Let’s talk Marketplace 86: 3rd quarter reports round-up a.k.a. is that light at the end of the tunnel?

Amazon impressive, Etsy miserable, eBay somewhere in between – that's how you could summarize the fresh quarterly figures. In this episode 86, Ingrid and Valerie take a closer look at the figures that Amazon, eBay, Zalando, About You and Etsy presented for the third quarter. Because: If the cautious forecasts that the e-commerce economy is slowly picking up again have proven to be true, then this should be reflected in the figures. The two analyze how successful Amazon's efforts to reduce costs have been, how important revenue from the retail media business is now for Amazon and eBay, and why Etsy is struggling so much with declines in GMV and buyer numbers. They also take a look at the margins at About You in its B2C and B2B business, as well as the strikingly good liquidity of the platform, and they try to take apart Zalando's juggling of numbers.

Newsflash:

- The EU has launched formal proceedings against Temu because it has concerns that Temu is not effectively preventing the sale of illegal or counterfeit products.

- Shein has launched its C2C second-hand platform “Shein Exchange” in Germany.

- At the Marketplace Convention last week, Temu refused to answer questions on stage; in a separate breakout room, however, the representatives were a bit more open.

 

Note from the sponsor bestSolutions:

The service level agreements of marketplaces and their compliance can be a real challenge for brands and sellers. At Zalando, for example, the SLAs are 36 pages long and specify detailed delivery times and deadlines for the processing of returns. With an experienced logistics company, brands and manufacturers can face these challenges with confidence: bestSolutions can handle both their own online store logistics and B2B logistics. bestSolutions specializes in fashion logistics and is very familiar with the requirements of marketplaces such as Zalando, About You and Amazon. If you're interested in exploring how bestSolutions can support your brand's logistics, Ute Weickel-Oudot is your contact person.

Note from sponsor plentyOne:

PlentyOne is a German e-commerce service provider offering a complete solution for your omnichannel business – with a very strong focus on marketplaces. It covers the entire sales process across more than 150 sales channels and is suitable for manufacturers and brands of all sizes worldwide. In 2023, more than 116 million orders with a GMV of 9.8 billion euros were processed via the platform. In the coming months, PlentyOne plans to focus on expanding its innovative channel layer technology: this will ensure more efficient, standardized marketplace connections and relieve brands and retailers of complex system processes. More at https://www.plentymarkets.com

Note on Marketplace Universe Jobs & Talents:

Marketplace Universe has created something new: marketplace people who are looking for new challenges can store their profile in the Talent Pool. Companies looking for employees for their marketplace business can be matched with them by Marketplace Universe. There are also job ads in the Marketplace Universe newsletter and on the website. Find out more at https://marketplace-universe.com/jobs/

 

Chapters

00:00 Welcome and introduction

02:59 Marketplace Universe and its independence

06:11 Working with partners and customers

15:14 Newsflash

20:54 Marketplace trends and challenges

23:48 Third quarter data and statistics

25:41 Amazon: A strong quarter

32:01 eBay: Positive developments despite challenges

34:39 Etsy: Decline in the third quarter

35:41 Zalando: Strategic changes and growth

40:22 Marketplace trends and outlook for Q4