While Amazon is the dominant North American and European marketplace, its hegemony doesn’t extend to all corners of the globe. From Asia and Australasia to Latin America and the Middle East, there is a wide range of regional and national online marketplaces that brands should sell on. Here’s what you need to know.
Rest of World (RoW) marketplaces overview
Leaving China to one side (as the world’s largest ecommerce market, China is home to some of the largest global marketplaces, but they are also some of the most complex to enter), RoW marketplaces are becoming increasingly popular as countries develop, internet access increases and middle classes grow. For example, the top three countries in terms of online sales growth in 2022 - Philippines (26%), India (26%) and Indonesia (23%) - all have a fast-growing marketplace presence.
In particular, the top three RoW marketplace areas are:
- East Asia - 15 marketplaces with more than 1 million monthly visitors and a total 2.5 billion views per month.
- Latin America - 18 marketplaces with more than 1 million monthly visitors and a total 1.5 billion views per month.
- Southeast Asia - 12 marketplaces with more than 1 million monthly visitors and a total 840 million views per month.
Meanwhile, different regions have different e-commerce priorities. For instance, electronics is the largest e-commerce segment in Asia and Latin America, while fashion is the largest segment in Australia. For brands looking to expand their global marketplace presence, the big question is: where’s best to sell our products?
5 major RoW marketplaces to know about
Rakuten
‘The largest online shopping mall in Japan’, Rakuten is the ‘Japanese Amazon’ covering all major product categories. With 57,000 shops, 100 million+ members and annual sales of 5.6 trillion yen ($41 billion), it’s no surprise that Rakuten has a whopping 28% share of the Japanese e-commerce market. Focusing on discount to mid-market, Rakuten offers overseas sellers support in setting up their shops (in English) and distributing their products through its Rakuten Super Logistics fulfilment service.
Monthly views: 590 million (2022)
Commission: Registration fee ($550), monthly fixed fee ($460) and 2-4% commission, +0.5% via mobile.
Flipkart
The most popular marketplace in what is now the most populous country in the world, Flipkart offers a wide range of general product categories, including fashion, electronics, home appliances and furniture. Launched in 1997 and now owned by Walmart, Flipkart’s marketplace revenue increased by 25% to 433 billion rupees ($5.3 billion) in 2021. Listing products on Flipkart is free and overseas sellers can use its in-country Flipkart Fulfilment service to ease distribution.
Monthly views: 200 million (2022)
Commission: 3-15% and also variable fixed rate fee per item
Mercado Libre
Think Latin America, think Mercado Libre. Generating in excess of $10 billion in 2022, it’s not only the #1 marketplace in the region, but one of the ten most visited ecommerce sites globally. Offering 20 main product categories to 65 million buyers in 18 countries, it’s the go-to hub for online sales in Latin America. It also offers a multifunctional global selling platform, international payments, specialised ads and fulfilment via Mercado Envios.
Monthly views: 447 million (2022)
Commission: Varies per country and product - i.e. Brazil 12.5% fixed fee, Chile variable rate and 600 Chilean Peso ($0.75) per unit
Lazada
Owned by Alibaba (owner of Chinese marketplaces Taobao and TMall), Lazada was launched in Singapore in 2012 and now employs 10,000+ people in Asia. A general product marketplace, it currently has a strong presence in six south-east asian countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - with particularly strong growth in the Filipino market. Focusing on discount/mid-market, overseas sellers can use its Fulfilled by Lazada service to make selling easier across its markets.
Monthly views: 144 million (2022)
Commission: 2.5-4%
Catch
Riding high Down Under, Catch markets itself as ‘Australia’s favourite superstore’ selling everything from fashion and tech to groceries and sports gear. Specialising in ‘low prices’ and ‘huge savings’, it’s popular with bargain-hunters and is great for brands looking to offload discounted stock. Sellers have to pass an online application and set up a store (with support from Catch) as well as fulfil the orders themselves (there’s currently no fulfilment service).
Monthly views: 8.4 million (2022)
Commission: Monthly subscription fee of $49.99 + 10-20% commission
Which RoW marketplaces are right for your products?
With a whole globe of online marketplaces to choose from, it can be difficult to work out which sites are best suited to your products and business models. However, when considering the likes of Tokopedia in Indonesia or Shopee in Singapore, you should bear in mind these three core criteria: suitability, viability and profitability.
- Suitability - What are your short-term objectives? If you want to offload stock at knockdown prices, it’s best to use sites like Catch, but if you want to get your brand in front of as many eyes as possible, try sites with lots of monthly traffic like Mercado Libre.
- Viability - The world is a big place. Each of the 200+ countries have their own rules, regulations and selling challenges, so you should look at the logistics, compliance, tax and support to see if selling is viable.
- Profitability - If you’re based in the UK and want to sell in Australia, how much will that cost in terms of warehousing, shipping, delivery and management fees to name just a few? After calculating all these costs, if it’s not profitable, it's not with it.
For more advice, check out our blog on selecting global marketplaces or get in touch directly with Rich Insight.
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