What is a marketplace strategy?

It may sound obvious, but a marketplace strategy is a long-term plan designed to achieve specific goals on marketplaces, taking into account the company’s available resources. Think of goals such as growing brand awareness, achieving top product rankings, increasing sales, outperforming competitors, or collecting reviews. The possibilities are endless.

Why do you need a marketplace strategy?

Having a strategy is essential to being successful on marketplaces. It gives your business direction and helps you make informed decisions. With a well-thought-out strategy, a brand can grow more effectively on marketplaces and reach its goals faster.

In recent years, a large number of new sellers and products have entered the market. As a result, competition is now significantly higher than just a few years ago, making it much harder to stand out from competitors. Where a seller used to be able to find high-potential products with relatively low competition through good research, this has now become a much bigger challenge. Competitors often have years of reviews built up, meaning newcomers must make a considerable effort to outperform them. That’s why having a strong strategy is more important than ever.

What is the best marketplace strategy?

The best marketplace strategy fully depends on your goals and your business. Do you want to expand internationally or focus on conquering a specific marketplace? Is there a particular revenue target? A successful marketplace strategy always aligns with these objectives. It’s important to note that the ‘best’ strategy differs per product category and marketplace. What works well for one product category or platform might not yield any results for another. Each marketplace has its own rules and requires a specific approach to truly achieve success.

How do you define your marketplace strategy?

As mentioned above, having clear goals is essential for building a strong strategy. We recommend starting by mapping out these goals, for example using the SMART method. Setting clear goals provides a solid foundation.

Depending on these goals, you can determine which marketplaces best align with them. For example, do you want to conquer the German market? Then make sure your brand is visible on German platforms that fit your product range. On our page selling on German marketplaces, we explain more about this.

There are also platforms with a specific audience and product focus. These so-called niche marketplaces are an essential part of almost every marketplace strategy. We therefore recommend finding marketplaces that match your company’s product offering. Do you sell DIY products? Then make sure your products are listed on niche marketplaces such as Praxis, Brico, and ManoMano. Do you sell Home & Living products? Then it’s wise to list them on specialized Home & Living marketplaces. Examples include fonQ in the Netherlands, home24 in Germany, or Maisons du Monde and La Redoute in France.

It’s also crucial to take a critical look at your available resources. Determine how much time you can and want to dedicate each week. Keep in mind that successfully running a marketplace account requires significant time and effort. Want to save time? Check out our full-service account management page or learn more about LVB and FBA. This can save a lot of time and effort, which you can then reinvest in other important tasks to help your business grow further.

In short: there’s no universal ‘best’ strategy, but by following our advice, you can develop the best marketplace strategy for your brand.