E-commerce

Marketplace shopping goes mainstream: What your brand needs to know

Despite economic pressures impacting Australian consumers, e-commerce shopping in Australia is expected to grow to to $64.14 billion this year. Surging popularity and mainstream uptake of marketplace shopping in Australia will also see a projected 94 per cent of people buy from platforms like Amazon, Catch, Temu, and Ebay over the coming year.

The findings were revealed as part of Pattern’s sixth annual ‘Marketplace Consumer Trends Report – 2024,’ which discovered, in an industry first, that Amazon has overtaken Ebay to become the leading marketplace in Australia. Amazon now outperforms all other marketplaces on average monthly site visits, including Ebay by a significant 48 per cent over the last three months of last year, to achieve an average of 75.2 million monthly site visits.

Local brands need to be present on marketplaces to win business where consumers are. But what marketplaces are people shopping on, what are they buying and where do the opportunities lie? 

Where consumers will shop in 2024

Amazon is on track to achieve the highest growth rate of any marketplace this year, with 63 per cent of Australians planning on buying from the site (6 per cent annual growth) compared to a projected 8 per cent decrease in people planning to buy from Ebay. 

Shoppers are also predicted to be active and make purchases on new marketplaces like Temu (24 per cent) and Shein (23 per cent), along with established platforms including Kogan (22 per cent), Catch (32 per cent) and MyDeal (17 per cent).

Amazon wins through ease-of-use shopping 

Amazon’s ongoing popularity can be linked to the growing acceptance and uptake of Amazon Prime in Australia. Last year, 26 per cent of consumers (up 19 per cent) chose to shop on Amazon purely because of their Prime membership, which offers ease of use shopping and fast and free delivery. 

Amazon’s sales growth is also being supported by an upward trend in repeat purchases, with 89 per cent of shoppers who have purchased on Amazon having done so more than once. Additionally, there has been a significant increase in highly active shoppers on Amazon with a 37 per cent increase in the number of consumers who have made purchases 14 times or more.

Marketplace spending predictions 

Rather than reducing expenditure due to cost-of-living pressures, consumers are expected to stabilise their spending this year. This is reflected in 66 per cent of shoppers saying they will spend the same or a little more in the year ahead. Shoppers on Amazon are even less likely to reduce their spending, with only 18 per cent of people planning to buy less, compared to 24 per cent across other online platforms.

While marketplace sales events like Black Friday may attract shoppers, it does not mean that they do not have significant purchasing power. Notably, 80 per cent of shoppers who were in the $200,000 income bracket bought on Amazon, reflecting its strong reach among higher-income consumers. Shoppers on the rapidly growing marketplace, Shein also have higher disposable income with 34 per cent of those in the $160,000 to $199,000 household income bracket buying from the platform during the past 12 months. 

Marketplace category opportunities 

For brands looking to introduce products on marketplaces in Australia, recognising key category opportunities is essential. Research shows that this year a majority of consumers (60 per cent) are interested in purchasing home and kitchen products from Amazon, followed closely by electronics and computers (57 per cent) and books and e-books (55 per cent). 

Pattern’s research also revealed key product categories for 2024 for other major marketplaces, including: 

• Ebay will be competitive across a range of categories, including electronics and computers (17 per cent), home and kitchen (16 per cent) and clothes, shoes and accessories (16 per cent).
• Catch is popular for toys, kids and baby (12 per cent), home and kitchen (10 per cent).
• Kogan will remain strong in electronics and computers (11 per cent), home and kitchen (9 per cent).
• Shein is set to grow through clothing, shoes and accessories (16 per cent).
• Temu attracts shoppers with clothing, shoes and accessories (10 per cent), home and kitchen (7 per cent).
• MyDeal’s sales will come from home and kitchen (5 per cent) and DIY home improvement (4 per cent).

With marketplace shopping growing in popularity and expanding in platform options in Australia, it is critical that brands become active on these channels. Marketplaces allow brands to create connections with a new range of customers who, after a positive brand experience, can go on to become repeat customers across a range of different sales channels.

As the world’s top e-commerce accelerator, Pattern knows the key drivers for boosting listings, conversions, and profitability for brands across marketplaces. For more information on how your brand can accelerate its growth, please visit Pattern online or email us at au@pattern.com.

About the author: Merline McGregor is the GM of Pattern Australia.