What to expect for Black Friday 2021

We also introduce you to our new Remdash Dashboard: We have developed a fully automated dashboard to track the performance of products on Black Friday & Cyber Monday – find out which KPIs can be tracked below.

Additionally, Hannes Detjen compares how the leading online marketplaces have developed in Q3 2021 in the commentary section below. 

Updates: Amazon

Black Friday 2021 on Amazon: more deals than ever before

According to a survey by Shopify, American consumers will spend an average of $787 between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which is $100 more than last year. Sales in Germany are also expected to reach $4.9 billion on the two upcoming discount days – an estimated increase of 27 % year-over-year (YOY). Amazon is gearing up for the surge in demand, offering more deals than ever before, including electrical goods, toys, baby equipment and household goods.

Amazon USA: the least competitive Amazon marketplace

According to research by Marketplace Pulse, every active seller on Amazon in the US receives more traffic than sellers on Amazon’s smaller marketplaces in other countries. In the UK, for example, sellers only get half the US traffic. In Canada, they even only reach 25 % of it. While Amazon has fewer third-party sellers outside the US, it is not necessarily less competitive, it just has fewer buyers. In other words, a smaller number of sellers share an even smaller number of buyers in other countries.

Amazon UK to ban Visa credit cards

Amazon customers in the UK will no longer be able to shop with Visa credit cards, starting on 19 January 2022. Visa has increased its interchange fees from 0.3 % (the maximum rate under EU law) to 1.5 % after Brexit. Amazon says higher interchange fees lead to higher prices for consumers. Visa debit cards will still be accepted by Amazon though. In our blogpost The Brexit and the new reality for Vendors & Sellers, all changes affecting Amazon UK can be read up on.

Starbucks and Amazon open first grab-and-go store in New York

The recent speculation that Starbucks and Amazon are collaborating to open a grab-and-go store has now been confirmed. On Thursday, the coffee shop that is equipped with Amazon’s cashierless technology opened its doors in New York. Starbucks customers can now easily place a mobile order and pick it up without having to pay at the cashier. At least two more of the stores are planned to open in New York next year.

Updates: Other marketplaces

Record sales on Singles Day in China

At this year’s Singles Day, Chinese online retail giants Alibaba and JD.com once again set sales records. Even though the focus of this year’s 11-day sales event was less on records and more on “green” and sustainable products, Alibaba achieved an increase in sales of 8.45 % and JD.com one of 28.6 % compared to the previous year. During this year’s sales event, JD.com accepted the Chinese digital currency e-CNY as a means of payment for the first time.

Growth of online marketplaces in Q3: Walmart, Alibaba & JD

Walmart exceeded all expectations with its results in the third quarter of 2021. The US-based company reported sales of $140.5 billion (up 4 % YOY). Alibaba’s third quarter revenue grew 29 % YOY to a total of $31.4 billion. Alibaba’s net profit sharply fell by 81 % to $845.6 million though. In comparison to 2020, Alibaba rival JD.com’s Q3 revenue rose 26 % to a total of $34.3 billion.

Ebay launches new video feature

After a rollout phase in the US that started already in April 2021, eBay now offers a new video upload feature for product detail pages to all sellers. A feature that was long overdue as the integration of video content has been an ongoing topic on the platform for many years. The new feature will initially only be integrated in the app, but will soon also be available via desktop and in the mobile browser.

What caught our attention

Amazon is testing new ways to create more transparency for customers in regard to prices. Especially with the many offers and deals in the period running up to Christmas, the displayed “Cheapest price in X days” should be a helpful feature for online shoppers.

The automatic translation of keywords is now offered in the Advertising Console. We are still testing how reliable this new feature is, which is why we recommend checking the translations carefully at this point in time while it was just launched.

There is also a new tab for vendors and sellers in Vendor and Seller Central: Listing Quality Dashboard – a tool to highlight important product information for customers. The recommendations are updated daily in the dashboard. For example, there is a new Product Overview function that can be used to highlight important product features above the bullet points on the product detail page.

Comment: Online marketplaces growth in Q3 2021

After all Q3 earnings have been released by now, it is time for a comparison of the growth and revenue figures of the largest online marketplaces worldwide once again.

In the third quarter, Amazon only ranked 6th with regard to its growth rate. But still, the leading e-commerce platform is performing on a whole different level regarding the total of its revenue.  

• Argentinian marketplace Mercado Libre grew the most – as it already did in Q1 and Q2 this year.
• Walmart’s numbers are estimated for US e-commerce only. The overall growth including retail stores is less than last year: 4.3 % YOY.
• Online marketplaces with a strong local presence, such as Allegro and Cdiscount, might still be small with regard to their total revenue – but they grow quite fast! The big players on the market have to watch out here and take their growing competition seriously.
• In total, all online marketplaces’ growth has slowed down in Q3 2021 due to a resurgence of offline shopping and global supply chain issues this year.

Remdash: Black Friday Dashboards

You can now check out the Automated Monitoring for Black Friday & Cyber Monday in Remdash!
We have crafted a powerful and completely automated dashboard for you to monitor your Black Friday & Cyber Monday performance of your products.
 These are the main KPIs you can track (Deal ASINs vs. Rest):

• Revenue Development & Share
• Traffic & Conversion Rate
• Buybox Ownership & Share
• Availability
• Bestseller Status
• Choice Label Status
• Sales Rank Development

Interested in Remdash? 
Schedule your personal product demo here!

Top 5 Amazon Keywords

Two trends have become evident in all markets we analyzed: Amazon customers in various countries are increasingly on the lookout for Black Friday deals. Video game consoles such as the Nintendo Switch or Playstation 5 seem to be particularly sought after. In addition, online shoppers are now increasingly preparing for the Christmas season and looking for Advent calendars and Christmas decorations.