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Online marketplaces predictions for 2022: What can we expect from Amazon, eBay, Wayfair, etc?

This year has seen the continued growth of online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay and Wayfair. As we know, the trend away from the traditional high street was turbo-charged as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic, which continued into 2021. But what else can we expect from online marketplaces in 2022?

Year of the marketplace

2022 will be the ‘year of the marketplace’. Amazon led the way, but others are fast catching up.  They come from different roots – auction (eBay), retail (Next), publishing (Country Life), Social (Facebook and Tik-Tok), makers and craftspeople (Etsy) – but they’re all growing up to be in the same place – a purchasing channel.

Protecting brands in the future will mean making sure customers have the same emotional experience wherever they buy in the ecommerce environment. That means making sure the tone of voice and visual look and feel is consistent across the multiple different layouts and formats dictated by the new superpower marketplaces.

Brand control

Marketplaces like Amazon are desperate to deal directly with brand owners over retailers for a number of practical and commercial reasons, so expect to see more incentives for brands.

Taking control of your brand on Amazon and other marketplaces is no longer a choice, it is essential. Nobody else will give your customers the same brand experience as you can.

More tools for brands

On eBay we predict the introduction of more tools for brands to present themselves professionally, and more self-service promotional tools. eBay appears to be following Amazon’s lead in attempting to attract more brands directly, by allowing them to present themselves in the best possible light.

You’ll also notice more brands exploring a move from 1P to 3P in order to achieve greater brand control.

Brands expanding through D2C

2022 will see many brands that were created on Amazon fostering their D2C (Direct to Consumer) channels to build up their brands for the future.

There has been $billions invested into Amazon aggregators globally to buy up FBA brands that carry no brand equity on the channel. The owners of the brands will now begin to create their own D2C and social presence to capture more market share on and off Amazon.

Q-commerce

In wider ecommerce we think 2022 will be a boom year for Q-commerce (ordering goods to arrive within hours, not days).

Capitalising on speedy end-to-end fulfilment options such as ‘Fulfilled by Amazon’ and ‘Fulfilled by eBay’ is an easy way to achieve fast delivery speeds for most sellers.’

Live stream shopping

2022 will see a rise in worldwide Live Stream Shopping in the digital ecommerce landscape. From live stream shopping on TikTok, Facebook & Amazon.

Live stream shopping took off in a big way first in the Asian markets, and then in the US. I forecast this trend will grow in other marketplaces and social media platforms.

Supply chain disruption

We expect that 2022 will continue to see supply chain disruptions. Plan your stocks well in advance. Use the opportunity to steal a march on your competition by keeping in stock.

Environmental

Consumers are likely to be increasingly swayed by Climate Friendly products over price. Therefore, businesses should ensure that they have considered every aspect of their environmental impact, from sourcing, packaging, to end-of-product-life planning.

Ensure your environmental pledges are genuine too. Companies are rightly being called out for so called ‘Green Washing’.

Amazon Becoming Increasingly Specialised

Amazon support is becoming more specialised (trust us, we know!). Amazon is the largest marketplace on the planet, and competition is fierce. Amazon optimisation and best practice has become a multi-team expert skill set.

Attribution Tools

I expect we will see a bigger drive for split testing listings content. Towards the end of 2021 Amazon introduced Amazon Experiments. I expect we’ll see Amazon bring in more options for this feature so sellers can monitor and A/B test which form of content has more success over another. Your competitors will be using these tools to fully optimise their listings. Ignore it, and watch your products slip down the listings.

Could 2022 be the year that Amazon finally release an attribution tool which measures and appropriately credits all of your Amazon marketing activity? Many will be hoping so!

More 2022 Insights

As always, if you have any questions or need help with your Amazon, eBay, Wayfair or other marketplace accounts, please feel free to reach out to the Optimizon team. We’re here to help.

We have also prepared an Amazon Insights Report for 2022, full of insider tips and expert insights, which you can get for free here.

James Pitts-Drake, CEO and founder at Optimizon.

https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2021/12/22/online-marketplaces-predictions-2022-what-can-we-expect-amazon-ebay-wayfair-etc