eCommerce platforms and what you need to know about them

1. Amazon

Amazon is the biggest player in the eCommerce market. It's global presence and reach practically makes it a monopoly.

The facts:

Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994. It started as an online bookstore but has since diversified its product range to pretty much everything. Apart from media, it expanded into apparel, consumer electronics, food, healthcare products and much more. It has over 40 subsidiaries under its belt such as Twitch, IMDb, Zappos and a couple of others.

Apart from its eCommerce platform, Amazon is also known for its cloud computing services, artificial intelligences and web-streaming.

Pros and cons:

There are obvious advantages to selling on Amazon. Being the biggest marketplace, you have a larger online customer base than any other platform. Further, you have a global reach. With continuous expansion, you can now find Amazon in Japan, Australia, India and many of the European markets.

You also get to reap the benefits of Amazon's reputation with its customers. Amazon has built its credibility over time and continues to develop and assure customer security. Selling through Amazon means you don't need to invest as much on building a reputation. You can ride on Amazon's coattail of goodwill.

The biggest advantage of selling on Amazon is the FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) service, where Amazon stocks and ships your products to end-users, and also manages returns. This is convenient for sellers, and allows people from around the world to sell to any country easily.

However, you have to keep in mind that being a seller on Amazon comes with its challenges. To begin with, Amazon charges a relatively high fee for its sellers, more so if you decide to use FBA.

With Amazon you can't build a brand or loyal customer base. Customisation on Amazon is limited to the image you use and your listing and chances are customers aren't looking at who they're buying from beyond the “Amazon” name. You also don't have access to customers who bought from you for you to be able to remarket to them making the likeliness of repeat purchases a hard bet.

Want to learn the latest strategies to sell on Amazon? Check out Global Sources Summit, a 3-day conference for Amazon and online sellers.

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2. Walmart Marketplace

Walmart, may not have majority share in the eCommerce space just yet, but it is barely fazed by Amazon's current hold on the market. In fact, Walmart's eCommerce sales went up 43% in Q4.

The facts:

The first Walmart store opened in 1962 but it wasn't till 2000 that Walmart launched its official website. Walmart Marketplace, a platform for third-party sellers, was only made available in 2009. However, Walmart Marketplace hadn't taken off until the acquisition of jet.com, another fast-growing eCommerce platform.

Walmart heavily invests in its multichannel retail (omnichannel shopping) strategy. This essentially focuses on a seamless shopping experience for customers as they can choose to access products from any point.

Pros and cons:

Although Walmart Marketplace isn't the biggest in the eCom space, it still has a gigantic customer base you can tap into. Similar to Amazon, it has a big enough brand awareness for you to just hitch onto. What's more, with more sellers on Amazon instead of Walmart, you have fewer competitors to worry about.

Unlike most eCommerce platforms, Walmart does not charge a base/set-up fee. The fee structure is largely based on commission so you run a lower risk of selling on Walmart than you do on Amazon.

It's important to keep in mind that Walmart's regulations are extremely strict. Your request to sell on Walmart falls on a lot of factors such as reputation and fulfilment capabilities. This makes it near impossible for novice sellers.

3. Shopify

Shopify is a popular eCommerce platform if you want to set up your own website.

The facts:

Founded in 2004, this Canadian company was born from the dissatisfaction of its owners with the existing eCommerce market. Shopify hit a major milestone in 2017 when it announced an integration with Amazon. Shopify sellers would now be able to sell on Amazon from their Shopify stores. A more recent milestone is its expansion into content production and service.

Pros and cons:

The platform is friendlier to customisation. Shopify gives you several storefront theme options based on the industry your product falls in. This gives you the opportunity to stand out amongst your competitors and have some degree of brand voice. The best part is it's guided and extremely easy for anyone to do.

Shopify is known to excel with providing marketing support for its sellers. It allows for an easy segue into SEO, Google AdWords, Facebook Ads etc. This way the seller is actually able to connect more directly with their customer base which allows them to compete with other sellers more proactively.

The biggest factor to consider is that the customer base is relatively much smaller than the aforementioned giants. The fact that Shopify sellers can step onto the Amazon platform does help bridge the gap but eventually, sellers who want to sell on Amazon could just surpass Shopify and go directly on Amazon.

Apart from these three major platforms you could also consider smaller platforms like Etsy and WooCommerce. They don't have the same large customer base but this doesn't necessarily mean it's a disadvantage. These platforms work better for sellers looking for a niche and specific market or for sellers only selling one item. Costs are lower and the target market is more easily accessible.

Staying on top of eCommerce trends

eCommerce is still relatively new and continuing to expand. To keep up with it, it's important to be a part of the eCommerce world and community.

Global Sources Summit allows you to build this network across the world as eCommerce sellers come to Hong Kong to learn from experts, exchange tips and strategies during the networking sessions and possibly find their next million-dollar product at the co-located trade shows.

At the upcoming Global Sources Summit in April, you'll learn:

• 10 Hacks to Sourcing Products Cheaper, Quicker and Easier
• Strategies and Actionable Tactics That Could X2 or X3 Your Sales in Less Than 1 Month
• Leads 2 Sales: How to Use Lead Magnets to Acquire Customers and Leads for Pennies
• Social Marketing: Proven Strategies to Accelerate Sales (without all the geek speak)
• The Legal Foundation Amazon Sellers Need to Put in Place to Scale Their Business
• And so much more – See full agenda here

There will also be a panel discussion on “Sourcing 2020 and Beyond: Trends & Strategies for Maximum Profitability” and Advanced Amazon Training with Kevin King.

You'll also get to meet experts in the field such as Athena Severi, Liran Hirschkorn, CJ Rosenbaum, John Lawson, Chris Rawlings and mingle with them during the networking breaks and after party.

Global Sources Summit is a 3-day conference for online and Amazon sellers sourcing private label products from China.

Date: 27-29 April 2019

Venue: AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong

The Summit is co-located with Global Sources Lifestyle and Fashion products sourcing trade fairs so you can also meet thousands of China suppliers at the same time.

Reserve Your Seat

Use the code SS100 for $100 off