Top 5 Marketplaces to Make the Best out of This Holiday Season
The holiday season, aka the biggest consumer sales season of the year, is just around the corner. For consumers and retailers alike, it is the highlight of the year.
As the holiday season approaches, consumers look forward to heavy discounts, exciting deals, and excellent limited-time offers. Online retailers, on the other hand, look forward to earning good profits.
As per a report by the National Retail Federation (NRF), holiday season sales in the US have been growing at an average of 4.9% per year since 2011. Another report highlighted that in 2021 the total holiday retail sales were to the tune of $886.7 billion, a jump of 14.1% year-over-year.
So undoubtedly, the holiday shopping season is the highlight of the year for most people.
If you are an online seller looking to make the most of the holiday sales season then you are at the right place. In this article, we will talk about the top 5 marketplaces where you can list your products during this holiday season.
But before that, let’s look at why you should consider selling on different marketplaces.
Benefits of selling on different marketplaces
If you are an online retailer looking to make make the most out of this holiday season, we recommend adopting a multi-channel strategy. This means listing your products on more than one marketplace, helping you diversify your sales. A multi-channel selling approach will also provide you with more opportunities.
Here are some other key benefits of selling on different online marketplaces –
- Offers business protection against stagnating markets
- Boosts the chances of making a sale
- Helps sellers reach out to a larger number of potential customers
- Gives more credibility to your products
- Helps maximize your market share
- Increases customer retention
- Increases profitability
- Boosts conversion rates
- Helps reach customers where they feel most comfortable
- Reduces the risk of failure
- Leverages the marketing power of different marketplaces
- Offers a testing ground for launching new products
Still, the question remains: what are the best platforms to sell online? So, let’s get to discussing the top 5 marketplaces for the holiday season.
Top 5 marketplaces for this holiday season
Here’s a list and descriptions of top online marketplaces for this holiday season –
1. Amazon
When you think of making an online purchase, the first option that probably comes to your mind is Amazon. After starting off as a book-selling website, Amazon has now become an eCommerce behemoth. It has revolutionized the world of online sales and has become the go-to marketplace for most shoppers because of its large buyer base.
Right now, Amazon is the single biggest player in the eCommerce space with a market share of 37.8% in the US.
Being a household name, it’s no wonder that Amazon is a trillion-dollar company today. That’s why associating with such a large brand can be beneficial for sellers.
Amazon can offer sellers an easy way to get their products in front of a massive global audience. As the graph below suggests, Amazon consistently averages more than 2 billion monthly visitors.
Why sell on Amazon
- It’s the #1 eCommerce website in the US
- It has over 200 million prime members which increases your odds of making a sale
- The ‘Fulfillment by Amazon‘ (FBA) service helps sellers outsource their fulfillment to Amazon which then handles product storage, pick-up, packaging, shipping, and customer service for their products
- It has a strict fraud protection system
- It has the highest market share of affiliate networks, therefore, tons of affiliate promoters
- Sellers can gain customer trust by benefiting from Amazon’s reputation
- No need to build your own website
2. Etsy
Etsy is a global marketplace for creative, handcrafted, and unusual items. It is an ideal marketplace for the holiday season when people look forward to buying and gifting such items.
Etsy is designed to sell handmade items created by crafters, artists, collectors, as well as antique shops. It is the perfect hub for unique and creative goods.
One of the best practices for sellers listing their products on the Etsy marketplace is to take beautiful product photos because the products that sell the most on Etsy are highly visual and aesthetically pleasing.
Pro tip: If you need help creating high-quality product photos for your Etsy store, you can take the help of the DoMyShoot app and make the entire process easier.
Why sell on Etsy
- Etsy is the best platform for selling niche products
- The Etsy Community is one of the most supportive forums out there
- The platform is designed for ease of use, so anyone can sell on it
- It is great for creative people and hobbyists
- It averages more than 400 million monthly visitors
- It has a low initial investment
- There are close to 100 million active buyers on Etsy
3. Walmart Marketplace
Walmart Marketplace is the eCommerce arm of the retail giant Walmart. It has emerged as another great option for selling online. Currently, it only ranks behind Amazon as the second biggest eCommerce platform in the US with a 6.3% market share.
It is by no means a new eCommerce platform. It has existed since 2009. But the platform only started gaining significant popularity after Marc Lore took over as the CEO. After this, Walmart made some significant strategic acquisitions and altered its eCommerce policy.
Today, Walmart Marketplace is considered a promising channel for sellers to explore. It can offer various unique benefits for your business that many other marketplaces cannot.
Why sell on Walmart Marketplace
- One of its key benefits is high visibility and low competition
- Walmart averages more than 400 million monthly visitors
- There is no monthly fee
- You can leverage Walmart’s enormous brand value
- It offers greater exposure to new audiences
- It offers free 2-day shipping
- It has a simple pricing structure
- It offers an easy checkout process
- Walmart Marketplace is continuously growing
4. eBay
eBay is one of the world’s most recognizable and oldest eCommerce platforms. After being founded in 1995, eBay is still going strong.
Over the years, it has become one of the top online marketplaces in the world. As of 2022, it boasts of over 138 million active buyers.
eBay is also the largest auction site, giving sellers good value for their unique items.
Why sell on eBay
- It offers the option to auction products
- It has great search engine optimization (SEO)
- It has a lower fee than Amazon
- It’s a complete 3rd party marketplace
- eBay gives you an option of generating higher revenue for an item than fixed price listing
- It gives you a free hand at selling almost anything
- It offers shipping assistance
- eBay averages more than 700 million monthly visitors
5. Wayfair
Wayfair has become one of the top marketplaces for household goods in the US. It is always a topic of discussion when it comes to selling and purchasing furniture online.
Wayfair is an appealing and affordable option for sellers looking to expand beyond Amazon, eBay, or other platforms.
Why sell on Wayfair
- Reduced competition increases the probability of earning more
- It’s easier to rank your products
- Wayfair averages close to 100 million visitors each month
- It is number 1 in its niche, overtaking even Amazon for furniture sales with a 33% market share
- Cuts advertising costs for sellers
- Easy navigation system
- Offers a real-time view of customer reviews
- Highly professional and insightful panel that makes selling easy
Wrapping up
The 5 marketplaces discussed in this article are great for making good profits during this holiday season. As we suggested, instead of just sticking with a single platform, try selling on multiple marketplaces to maximize your profits.
These marketplaces discussed here have huge audiences and can generate more sales. Each platform offers unique benefits. So, choose the ones that best suit your needs and start selling.
If you need help with product photography for your holiday listings then feel free to reach out to us.
Have a profitable holiday season. Good luck!
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