Price Is Top of Mind When Consumers Shop on eCommerce Marketplaces

When online shoppers decide to make purchases from eCommerce marketplaces rather than directly from brands or retailers, PYMNTS Intelligence research reveals, affordability is their top priority.

By the Numbers

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “The Online Features Driving Consumers to Shop With Brands, Retailers or Marketplaces,” created in collaboration with Adobe, drew from a survey of more than 3,500 U.S. consumers in October to understand shoppers’ choices and behaviors when they make purchases online as well as the factors driving these actions.

The results reveal that, when consumers choose to shop on online marketplaces versus on a brand’s or retailer’s website or mobile app, a plurality cites better prices as the most influential factor motivating their decisions.

Specifically, 18% of those who made all or most of their digital purchases in the previous 30 days via marketplaces listed better prices as the main reason — greater than the share of those citing product selection, free shipping or a number of other factors.

The Data in Context

Leading eCommerce marketplace Amazon, for its part, leverages its customers’ demand for better prices with a range of deals events and other discounting initiatives.

In October’s Prime Day Event, for instance, according to Amazon, Amazon Prime members managed to save over $1 billion through millions of deals during the two-day holiday launch of Prime Big Deal Days. Throughout this 48-hour shopping extravaganza, Prime members reportedly placed orders for more than 150 million items from Amazon’s independent sellers.

Additionally, Walmart has seen gains in its marketplace business, suggesting that the retailer is also finding ways to meet this demand. The company reported on its most recent earnings call that it saw a 20% boost in marketplace sellers.

The company’s CEO Doug McMillon said that “the combination of marketplace and the commissions that go with it, fulfillment services, membership, advertising, and our smaller, but fast-growing data modernization business, enable us to grow our bottom line faster than our top line.” The marketplace, he said, “is an engine for our business.”