Top Multi-Channel Marketplaces for Selling Internationally

E-commerce platforms that offers you the highest level of control on your online store, marketing, product positioning, as well as other aspects of running your business.

However, what can you do to broaden your reach and connect with new markets who wouldn't have any other method to access your product? This is how selling on multiple marketplaces can help increase the success of an e-commerce companyit gives you access to more customers from more locations who will probably never come across your store.

There are numerous top online marketplaces that have the potential to be globally renowned, and depending on your business, it is important to consider each before deciding which ones can most effectively help you achieve your expansion goals without jeopardizing your freedom.

What is the best way to select the most suitable marketplace

The top online marketplaces that support multi-channel sales include those we all know, like Amazon as well as eBay. There are many other marketplaces which have a comparable presence around the world, and even larger in some instances. These include Alibaba, Walmart Marketplace, Etsy, and Newegg.

In this article, we'll look in depth into each one so you'll have an understanding of the features each marketplace online offers.

What regions of the globe engage with each online marketplace? How many users visit these platforms, and how loyal are they?

If you want to reach new markets through your product and are convinced that marketplaces on the internet offer the ideal way for doing this, take into consideration a number of key aspects:

• The way each marketplace supports sellers, safeguards their autonomy, and generates more revenues without difficulty
• Price: what will you have to pay in order to use each online marketplace
• Audience: What kinds of individuals each market is most appealing to?
• Reach: What volume of potential customers from specific geographical regions who can access each marketplace

Let's examine each of these six top multi-channel marketplaces.

1. Amazon

Amazon has come a long way from the beginnings of its existence as an online bookseller. It's now about the closest you could get to an everything-seller. The majority of the merchandise on Amazon originates from different market sellers, which includes ecommerce businesses who want to reach new customers.

Features

Amazon has been doing this for a while, and has figured out the best way to make an eCommerce site perform, and so that most ecommerce stores wish utilize many of the same strategies. With the many extensions that are available and the ability to implement a lot of the things Amazon is doing in your online store.

These are the top features of Amazon Marketplace:

• Global access: open an account in almost every country that is on Earth
• Phone support in most nations, chat support and email for the rest
• You can set your own prices
• An online platform that lets you create your own offerings and promote these
• Simple review collection using the same system that most people are familiar with
• Ability to create your own products, and then store them on keywords that can be found in search engines
• Metrics tracking for performance, such as order defect rate and cancellation rates for fulfillment
• Fulfillment through Amazon (FBA) is a program that allows you to access the Prime Badge and offers better delivery choices
• Pre-set product page layouts that eliminate the task of figuring out the layout

Fulfillment by Amazon is basically the process of shipping your products to Amazon as well as they store your products in their warehouses. This does come with an expense, however you can offer free two-day shipping to Amazon Prime customers, and Amazon takes care of printing labels, packaging along with all the other shipping tasks you would think of.

The shoppers are able to filter their searches so they only find products from sellers with the Prime Badge and give buyers a sense of exclusivity and exclusiveness.

Pricing

Amazon is one of the most expensive marketplaces on the internet. They have an array of costs, not only one.

In the beginning, you have to select between two plans: the Individual Plan and the Professional Plan. In the Individual Plan, you pay 99 cents per sale you sell. This is a better option for those who sell less volume of sales online. This Professional Plan costs $39.99 per month and grants you unlimited sales.

Next, there's the referral fee. It is similar to commissions which every marketplace online charges. The fee is calculated as a percentage of the total amount you spend which includes shipping charges. The fees vary based on product category. Most are between 8-15%, but they range up to 45% and as low as 3 percentage. Following that, there's an additional fee for fulfillment that is based on the weight and size of the merchandise being sent.

For access to Amazon's warehouses the storage fees are based again on the size of your items. The fees for storage triple during the October to December festive season.

Does that cover it all? Actually, there may be even more fees for certain situations.

Why would someone want to be paying all of these costs in order to make a sale on Amazon?

There are a few benefits built in and have a large market. However, it is also true that with your own online store, you won't have to pay most of these costs. You will have control your inventory as well as your shipping.

Audience

Amazon is the biggest retailer company in United States, having achieved nearly total market saturation. 150 million Americans are Prime Members more than 70% of adults.

There are 197 million users on their application as of the time of this writing. Amazon is responsible for 56.7 percent of retail ecommerce sales in the U.S. Therefore, if your customers are in America, US, Amazon can reach them.

Including including the U.S., they have approximately 310 million active application users around the world. This means you have the ability to reach the mobile audience, too.

Amazon's customer base is diverse across North America, and in numerous other countries. 66% of shoppers who shop online typically begin their search on Amazon.

Reach

After acquiring Souq in 2017 and establishing an Middle Eastern ecommerce marketplace, Amazon became the largest online retailer in the world. They are concentrated in North America, Europe, Asia, and Asia and the Middle East.

Amazon ships to over 130 countries as well as 2.7 billion customers have made purchases through Amazon. Amazon has 2.72 billion unique monthly visitors.

As for the dimensions, you will be able to reach the most global market with Amazon. With great scale is great competition. Amazon is also home to the biggest number of online sellers. Therefore, it's not easy to get your products recognized.

2. eBay

eBay started out as a site to market used goods through bidding wars. While they still offer that service, only 12% of the items offered on their website are open for bidding and 80% of products sold on eBay are brand new.

So it's become an online market with more loyal group of buyers as compared to Amazon. Many shoppers begin their online shopping experience with Amazon However, many end up with eBay.

Features

eBay is a real marketplace. They do not offer products of their own, so your only competition comes from other sellers, rather than the marketplace itself. Additional features offered by eBay are:

• Concierge services for larger ecommerce brands
• Seller Hub is the platform where you manage your online business through eBay, where you can create and manage listings, orders, manage promotions and sales, etc.
• Customization of listings -- more than Amazon
• Uploading videos that are related to your product
• Coupons, discounts and promotional capabilities, such as coupons
• It is possible to offer discount pricing based on volume
• Subscriber options allows you to create marketing newsletters to customers, provide discounts for subscribers as well as build greater loyalty with customers than Amazon
• Ability to access review of products.
• Shipping label printing
• The option to promote your products through Google Ads as well as other websites for shopping, as well in conjunction with eBay Ads
• Advanced analytics
• Daily or weekly pay schedules

Pricing

eBay's pricing model is simpler than Amazon's, however the charges are comparable in a few ways.

First, there's the insertion fee of 35 cents per listing The first 250 listings are completely free. If you create an eBay store, you get even more free listings.

Then, you get charged a percentage of the sales price, which typically is 10% in most product categories, though it ranges from 2-12percent. This includes all the costs for processing. If you want to lower the cost of insertion then you should consider a monthly subscription. For higher volume sellers that are looking to increase their sales, this is the best option. There are three options available with each one of them coming with a higher profit from selling on the platform, and all of them cost less if you are paying annually, as opposed to the monthly. Monthly costs include:

• Basic: $24.95 per month
• Premium: $74.95 per month
• Anchor: $349.95 per month

Audience

eBay is a popular choice for hobbyists as well as what some call "enthusiast buyers" and also to those who are looking to get a great deal. eBay is a great choice for electronics. It is the number one retailer with 16.4% of products offered through the website.

eBay also offers a wide range of clothing and accessories (16 percent) and automotive (11%) in addition to health and beauty (9 percent) as well as the outdoor and sports equipment. These five categories account for about 60% of what is sold on eBay. But, that still leaves plenty of space for additional products.

According to the edesk, 61% of the audience on eBay is aged between 35 and 64 60 percent of them are men in contrast to Amazon's close 50/50 proportion. So your audience includes the Baby Boomers who are at the tail end Gen-Xers, as well as Gen-Xers and Millennials. eBay isn't getting as much customers from the Gen-Z.

Reach

In researching the term "reach," it's important to distinguish between visitors to the site and buyers. The majority of sites that report on the reach of top established marketplaces for multi-channel selling does a good job of clarifying this, which is why you'll see wildly diverse numbers across different sites.

Plus, the ecommerce shopping numbers changed dramatically in the years after 2020. Therefore, the data prior to that date is extremely outdated.

eBay has a current count of 885 million people who visit the site each month. Per year, about 135 million of these customers actually purchase items through eBay.

eBay is third-most downloaded online shopping app in the US following Walmart and Amazon with 60% of eBay's buyers are in the UK and U.S., with Germany making up 15 15%. That means that about 34% of eBay's audience is within these three regions.

As for sellers, it's a somewhat different tale. The majority of eBay sellers reside in the U.S., and 25% are in the UK. 17% are from China and 16% are from Germany as well as 3% from Australia. Therefore, you are able to sell your products on eBay virtually anywhere so long as you pay attention to which countries the majority of buyers reside.

3. Alibaba

A lot of marketers from the west aren't familiar with this e-commerce giant that is based in China that was created by Jack Ma. But it owns more than 60 of the market share of Chinese marketplace for e-commerce, which signifies that any business that is looking to expand into China or the adjacent Asian markets must look into joining Alibaba or any of its subsidiaries platforms such as AliExpress, Taobao, Lazada, or Tokopedia. All of them serve various nations in the region.

Features

The presentation of the capabilities of Alibaba is difficult because it is a multitude of different platforms under its overall scope, each with distinctive features. To simplify things, we're going to focus only on Alibaba as well as AliExpress. But if you're looking to increase your reach in specific Asian nations, it's best take a look at the other platforms they offer, and will be discussed later.

Alibaba is one of the best B2B E-commerce marketplaces. Alibaba lets you buy and sell wholesale products for other companies and from them. With Alibaba it is possible to:

• You own your customer's data and not on Amazon
• Make use of communication tools in order to connect directly with buyers
• Get access to CRM tools and analysis
• Translate in more than 18 languages
• Customize your application using an API integration
• Coordinate international logistics for freight
• Support for onboarding is available to new sellers.
• Access product inspection and monitoring

Alibaba uses an RFP (Request for Quote) procedure to allow clients to make orders because businesses make use of Alibaba to buy in bulk from suppliers and manufacturers. So prices are not fixed. The amount depends on the quantity as well as shipping costs and other elements.

Sellers also have the option of earning three different ratings: Verified, Gold, and Trade Assurance, which assure customers that they're buying from reliable suppliers.

AliExpress
AliExpress is among the many B2C E-commerce sites that Alibaba has in its global marketplace. As with Amazon, sellers can sell specific products and then ship them directly to the consumer. Also, you can use AliExpress to dropship. Like Alibaba the service can also be translated into more than 18 languages.

Other features include:

• Advertising for increased product exposure
• Convert and accept 51 of the currencies
• 38 local payment channels for secure transactions
• Storefronts that can be customized online
• AliExpress University, an onboarding service to help the new sellers.
• Numerous shipping options
• Policy of protection for the buyer in case of damaged, defective, or undeliverable items

Pricing

Alibaba deals in much higher volume as compared to B2C ecommerce marketplaces, so its prices are higher also. There is no commission on sales paid by the website -- just an annual charge The cheapest is called the Gold Supplier Basic which is $1899 for the year.

AliExpress adopts a similar approach than other B2C E-commerce platforms. The company does not charge a fee per year however, it charges between 5-8% commissions for each transaction.

Audience

If you want to sell online in volume to businesses of other kinds, Alibaba is one of the most popular online marketplaces available to you. More than 10 million customers from more than 200 countries have purchased wholesale products via Alibaba. It is possible to deal directly with producers, but there are also traders, exporters, and agents. businesses, and wholesalers.

These buyers could include other manufacturer and wholesalers who are making use of your product in the production of different products. They might also be sourcing agents, or B2C retailers. You can use Alibaba to build private labels.

 AliExpress

AliExpress is geared towards the general public as does Amazon, sells just about anything, from clothing to equipment to products for home improvement from electronics to cosmetics.

Within the nations in which AliExpress and others Alibaba B2C ecommerce platforms operate, your target audience includes all those who shop on the internet. A few buyers might also be re-sellers setting up up dropshipping businesses.

AliExpress sellers are required to be in China, Russia, Spain, Italy, France, or Turkey.

Reach

Alibaba reaches dozens of countries and nearly a billion people.

AliExpress and the other B2C platforms engage millions of consumers from 220 nations. They're the most popular in Asian nations. In China there is a platform called Taobao. Lazada is the platform that operates in Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Tokopedia will be the main platform for Indonesia.

4. Walmart Marketplace

Walmart started out as the brick and mortar department store, and was not an ecommerce marketplace. In 2010, the company started selling on the internet, having the huge capital they have accumulated generated by their stores, Walmart has been successful in rapidly increasing its selling online platform to the point that it can compete with the most prominent brands like Amazon.

But, Walmart Marketplace has fewer sellers, and at present it means there's less competition to get your products seen. So you can very likely get more exposure for your products on Walmart Marketplace than Amazon.

Features

While Walmart's ecommerce platform has several similarities with Amazon however, its differences are significant. The key differences are:

• The stricter requirements for sellers - not everyone can open the store
• Ability to provide complimentary two-day shipping
• Advanced listing and analytics tools
• Secure checkout
• Market research
• Review options for customers
• Walmart ads which provide greater visibility for the product
• A supply chain system is established
• Walmart Fulfillment Services, which can store, pack and deliver your items

Walmart Fulfillment Services works very much like Fulfillment through Amazon. Your products are sent to Walmart's warehouses. After orders have been received, they package and deliver your items for the benefit of.

The stricter process for obtaining qualifications provides a compelling reason to consider Walmart. They only accept sellers who are able to demonstrate past success with ecommerce. This ensures that all their sellers are trustworthy and offer high-quality products.

Pricing

In contrast to Amazon, Walmart charges no charges for setting up, listing and subscriptions. There is a charge per sale, which as with other websites, varies by product class. The range goes from 6-20%, but the great most of their fees can be 8% or 15 percent.

Audience

Walmart is a great retailer because they have an abundance of shoppers in their stores They also have the online market in addition to the rest of them. Walmart offers everything in-store, and their online counterpart offers more. They cater to anyone shopping on the internet.

Reach

Walmart Marketplace gets about 410 million monthly unique visitors according to an estimate, and it engages buyers from Africa, Canada, Central America, Mexico, India, China, and Chile, as well as parts of the U.S. and parts of Europe.

The loyalty program at Walmart currently includes more than ten million customers. These are the people who get a special incentive to shop at Walmart on the internet.

5. Etsy

Etsy began as a platform that let people sell their exclusive and handmade items and not products made by mass production. For the most part the company continues to fulfill that goal even today. For ecommerce sellers, Etsy is the place to sell one-of-a-kind items and specific items.

If you are selling a collection of products and want to attract customers to your ecommerce store using Etsy make use of the site to market unique items followed by a follow-up with a follow-up to bring them to your primary store that is built upon .

Features

Etsy includes some features that are that are similar to those of other platforms including safe transactions, applications, email and some phone assistance, as well as the capability to personalize the appearance of your Etsy shop. In addition, Etsy includes:

• Automated deposits directly to your account
• Postage discounts are available.
• An Etsy advertising platform on which you can purchase ads to increase the visibility of your ads.
• The Seller App allows direct communication with buyers via the Seller App
• Seller protections
• An affiliate program you can make use of to convince other people to sell your stuff
• An email newsletter to sellers as well as a handbook
• A connection to a group of sellers

Etsy is known for its reputation for being less prominent when searching for particular items, and this motivates some to buy Etsy advertisements. You have to be very careful when creating product pages, including your language, and the keywords that you employ to explain your products.

Pricing

Etsy offers a basic pricing structure. The company charges 20 cents per listing and the is active for four months. For each sale, you are charged a 9.5 percentage transaction and processing fee that includes all costs.

Additionally, Etsy runs ads for your goods all over web, mostly through advertisements that display images of your items. You don't have control over this, and there is no cost for you, unless your ad result in the sale. For any ads that result in a sale produce a sale there will be an additional charge for each sale.

Audience

Etsy's audience is very distinct from the other top marketplaces online. Shoppers on Etsy want products that they cannot find else. They want stuff no one other person will have. It's like treasure hunter.

This is the place to sell unique items that can make you known as an creator, an artist and a creative product designer who puts time and creativity into each item.

The vast majority of shoppers on Etsy are females, typically aged between 18 and 40.

Their top-selling product categories are the categories of home and living, jewelry crafting supplies, as well as tools. They have a wide selection of merchandise for weddings and bridal parties.

Reach

Etsy has a lower reach as compared to other marketplaces. Although they are able to reach more than 200 countries, and boast 86 million active users, about half their online sales go directly to U.S., and almost all of the remainder go to UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, and France.

Etsy is also home to a number of customers who are loyal, and with 81% of all purchases that are made by customers who have been buying from them repeatedly. So if Etsy's audience aligns with your offerings, you can win regular customers much more quickly using this marketplace rather than some of the other less generic options on this list.

6. Newegg

Newegg began as a tech-focused ecommerce marketplace, and it continues to dominate that industry category. However, it has extended to other areas and has become one of the best platforms for businesses using e-commerce to market their goods.

Features

Newegg delivers real benefits for its top sellersusers who subscribe to the monthly subscription. The features for this marketplace depend on which membership you select from their three options of Free, Professional or Enterprise.

Like Walmart, Newegg requires sellers to be approved prior to when they are allowed to use their online marketplace. This ensures an excellent quality level for the products they sell. A few of the key functions include:

• An informed and focused group of people
• Possibility to sell previously used and refurbished items
• Ability to advertise the products they sell on their website, including Sponsored Video Ads
• Affirmed support
• API integration
• Advanced product descriptions that include video and touchpoint imagery to assist customers in making good decision
• The ability to access Newegg Studios -- they'll create videos and images for your items
• Product listings are unlimited with the Enterprise membership
• Automation of purchase emails for the Enterprise membership
• Discounts for customers who use Newegg Fulfillment and the Newegg Shipping Label service
• Rewards for sellers who price competitively
• A Premier Seller Program that grants you access to the biggest consumers
• The option to advertise on Newegg's social accounts and email marketing campaigns

Like Amazon as well as Walmart, Newegg has a fulfillment and shipping label service as well, and if you've an inventory of it this is a great option since it can cut costs.

Pricing

The free version is available however the Professional version priced at $29.95 per month and Enterprise membership at $99.95 per month will give you access to all the features you want.

Audience

Newegg's customers are primarily technologically focused and knowledgeable. There are more early adopters here than most other places and generally it's a more affluent customer base. Unlike Amazon, Walmart, and Alibaba, people who shop on Newegg tend to earn $75k a year or greater. Their customer base is 72% men and is mostly aged between 18 and 44.

In addition to a wide array of electronic and other accessories, Newegg also does well when it comes to home cookware and appliances. It is also expanding into sporting goods categories.

The Newegg customers love looking at specifications for products, which is why this is not the platform to be a light touch on details. You want to include lots of detail on the product page Consider seriously adding videos. Thirty-two percent of customers are returning customers.

Reach

Newegg boasts around 4 million customers who are active throughout Europe, South and North America as well as the Middle East, and Asia Pacific.

This means it's a smaller market and yet one that is spending more and is looking for specific types of goods. Like Etsy there is a chance to build a stronger and more devoted fan base here than in the big broad marketplaces.

Why should you sell it in the context of your overall strategy?

Online marketplaces are great entry points into selling online. They're also an excellent opportunity to connect with your customer wherever they are and at the places where they're shopping.

However, when it comes down to the matter, it's clear that the ideal option to increase the size of your business and maintain full control is to start an online store that you own . Let's look at some of the reasons to support this:

1. Marketplaces promote competitor products

Third-party marketplaces want all of their customers to achieve success which means that your company isn't their primary focus. When potential customers are browsing or looking for goods, they will not just find items of competitors in the same category as yours. They may also get ads for these items.

When you have a marketplace, it's much simpler for customers to pick a different business over the one you have. However, with tools like , you can create websites that help shoppers discover what they're seeking and then make purchases seamlessly, without distractions from other stores.

2. Marketplaces are a bit limited in terms of the design and function

With online marketplaces need to be able to alter your listings for products to satisfy the specifications for format, images, design classification, the length of descriptions. That means that you may not be able to provide all of the information you'd like.

If you're working from the template of a design, you might not have the ability to alter it to reflect your branding. The items you create will appear like the other ones.

With , however, you can design the type of product and store listing that you'd like. Add lots of photos and videos, as well as dimensions charts and lists of ingredients as well as customize the overall look and feel to fit your brand

3. Marketplaces are a part of the sales

Third-party marketplaces take a cut of your sales online in exchange for using their services. When you expand the amount of money you earn increasing. But doesn't charge any fees for selling online.

4. Marketplaces limit your control

When you sell through a marketplace that is third party is subject to the rules and regulations of that marketplace. If they determine that you're in violation of those rules, they can take the store down, at times without warning. This means you'll be unable to earn a profit and possibly the content you've made.

With Jetpack, you'll enjoy complete control and responsibility over your website. It is also possible to make backups which will save all of the information on your site including customer and sales details. So if something ever goes out of the ordinary, you'll be able to immediately get your store to running again.

5. Markets can make marketing more difficult

While some third-party marketplaces provide built-in marketing tools, these aren't always the best when you expand. There may be no way to incorporate the tools that you'd prefer for advertising, email marketing, customer relationship management and search engine optimization and many more. It may also be trickier to compile customer data and to effectively interact with customers.

6. Markets can make it difficult to adapt

When you begin to grow your company and expand your business, you'll have to implement significant changes to accommodate more sales. For example, you might be required to change your delivery or marketing strategies, take a variety of currencies, translate your content in several languages, or incorporate it the fulfillment and inventory management software.

Third-party marketplaces hinder the ability to implement such changes. They may not integrate with the tools you want to utilize. Or perhaps they won't allow you to modify the product that you require to make in order to market globally.

You can take many currencies, set up shipping in any number of ways, connect with a variety of tools, and customize the store in whatever way you'd like over time as you expand. Additionally, you can choose a hosting provider necessary to offer the tools, resources and assistance needed to handle growth of traffic.

When it comes down to it, this is the most effective method to start and build a successful online store. The benefits include a system which is simple to operate (no code required! ) with the ultimate flexibility, high-end support and complete control.