One of the growing trends observed in the retail industry has been the rise of marketplaces – shopping channels that allow all merchants to come together and sell goods on a specific website. Two of the top marketplaces that merchants need to focus their marketplace selling on are Amazon and eBay, with both sites visited by more than 100 million people each month. Selling on these channels can be highly beneficial, simply due to how many people actively browse these sites.

However, there are also smaller marketplaces as well, ranging from NewEgg to Amazon Business, a variant of Amazon’s marketplace that is tailored to sellers of business-to-business goods. These marketplaces are smaller and target niche crowds. The availability of such a wide range of marketplaces to retailers poses a very real question: Is it better to consolidate efforts and focus on the larger marketplaces or try to specialize and go after the niche audiences?

Why focusing marketplace selling on the biggest marketplaces may be the best bet

While there is no “one size fits all” approach to selecting the appropriate marketplace, opting to focus attention on Amazon and eBay may be best choice for some retailers.

As noted, Amazon and eBay serve the most customers on a monthly basis, which can be hugely beneficial for merchants, particularly those without much brand recognition on their own, such as startups or small sellers. Selling on a marketplace as large as Amazon or eBay grants merchants access to a built in audience they may be unable to tap otherwise.

Amazon and eBay are household names – people have confidence when they make purchases from these marketplaces, even if they have not heard of the individual buyers from which they are making the purchase.

Another huge perk is that some marketplace spenders may be more valuable customers. One report from the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners found that Amazon Prime Members spend $1,500 a year, while average non-Prime members spend $625 per year. That is a pretty valuable customer that merchants can gain access to by selling on the site. Not only are retailers reaching more customers, they are engaging shoppers that spend a lot of money on these marketplaces.

Taking the easy road

Another big advantage of selling items on Amazon and eBay includes the fact that these sites are established marketplaces. As the saying goes, “if you build it, they will come” – one of the reason so many retailers sell on Amazon and eBay is because the sites have been so well designed from the seller perspective. It is largely a painless process to get a marketplace up and running in no time, even if retailers are trying to sell a variety of items. With some of the new marketplaces cropping up, the seller experience may not be quite as streamlined, which can lead to some additional hassle that could bog down operations or affect service.1

For that matter, because Amazon and eBay are such popular marketplaces, they have more support across eCommerce platforms, product information management tools and other critical selling software. Most solutions come complete with integration options for Amazon and eBay intact, making a painless process that much easier. With the right solutions, retailers will be better able to manage their marketplace listings and improve order fulfillment options by a significant degree.

Picking the right eCommerce platform is never an easy choice, but at the end of the day, retailers must do what works for them. For some merchants, Amazon and eBay just make sense due to all the perks associated with them.