The importance of marketplaces in Brazilian e-commerce

It's no longer new that consumers had to adapt to new ways of shopping. The search for practicality and convenience became a priority, going beyond the ease of finding products and comparing prices and boosting new forms of commercialization in the digital environment, such as joining marketplaces.

Although the growth of this market was generated by an external context, consumers are increasingly demanding and digitized. Today, it is now possible to have the purchases available on your doorstep in less than one click.

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According to a study carried out by Mirkal, the presence of buying and selling on marketplaces in Brazil has grown over the past few years, with a greater emphasis on the years of the pandemic.

Around 41% of Brazilian respondents said they purchased exclusively on marketplaces in 2019, and that percentage jumped to 68% in 2020 and 71% in 2021.

However, the growth in this segment is even greater, because according to the 42nd edition of Webshoppers, the most important e-commerce report in the country, carried out by Ebit|Nielsen, marketplaces were responsible for 78% of Brazilian e-commerce revenues in 2020.

In this article you will understand about this trend, what a marketplace is and what is its importance for small and medium-sized companies.

What is Marketplace?

For you to understand the importance of marketplaces, you must first understand what this business model is and how it works.

The marketplace is an online sales platform, with the objective of bringing together various types of suppliers, the retailers, on the same channel so that they can offer their products. In other words, to make it even more clear, it is a kind of virtual mall that enables sales of different types of stores.

Don't confuse marketplace with e-commerce, as they are different things but they are interconnected, since e-commerce is your own online store, exclusive to your company.

We can see these two forms of business linked together on the following occasion: when your small and medium-sized company needs visibility and registers its products on the website of a store already established in the market.
In addition to adhering to these technologies, it is important that you manage well and understand if this type of business matches your audience. That way, always be aware of industry 5.0 and the changes in the way of entrepreneurship.

Brazil: the largest e-commerce market in Latin America

With the current scenario of recent years, being online has never been more necessary, as it is essential to find new distribution channels and ways to survive.

Under these conditions, for many companies, digitalization has become the only way out. However, for small and medium-sized businesses, this reality was even more challenging, since it is difficult to create their own structure for virtual sales on a tight budget.

In this context, the implementation of the different technologies emerged as a true salvation and that is why e-commerce and the marketplace gained even more visibility in Latin America.

According to a study published by Enext, countries like Brazil experienced a significant increase in the number of purchases and made this region of the continent reach 81% relevance in online retail, against 72% for the rest of the map.

The success of this technological trend was not something sudden, the implementation of these types of businesses has been carried out gradually. In 1996, the first registrations of virtual stores appeared in Brazil, such as: Lojas Americanas, Sugarloaf Mountain and Submarine.

According to a study carried out by Statista, based on the distribution of the e-commerce market in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2021, Brazil accounts for about 30% of the e-commerce market in Latin America. Take a look at the following graphic:

In addition, in 2021, the recovery of this territory has been clear, especially the increase in online purchases in Brazil, which generated around 161 billion reais in revenue, with the potential to reach +8% in 2022.

The factor that has most contributed to boosting these numbers is boom of access to mobile devices, since their democratization has allowed online shopping to become increasingly popular.

The 5 largest marketplaces in Brazil (in 2022)

As stated above and based on the current scenario, we are in a phase of expansion and major changes for global e-commerce. Therefore, the largest marketplaces in Brazil gained space to expand their platforms and invest even more in the segment.

According to the ABComm, the Brazilian Electronic Commerce Association, the prospects for the Brazilian e-commerce market in 2022, points out that in 2021 the sector earned R$150.8 billion, with a positive projection for 2022 and an expected revenue of R$169.5 billion. That is to say, there is a growth projection of around 12%.

Based on consumers, a study carried out by Mirakl found that almost half (48%) of online purchases take place on marketplaces and 71% of consumers reported an increase in the frequency of consumption in these spaces in the last 12 months. Among the interviewees, 58% expect to use these platforms even more in the future.

“With 58% of Brazilians expecting to increase their use of marketplaces in 2022 and in the coming years, the number of retailers launching marketplaces will continue to grow, driven by popularity with both consumers and retailers. Every retailer in Brazil needs to be exploring this innovative business model if they want to be successful in the future”.

Adrien Nussenbaum, co-founder and co-CEO of Mirakl

To understand the proportion of the impact of e-commerce in Brazil, here is the ranking of the main Players of the country (including the percentage of your Market Share), based on the E-commerce Sectors Report in Brazil:

The expansion of this trend is increasingly consolidated in the daily lives of retailers and consumers. Also, according to the above-mentioned report, in the first months of 2022, e-commerce saw an increase of 2.8% in the number of accesses via apps, and these accesses, added to the sites, generated about 26.1 billion in the last 12 months. Incredible, isn't it?

For micro and small companies, the great advantage of the e-commerce marketplace is the initial investment, as the cost is reduced and guarantees great visibility in the market. The consequence of this increase for your company will be the maximization of sales and business growth.

That said, marketplaces are a great opportunity for retailers and consumers, since at the same time they present your company's product in a store already established in the market, they also give those involved the advantage of finding a greater variety of products in one place.

As you saw in this article, there are several advantages of adapting this type of business to your company. Therefore, in order for you to have more competitive advantage, study ways to implement the different strategies and technologies available.

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