The launch of Amazon Australia has sent a ripple of excitement through the retail industry this week, and big changes are expected to follow.
New research from leading Australian retail management platform, Neto, suggests that marketplaces are the future of Australian retail. In a survey of more than 200 retailers conducted prior to the launch of Amazon Australia, Neto asked their merchants about current and expected future activity on a variety of marketplaces including Amazon US, Amazon Australia, eBay, Catch of the Day and TradeMe.
The results revealed that 95 per cent of retailers surveyed intend to sell on Amazon in 2018, and 39 per cent of retailers said they will sell in as many marketplaces as possible in 2018. For those already trading on marketplaces, a huge 52 per cent of sales, on average, come through these channels.
These findings come after the Neto State of Ecommerce Report, released just last month, found that shoppers are also turning to marketplaces, with 39 per cent of shoppers surveyed using marketplaces as their primary channel to buy online.
Neto CEO and Founder, Ryan Murtagh, says that this shift is not surprising given the quality of customer experience and high level of trust consumers have in marketplaces like Amazon:
“Ease and convenience remain the top priorities for consumers’ shopping experiences, and consequently so does an efficient fulfilment, shipping and returns process.”
For merchants who plan to trade on marketplaces in 2018, 18 per cent predicted that 75 per cent of total sales will come from this channel, and 54 per cent of respondents expect marketplaces will make up 5-25 per cent of sales.
“Retailers are beginning to incorporate marketplaces into their strategies as they realise it will help to get their brands out there, bring in new customers and expose them to broader markets.”
But Murtagh advises to have a solid plan around the technology and systems you will use to manage the back end of your business:
“Navigating the complexities that come with selling on marketplaces like orders coming in from difference sources, managing multiple sets of inventory, and shipping as per marketplace requirements will be the defining factor for many businesses entering into this realm.”
Neto have been helping thousands of retailers sell via eBay, web and physical stores for over 8 years, and launched their Amazon Australia integration on the same day that the marketplace officially landed in Australia. Murtagh says:
“The Neto Amazon integration provides retailers with an easy way to manage listings, inventory and sales for Amazon orders from one central platform. Having a single view of a customer and only having to open one tab in your browser is the dream, and that’s what we deliver.”
Neto is quickly carving themselves out as the Australian retail management platform of choice, with plans to launch other marketplace sales channels in the coming year.
You can try out Amazon on the Neto platform with a 14 day free trial. Start yours now.
