ChannelEngine has released its Marketplace Shopping Behavior Report 2025, the first-ever global study dedicated entirely to online marketplace shopping habits.
Developed with Sapio Research, this industry report focuses exclusively on marketplaces—including global giants, social commerce platforms, niche channels, and high-volume discounters. This is the only report that focuses solely on marketplaces, and it shows how marketplaces have surpassed brands’ websites in preferred shopping places. For many brands and retailers, this is still uncharted territory, or they have made first efforts, but consumers are way ahead of them.
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“Marketplaces have surpassed brand websites and search engines like Google as the primary destination for product discovery,” said Jorrit Steinz, CEO of ChannelEngine. “Consumers now shop across so many marketplaces that brands and retailers must embrace a multichannel strategy to stay competitive—or risk being left behind. It’s not just about being on Amazon anymore.” Indeed, consumers browse an average of 2-3 different marketplaces before making a purchase and sometimes many more depending on the product category, highlighting the importance of a multichannel strategy.
Based on a survey of 4,500 shoppers across France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US, the report reveals how consumers behave when shopping on online marketplaces and how this varies depending on category, region, and age-range. Insights include:
- Marketplace Preferences: A significant 63% of consumers prefer buying on marketplaces over brand-owned websites, underscoring the convenience, variety, and value they find.
- Marketplaces as the New Search Engines: For 47% of shoppers, product discovery starts on marketplaces rather than search engines like Google (24%)—a pivotal shift in consumer habits.
- Consumers use multiple marketplaces before purchasing: There were no product categories in which the majority of consumers only viewed a single marketplace before purchasing, with an average of 2-3 marketplaces visited before a purchase.
- Frequent Marketplace usage: One in five shoppers browse marketplaces weekly, and 59% of U.S. consumers browse marketplaces purely for entertainment.
- Unplanned Purchases: 56% of consumers report making unplanned purchases on marketplaces at least sometimes, and 13% do this often or very often. The report delves into the triggers and behaviors behind impulse buying on marketplaces.
- Emerging Platforms Gain Traction: Disruptors like Shein and Temu, along with social commerce channels, are reshaping shopper preferences and a wait and see approach with these new channels is becoming risky.
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Source – Prnewswire
