Online store VS online market: What model bet to continue to develop its activity successfully?
Online sellers are now confronted with the challenge of finding the best distribution channels for their products. The choice of appropriate channels depends on the resources of each and the objective pursued. The sale via a clean online store or via online markets, such as the international online markets of Kaufland Global Marketplace, are the two most common sales models.
How can online sellers impose themselves on the growing electronic commerce market?
Online purchases are now an integral part of daily life. In 2024, electronic commerce in Europe recorded a total turnover of 570 billion euros and forecasts for the future announce strong growth.1
Due to increasing competitive pressure and to promote the increase in turnover on their own business, sellers are increasingly focusing on multi-channel distribution. They often focus on sales via their own online store, while offering their online markets, which have become an important element in the commercial strategy of many sellers. Online markets are increasingly rating as a resource -economical option, allowing both to quickly and easily access new customer groups and increase your own marketing scope. This trend is also reflected in the speed with which the landscape of online markets has extended to Europe: in fact, since 2015, the number of suppliers present in online markets has tripled just in the Dach (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) region, and in 2022, there were already 200 online markets.
It does not matter that sellers already have their own online store and plan to expand their multi-channel strategy, that they are just online trade or that they wish to sell products beyond their borders, they must all be able to identify and assess the needs of their customers: Kaufland Global Marketplace offers sellers, whatever their turnover, the possibility of getting into new sales channels and to extend their presence internationally.
Kaufland already has operated an online market in Germany since 2021 and more than 11,000 sellers are already offering their products in more than 6,400 categories. Each month, up to 32 million customers come to shop on the online market. In addition to the German online market Kaufland.de, Kaufland extended its presence internationally at the beginning of 2023 by successfully launching the online markets Kaufland.sk in Slovakia and Kaufland.cz in the Czech Republic. These online markets are already one of the most popular in their respective countries. At the end of the summer of 2024, Kaufland continued its expansion in the field of electronic commerce by opening two other online markets in Poland and Austria. Thanks to the five online markets in Kaufland, sellers can potentially reach 81 million customers.
But ease of access to a large audience is only one of the many advantages offered by online markets. A glance at the advantages and disadvantages of online markets compared to online stores makes it possible to make a decision as to the choice of the appropriate distribution channel.
Advantages and disadvantages of online markets and online stores.
Having your own online store offers great flexibility and real control. Sellers who choose this distribution channel are not required to comply with the rules inherent in online markets, they should not take into account sales commissions and they do not have to deal with competing offers in their own online store.
However, creating your own online store requires considerable efforts to achieve marketing and customers comparable to those offered on online markets.
Sellers who sell through online markets spare all these constraints. The online market operator provides the technical infrastructure, so that once registered, sellers are enough to adapt their sales parameters to sell their items online. Sellers can thus save resources and quickly and easily increase their visibility, maximize their marketing scope and expand their customers. The reverse of the medal is the fixed structures, the costs and limited access to customer data. Those who take this path nevertheless benefit from many advantages, ranging from the acquisition of new groups of customers to the development of their own online presence and the use of online market services, including the technical know-how offered by platforms.
Sell on the international online markets of Kaufland Global Marketplace.
Large platforms like that of Kaufland Global Marketplace are particularly attractive for international sellers, because they benefit from the immense notoriety of the brand and a large marketing range. Indeed, in the background of the Kaufland online markets is the German supermarket chain Kaufland. According to the main European distribution channels, Kaufland has 1,550 stores in eight countries and offers a wide range of everyday consumer products. This particular bond between physical stores and online offer is reinforced by customer loyalty programs such as the Kaufland Card and the Kaufland app, which confirm customers to the brand. Confidence which also benefit from online markets. Kaufland is part of the Schwarz group. It also has other renowned companies, including Lidl, which operates internationally.
In addition, Kaufland’s multi-sea-to-line technology not only allows sellers to access the five online markets in Kaufland by only making a single registration, but also to expand their online sales beyond national borders by sparing their resources. Sellers thus save time, money and staff in comparison with the means necessary for the expensive and tedious development of an online store, which requires always more resources, for example generating marketing costs to generate enough traffic on the site or requiring updates due to adaptations of the law in force.
While sellers who offer their products via their own online store are often forced to give up their ambitions for international growth due to the language barrier or other difficulties, those who, on the other hand, sell in Kaufland online markets can increase their sales beyond borders without problems. Indeed, Kaufland Global Marketplace helps sellers to sell on international online markets (cross-border), to evolve as you go and boost their activity thanks to many services, such as the processing of payments in the local currency, level 1 assistance in the language of the online market concerned or the automated translation of product sheets, this allowing sellers to spare the tedders On the essentials: their turnover. In order to constantly optimize them on the online markets in Kaufland, various on -site marketing features, such as reduction vouchers or advertiseled products, are made available to them.
Kaufland Global Marketplace considers itself a solid partner alongside the sellers to help them in their expansion, and pursues the following objective: to assist the sellers, regardless of the size of their business and their turnover, and allow them to set up and develop their online trade faster and more economically than if they were engaged in this way. As part of this partnership, sellers can count on tailor -made support, for example via personalized sellers assistance.
Thanks to these advantages, Kaufland’s online markets are the optimal platforms to exploit potential sales beyond borders.
Sources:
Source 1: Market Insights: Ecommerce – Europe, Statista.
Source 2: Die Marktplatzwelt 2022, Online-Marktplätze und ihre erfolgsfaktoren, Ecom Consulting GmbH & Gominga Eservices GmbH. (Online markets and their success factors)
