RetailT


THE ART OF TARGETING ONLINE MARKETPLACES


Following a poll on the Retail Technology website, marketplace distribution technology expert Greg Zemor examines the subtleties of choosing the right online distribution strategy


“


A number of weeks ago I wrote an article for Retail Technology online asking whether


e-commerce companies should only target specialist marketplaces,” said Zemor, who is the co-founder of marketplace distribution solution Neteven. “My answer was: yes, but only as part


of a larger campaign that includes general marketplaces.” An online poll conducted on this question by Retail Technology revealed that a whopping 44% said ‘it depends’, 44% said ‘yes’ and the remaining 11% disagreed. “This response obviously begs the question,


‘what does an e-commerce online marketing strategy ‘depend’ on’?” Zemor questioned. He noted that specialist marketplaces by their very nature generally cater to a narrower consumer demographic than their ‘generalist’ marketplace counterparts. “It therefore seems intuitive that if a


company sells a wide range of products, or products with general mass market appeal, placing them on a specialist marketplace will be unnecessarily limiting. “That is, of course, true. However, it


neglects the fact that by not placing certain products, particularly higher-end products, on specialist marketplaces, it blocks out a stream of consumers that will only look for products through specialist marketplaces. “As a result, it would seem sensible to distribute


products on both specialist and generalist marketplaces. The problem with this approach is the perceived cost and time involved in a multi- marketplace marketing campaign. He says many e-commerce companies that


choose to go down the general marketplace route assume that targeting a specialist marketplace would have to be done at the expense of placing products on the generalist marketplace because of the cost or time involved. “On one level this is correct, if you have a limited marketing budget, the general


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Geography is another factor to consider in the specialist versus general marketplace debate.


marketplace, with its wider pool of consumers, would seem to be the best approach. The reality is that there is a more complex cost-benefit analysis to perform and there is a plethora of clever tech available that can squeeze the best value out of even a limited marketing budget.” Zemor noted that market distribution solutions use a myriad of complex algorithms that are geared towards getting “the biggest bang for your buck” in terms of placing products on marketplaces and said the results can often be suprising and counter-intuitive. “Geography is another factor to consider in


the specialist versus general marketplace debate. The fact is that if a company operates on a European level there are some countries that the dominate marketplace for certain products will be a specialist marketplace – necessitating a multi- marketplace campaign.” He cited the example of Amazon, which has near market dominance in the UK and US, but whose share of the online retail market in France and Germany is much smaller – consumers in France are also much more likely to use Amazon to buy clothes than consumers in other European countries. Saying, ‘it depends’ to the question of whether


e-commerce companies should target specialist marketplaces is a fair response, concluded Zemor. “Geography, money, product and branding


are just a few of the considerations that impact on distribution targets. However, the availability of distribution solutions and other marketing tech means that even very small budgets can run a distribution campaign on both general and specialist marketplaces. “This means that for the majority of


e-commerce companies, the answer to the question should really be, ‘of course’ – e-commerce companies should target both general and specialist marketplaces and only in exceptional circumstances should they target just one type of marketplace at the expense of another.”


Autumn 2014 15


echnology


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