Ecommerce & Marketplaces Newsletter – Sep 30th, 2022
Welcome to the 73rd edition of the “Ecommerce & Marketplaces” weekly newsletter. We kick this week off by announcing Macy’s Online Marketplace for third-party sellers. The launch of the third-party marketplace signifies the next step in Macy’s digital evolution. The newly launched marketplace gives customers access to over 400 brands across 20 product categories. Macy used Mirakl as the technology company to create the marketplace platform; this enables third-party sellers to integrate their products into Macy’s e-commerce architecture. Juho Makkonen, CEO & Co-founder of Sharetribe, has an insightful take on two scenarios. The first tackles what marketplace businesses to start during a recession, and the second looks at how to prepare a marketplace for a downturn. As echoed by many industry experts, a recession can present a tremendous opportunity for the marketplace, even though it can be challenging for many businesses. New and established marketplace platforms that help customers save money and provide additional revenue streams for their suppliers are well-positioned to benefit from a recession. Fortune’s article talks about how live shopping platforms are shaping the future of eCommerce. Live eCommerce has already become a rage in many countries. In China, it is generating a sale of $387 Billion in this year, while its popularity continues to grow in the US. All the reports and industry forecasts suggest that live shopping is all set to become an integral part of eCommerce. It presents a fantastic opportunity for brands and retailers to consider leveraging this trend and adding to the customer experience. The Drum report discusses why B2B businesses should make the most of the digital commerce opportunity. It looks at why B2B businesses hesitate to take the plunge. For most B2B companies, a move to a digital service model is often seen as a leap into the unknown. It presents three principles for companies to get started – full of insights, a must-read. Blue Ocean Strategy has a great case study on Apple – The strategic thinking behind the world’s most innovative company. It provides a detailed analysis of how Apple’s blue ocean strategy transformed the company. McFadyen Digital has been working with many modern enterprises to design a coherent transformational strategy. Read about our strategy services for more details. ChannelAdvisor blog helps the marketplace operator get over the dilemma of 1P Vs. 3P by providing the pros and cons of each model. Read this and more in this week’s edition.
Notable news from the past week
Macy’s Launches Online Marketplace for Third-Party Sellers
Macy’s has launched its online marketplace, which was first announced in November 2021. The new digital marketplace on macys.com offers shoppers a curated assortment of new brands, merchandise categories, and products from third-party merchants and brand partners. The marketplace gives customers easy access to more than 20 product categories and 400 new brands. Macy’s partnered with marketplace technology company Mirakl to create the platform, which provides third-party sellers the ability to integrate their products into Macy’s e-commerce architecture.
Marketplace Businesses That Thrive in a Recession
We’re living in turbulent times, as the global economy seems to be headed towards recession. An economic downturn brings both challenges and opportunities for those building marketplace businesses. If you’re considering launching a marketplace business, now is a great time to do it. If you’re already running a marketplace, you should prepare for what’s ahead. This article, offers some advice for both situations.
How Live Shopping Platforms are Shaping the Future of Ecommerce
Walk down any street in New York City or Beverly Hills or through any mall in, and you’ll likely come across vacant storefront after vacant storefront. Brick-and-mortar retail, once shrouded in prestige, has been on the decline for the better part of a decade, as e-commerce has become the preferred method of shopping for people around the world. And with a seemingly limitless collection of items available online and increasingly speedy shipping, there’s now little need to ever visit a physical store again.
Digital Commerce Has Exploded – B2B Businesses Should be Riding the Wave
Digital has become the default for most consumers, and with the e-commerce industry booming, software-as-a-service (SaaS) brands such as Salesforce, HubSpot and Mailchimp are paving the way for B2B industries to follow suit. So, why is it that B2B organizations are still hesitant to take the digital plunge, and how can they overcome these challenges? Despite many B2B businesses now reaping the rewards of a digital model, a misconception still pervades: that selling traditional B2B services using e-commerce technology is a square peg into a round hole. Rather than technology limiting ambition, it’s often psychological barriers that cause inertia.
Think Different: Apple’s Blue Ocean Formula for Success
It’s been almost a quarter of a century since Apple’s iconic ‘Think Different’ ad campaign, which captured in two simple words Apple’s vision for the company in 1997. The tagline, which continues to resonate to this day, helped launch one of the biggest corporate turnarounds in history. As we shall see, Apple’s ‘think different’ slogan also captures what it means to have a blue ocean perspective. In this blog post, we’ll explore how Apple’s ‘think different’ approach led the company to make a series of strategic moves that reconstructed whole industries and changed the world.
Selling on Amazon – The 1P vs 3P Dilemma
Amazon wants to partner with you no matter how you choose to sell. Need access to Amazon’s vast sea of customers, but want to stay in control of your own listing? Sure thing. Feel comfortable letting Amazon take the reins with your products? That’s ok too. Amazon offers both first-party (1P) and third-party (3P) seller relationships. What’s the difference? It turns out there are a number of pros and cons to each arrangement.
Five Ways to Adapt to Change and Build a More Resilient Business Model
In an age of rapid change and rising uncertainty, it is more important than ever that your business is built on a model that is adaptable and resilient. Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, everyone has seen their personal and professional lives turned upside down as our living rooms have become our new office, and coworkers (for many of us) are now pixels on a screen. Add to this, a volatile global economy that has sent prices soaring and supply chains scrambling.
.
To subscribe to the Ecommerce & Marketplaces Newsletter, please complete the subscription form on this page (either to the right or below this article, depending on device). If you have any suggested content for this newsletter or would like to discuss evolving your organization’s digital commerce, please write to us at info@mcfadyen.com.
