Expanding into an existing marketplace offers many benefits which other business models may not be able to provide, and, for many brands, they’ll soon understand why prioritising online activities in the form of marketplaces is just as, if not more important, than opening physical stores. Marketplaces offer five key advantages. Let’s put these into perspective and take a closer look at how leading European fashion marketplace Zalando has been able to avail of these benefits.
1. Broad audience and higher visibility
In 2023, Zalando was the highest-placed fashion marketplace in the world’s top online marketplace with almost 150 million visits per month across Europe. ‘Fashion’ was also the second-most-popular product category behind ‘general’ with a combined total number of visits of 705 million views per month across 29 marketplaces.
By joining a marketplace, your brand stands to gain higher visibility from the incredible number of visitors to these platforms.
2. Increased sales
With its ongoing expansion, particularly into other European countries, Zalando has not only been able to increase its number of active customers to above 50 million, up from around 30 million in 2020, but it’s also been able to increase annual revenues as a result to over EUR 10 billion, up from less than EUR 8 billion in 2020.
As a partner on a marketplace, higher visibility often brings with it higher sales and the more brands with whom marketplaces partner, the more sales they are likely to make.
3. Ready-made infrastructure
Whether it’s the technological side of business or logistics operations, Zalando has a ready-made infrastructure that allows seamless integration into the marketplace. Particularly when it comes to logistics, Zalando, like many other marketplaces, offers a range of logistics solutions covering fulfilment and returns that allow brands to be as involved or uninvolved in the entire process as they want.
Partnering with a marketplace doesn’t have to be restrictive – they can work with your logistics provider to ensure seamless and efficient operations.
4. Efficient payment systems
Marketplaces often accept a wide range of payment types such as payment in advance, credit card, PayPal, payment by invoice, among others. Zalando offers its customers these payment types even for orders with its partners, making the process extremely easy and flexible for its customers. This is particularly important as 44% of consumers will abandon their purchase if they are unable to make a payment with their preferred method.
When selling through a marketplace, you can benefit from the payment systems they offer, even if you don’t offer them yourself.
5. Global expansion
Zalando was first launched in Berlin, Germany, in 2008, and focused its core market on the DACH region. However, within just 10 years, the company’s revenues from the rest of Europe surpassed those generated in the DACH region and after launching its first physical store in Berlin in 2018, has expanded even further, now operating a total of 15 outlet stores across Germany. The potential for expansion doesn’t stop by joining a marketplace – they also have plans for growth which you can benefit from too.
Partnering with a marketplace doesn’t have to be restrictive – they can work with your logistics provider to ensure seamless and efficient operations. When selling through a marketplace, you can benefit from the payment systems they offer, even if you don’t offer them yourself. The potential for expansion doesn’t stop by joining a marketplace – they also have plans for growth which you can benefit from too.
