Blog
April 8, 2022
The triumphant advance of large online marketplaces continues even after the pandemic. How marketplaces are consolidating their dominant position in online retail.
The figures are impressive: in 2021, Amazon generated sales of approximately CHF 49 billion in Germany, and in Switzerland, 70 to 80% of end customers shop on marketplaces. The shift of online retail to platforms makes shopping much easier for consumers and has many advantages. End customers are well aware of this, as a study by Mirakl shows: Customers cite lower prices (62%), a wider selection of products (53%), advantageous delivery options, and a better shopping experience (43% each) as the main reasons for shopping online.
However, this shift can be seen not only in the B2C sector, but also in the B2B sector. Innovative pioneers such as WUCATO Marketplace AG, which belongs to the Würth Group, have opened their own online shops to other retailers and are now the largest procurement platform for craft and industrial supplies in the DACH region.
Without high-quality product data, there can be no scalable platform economy.
The new retail reality must meet customer expectations for a broad but also deep product range. This requires long-tail, omni-channel, and marketplace business models. Above all, the timeliness of the offering is a key element here. Success can only be achieved by those who can offer a large number of products from a wide range of suppliers in various industries in high e-commerce quality at competitive prices. This results in ever-increasing demands on marketplace providers, which they must meet. In order to survive in this competitive market, marketplace providers must offer comprehensive services to retain suppliers and, above all, end customers on their own platform.
However, this only works if the best possible shopping experience is offered. High-quality product data is key in this regard, as it significantly supports and facilitates customers’ purchasing decisions. According to the results of a new global study by PIM provider Akeneo, 64% of customers are willing to buy a different product if information that is crucial to their purchase decision is missing. Worse still, poor product information is reason enough for 66% not to buy. So if you don’t invest in product data quality, you lose customers and therefore revenue.
Link between raw product data and a realistic shopping experience
For marketplaces, therefore, the faster products with complete and accurate descriptions can be brought online from manufacturers’ unstructured and differently structured catalogs, the better. In the long term, however, this can only work with a clearly structured and automated product data onboarding process that ensures data quality at all times. It is precisely this process that represents the link between raw product data and a realistic shopping experience.
Only those who can offer a broad and deep range of products online that is always up to date and consumer-friendly have a modern e-commerce infrastructure that will be able to keep up with technological developments in the future. Retailers are looking for a link that brings two things together: raw product data and a realistic shopping experience – in other words, consumable data.