Marketplaces growth and standardized clothing sizes

In addition to Amazon, other online marketplaces have released their sales figures from Q4 2020. We collected the results and compared them in our comment.

General Updates

Amazon standardizes clothing sizes

Starting on 22 February 2021, there will be standardized clothing sizes on Amazon. Previously, the information about sizes could be entered as free text, but now the sizes must be selected from a predefined list. This means that the clothing sizes on each marketplace will have to be adjusted according to the size specifications in each country.

Record sales via Amazon from third-party sellers

Third-party (3P) seller sales were stronger than ever on Amazon in 2020, generating $300 billion in sales. This represents 61% of the $490 billion in total sales on Amazon in 2021 – the remaining $190 billion were first-party sales from Amazon itself. 3P sales on Amazon grew 50% from 2019 to 2020.

Ebay grows by 19% in 2020

Ebay reported revenues of $10.3 billion (up 19% year-over-year) and profits of $1.5 billion (+ 68%) in 2020. In Germany, the platform’s revenue grew by only 5%, which was significantly less than in the UK (+27%), US (+26%), and South Korea (+14%).

Alibaba publishes Q4 2020 results

The Chinese e-commerce platform generated $33.8 billion in revenue during the last quarter (+38% year-over-year growth), with 89% of total revenue coming from its e-commerce business. Alibaba’s fiscal year does not end until after Q1 2021, so it is not possible to make any final statements on the overall growth yet.

Amazon buys E-Commerce Software Selz

Amazon has bought software provider Selz. The Australian company announced the deal on its blog already in January, but the news basically went unnoticed so far. Accordingly, Amazon seems to be entering the market for e-commerce shops outside its own platform. With a focus on SMEs, Selz helps companies to sell products via their own websites, Instagram/Facebook, and Google Shopping. Analysts see the acquisition as a sign that Amazon is actively working on an alternative to its competitor Shopify.

Online trade tax in the UK?

According to press reports, the British Ministry of Finance is considering an online retail tax to protect retail stores and maintain the balance between offline and online commerce. The government supposedly fears the extinction of city centers due to the strict COVID-19 lockdown measures. British trade associations expressed their objections to the proposal.

1 million reviews for Amazon Echo Dot

The smart speaker is the first product on Amazon with more than 1 million reviews. At the end of 2019, Amazon introduced a rating function that works with just one click – since then, the number of reviews has strongly increased. This makes it harder for new products to win against the heavily rated (and thus favored by the Amazon algorithm) products in the rankings.

Comment: Marketplaces Growth in 2020

In the last News Package, we had a look at Amazon’s 2020 financial results. Now, we’re comparing Amazon’s revenue growth with other marketplaces’ numbers.

All major online marketplaces grew in 2020, most of them grew a lot – but none of them beats Amazon:

• Amazon: +38% YoY, $ 386 billion
• Alibaba: +34%, $ 81 billion (estimated)
• JD: +25%, $ 104 billion
• Otto: +23%, $ 12 billion
• Zalando: +22%, $ 8 billion
• Ebay: +19%, $ 10 billion
• Walmart: +2%, $ 524 billion (incl. offline activities)

Top 5 Amazon Keywords

Corona-related search terms appear only sporadically in the top 5 this time: In all countries, shoppers were on the hunt for Valentine’s Day presents and searched for gift ideas for their loved ones – only the hype surrounding the latest Playstation could keep up with this development.