MARKETPLACE VS.
PROJECT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
OWN STORE STRATEGY
Holistic Approach to manage
MAKE SURE YOUR MARKETPLACE SALES FIT INTO
Strategic Initatives
YOUR BROADER STRATEGY
IRCE 2017
Fahim Naim
Founder & CEO –
John Doe
eShopportunity
Milan, 2 June 2013
[email protected]
WHO AM I?

Fahim is the Founder & CEO of eShopportunity, an eCommerce Strategy &
Growth Consulting Firm (eshopportunity.com)

Fahim was an ex-category manager at Amazon, and previously worked in
retail/e-commerce for 7 years prior to Amazon

eShopportunity has partnered with dozens of companies to help them win in ecommerce. Clients include established brands, startups, and much more

Fahim was asked by Shopify to write their official ‘How to win on Amazon’
guide, which will be published in June 2017 to all Shopify merchants.

Fahim has spoken at several leading e-commerce conferences, webinars,
podcasts, & more. Find list on eshopportunity.com

eShopportunity is one of only 14 service providers recommended for sales &
marketing on Amazon Launchpad Service Hub

MBA Graduate of Kellogg School of Management
AGENDA – BUCKLE UP FOR THE
RIDE!
 Why Marketplaces
 Assortment
 Pricing
 Content
 Ads & External
Traffic
 Personalization
 Financials
 Summary
WHY MARKETPLACES - RECAP
 Customers often prefer marketplaces because of the variety,
convenience, and discoverability
 For brands, marketplaces help introduce you to new customers and
provides them greater confidence in purchasing your brand
 Customers are already there regularly, and are spending $$$
(studies show marketplaces have higher AOV)
 If you aren’t in control of your marketplace listings, someone else
can (and probably already is!)
While Marketplaces may feel like an additional layer between you
and a customer, use them to build reviews and credibility so they
ultimately buy on your own site!
MARKETPLACES HELP DISCOVERABILITY
80%
Consumers
said marketplaces
have introduced
them to new brands
*According to a 2016 Forrester Research Report
85%
Consumers
agreed or strongly
agreed marketplaces
have helped them
locate items that
would have been
otherwise difficult
ASSORTMENT
 When possible, may be worthwhile not providing full
assortment on marketplaces to provide increased
value on your store
 Check marketplace agreements to see if a full
catalog is required
 Some brands offer enhanced services (i.e.
Full
Assortment
VS.
embroidery, set-up, enhanced warranty, etc.)
through own store
 Some possible ways to bifurcate what you sell on
marketplaces and what not to sell are:
Narrowed/Exclusiv
e Assortment

Best Sellers vs. Long Tail

Unique vs. Non-unique

Entry level vs. Premium
PRICING
 Many marketplaces have a pricing parity clause
that ensures you don’t price lower on your store
than on their marketplace
 In most cases, you want to set your EDLP and
promos the same for your store and marketplaces
 Alternatively you can make your store more
expensive to drive traffic to a marketplace for
reviews
 One way brands have been creative to lower
pricing is through discount/promo/coupon codes on
their own site
 In many marketplaces, EDLP pricing is better than
a consistent Hi-Lo strategy
55%
of online shoppers research a
product on Amazon before
purchasing
*According to BloomReach 2016 study
28%
of online shoppers
research a product on
search engines before
purchasing
CONTENT
 It is extremely likely that a customer is doing
research on Amazon or other marketplaces over
your own store
 You need high quality content on marketplace
sites. This includes pictures, titles, bullets,
descriptions, enhanced content, videos, Q&A, and
more
 Goal is to have unified and consistent messaging
across all channels

For example, if you focus on being a premium
brand on your store, also get that across on
marketplace listings
 Make sure to regularly check your marketplace
listings to ensure they are correct and up-to-date
MARKETING – ADS AND INFLUENCERS

Most brands focus majority of external

(Google & FB) ads to own store. Allows for
better tracking, re-targeting, and
relationship with customer



Many influencers are set up as an affiliate
so they get paid by the marketplace for
driving sales to listings (win-win for brand)

Recommend a balanced strategy of having
Some marketplaces have their own internal
influencers directing traffic to own store vs.
PPC ad platform, and can be integral to
marketplace
drive traffic

for free/cheap
Some brands direct ads to marketplace at
start to drive reviews and rankings
Influencers can be great way to drive traffic
Note that the marketplace’s ad platform
may be different than Adwords/FB and
require a different approach
HOW TO BE BEAT MARKETPLACES –
PERSONALIZATION!
 One area where you can, and should, beat marketplaces with
your own store is personalization!
“Primarily email based up to now, the Aberdeen Group
found that personalized emails improve clickthrough rates by 14%, and conversion rates
by 10%. While Jupiter Research reported that

41% of customers said better personalization would make
them more likely to buy from a brand over Amazon*

relevant emails drive 18 times more
revenue than broadcast emails.”
Once you collect a customer’s email and/or they place an
order, you have the ability to target, re-target, follow ups,
personalized offers, new product launches, etc.

Marketplaces often do not let you own the relationship with a
customer after a transaction completes, so take advantage on
your store

Stay engaged with customer and give them a reason to shop
with you!

For marketplaces that allow an email follow up asking for a
review, use this as an opportunity to build relationship with
*According to a 2016 Bloomreach Study
customer
FINANCIALS
 Comparing profitability between your own store
and marketplaces can be complex
 For example, even with 20-30% commission fees,
marketplaces can often be cheaper than acquiring
new customers on your own store (especially early
on)
 Must consider what your CPA (or CAC) is on your
own store, and if possible your LTV.
 Cannibalization may not be as high as you imagine
since through marketplaces you often are
acquiring new customers
 Generally, a good strategy is acquire through
marketplace and grow LTV and repeat purchases
through your store
SUMMARY – HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO!

Customers are likely shopping at marketplaces, whether
you are there or not

One winning strategy could be to acquire new customers
through marketplaces, build strong reviews, and give
customers reason to buy from you directly

To provide value on your own store, be strategic on your
marketplace approach to: assortment, pricing, content,
ads, & external traffic

Use personalization as a key to win over customers to
your store and for repeat purchases

When comparing finances, evaluate your store’s CPA
and LTV to the total Marketplace fees. Utilize
marketplace in short-run but goal is to win over customer
to your store eventually