Ecommerce & Marketplaces Newsletter – Apr 7th, 2023

Four Things to Consider When Building Your Online Marketplace

Marketplaces have consistently grown at double the rate of eCommerce, driven by buyers’ enthusiasm for the value and convenience that marketplaces offer. For consumer brands and B2B enterprises alike, participating in the marketplace economy is key to long-term success. But choosing to launch a marketplace is the first step in a much bigger process. For the growing number of organizations across industries recognizing the power of the marketplace model, the question quickly becomes: how do you reach marketplace critical mass quickly, so you can reap all of the benefits??

Resale Continues to Rise: Global Secondhand Sales to Hit $350B by 2027

Consumers and retailers are turning to resale more than ever amid economic uncertainty, according to ThredUp’s 11th annual Resale Report, conducted by GlobalData. The study found that more than half of U.S. consumers (52%) shopped secondhand apparel in 2022. In fact, one in three apparel items bought in the last 12 months in the U.S. was secondhand, and among Gen Z that number was two in five. As a result, the U.S. secondhand apparel market is projected to reach $70 billion by 2027; globally the secondhand market is set to nearly double by 2027, reaching $350 billion.

The Takeaways from Stanford’s 386-page Report on the State of AI

Writing a report on the state of AI must feel a lot like building on shifting sands: By the time you hit publish, the whole industry has changed under your feet. But there are still important trends and takeaways in Stanford’s 386-page bid to summarize this complex and fast-moving domain. The AI Index, from the Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, worked with experts from academia and private industry to collect information and predictions on the matter.

Amazon Sellers are Using ChatGPT to Help Write Product Listings

Chad Rubin was looking for a way to spice up his Amazon listing for a vacuum hose. He was struggling to come up with a catchy title that would make shoppers want to click on his hose instead of the countless others in Amazon’s vast marketplace. For assistance, Rubin turned to ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot that’s gone viral since its launch late last year.?

How Brands Can Leverage AI for Retail Growth

According to predictions by Juniper Research, retailers will invest $12 billion in AI this year up from 8.4 billion in 2022. “Things are moving incredibly quickly and changing fast — there’s a speed happening that you don’t often see,” Scott Michaels, Chief Product Officer of Apply Digital, announced at the beginning of “Leveraging AI for Retail Growth,” a webinar co-sponsored by commercetools, Contentful and Talon.One.?

Five Questions to Ask About Creating a Marketplace Strategy for Consumer Tech

Marketplace experiences have found their place within the consumer tech landscape and show no signs of slowing down. A marketplace helps consumers cut through the clutter of overwhelming choices and feel confident that their choices will work and work together with other parts of their ecosystem.?For some companies, creating or joining a marketplace can be a profitable and scalable business model. Let’s dive into five questions to ask to achieve a winning marketplace strategy for consumer tech.?

Maximizing the Impact of a Multiple Marketplace Presence

Any new entrant to the online multi-marketplace retailing sector could be forgiven for taking one look at the complexity and competition and retreating to the relative safety of a brick-and-mortar shop. Selling online — successfully — is no longer simply a case of setting up an e-commerce-enabled website and promoting the fact.Today’s online world is an ever-changing environment that needs to be dynamically leveraged, where the staid will stagnate and the nimble and agile will flourish. It’s a world where retailers need as many windows into their offering as possible — with multiple marketplaces across all geographies.