestbuy.com. The company saw a record-breaking $2.8 billion in U.S. ecommerce sales during the 2017 Christmas season. It was the fifth quarter in a row that Best Buy's domestic online earnings exceeded $1 billion.
BONANZA
The marketplace consists of over 20 million items and attracts over 40,000 sellers. Bonanza's stats say they have over 5 million visitors a month, which is over 150,000 visits a day. Its customer base is primarily US-based, but 25% of traffic is coming from abroad. Currently, Bonanza sellers are from over 200 countries worldwide.
CRATEJOY
When shoppers visit Cratejoy, they're browsing for boxes of interest rather than knowing exactly which box they want to subscribe to, which gives plenty of room for sellers of subscription boxes of all kinds. Interestingly, 96% of all Cratejoy searches are for generic terms like 'geek' or 'beauty', which leads to the discovery of relevant boxes.
EBAY
eBay consistently ranks as one of the biggest U.S. online companies based on market cap, which was over 31 billion U.S. dollars as of December 2016. As of the first quarter of 2017, eBay lists more than 169 million active buyers across its various properties. eBay is also one of the most-visited shopping platforms in the United States, surpassing 107 million monthly visits as of July 2016.
ETSY
Etsy has over 50 million registered users, and over 60 percent of its annual gross merchandise sales between 2011 and 2016 were repeat purchases. Etsy has also been able to implement and manage a strong mobile strategy. In 2016, more than half of all web visits to Etsy were through mobile platforms and close to 50 percent of the company’s gross merchandise sales volume was generated from the use of mobile devices.
WALMART
Walmart started accepting online third-party sellers in 2016 and sellers can list items for free. According to 2017 data, Walmart sold 50 million first- and third-party items, and it is continuously growing its sellers base. At the moment, Walmart is primarily adding U.S.-based merchants and international sellers that also operate and fulfill orders from the U.S. Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce business generated $11.5 billion in revenue in 2017 and is expected to increase to around $16 billion this year, but the company doesn’t disclose how much of that business comes from the marketplace itself. It has doubled the number of products available online over the past year to almost 75 million.
November 19, 2021