Key stat: 44% of US adults typically buy a new brand on an online marketplace like Amazon or Walmart, more than double the 21% who buy on the brand's own website, according to a March survey from Radial.

Beyond the chart:

• Trust explains the gap. A quarter of US consumers trust retailers to manage the end-to-end shopping experience, compared with just 7% who trust AI platforms like ChatGPT, according to Bain.
• Marketplaces are also doing the acquisition work. Some 52% of purchasers attributed to the median Walmart Connect off-site display campaign last year were new-to-brand customers, per Walmart.

Use this chart: Drop this in your DTC planning session to show where new customers actually start. Use it to set realistic owned-channel acquisition targets, and show it to leadership when marketplace listings get treated as a side channel instead of the front door.

Methodology: Data is from the July 2026 Radial report titled "Brand Expansion Builds Trust, Until Operations Break It" conducted by Dynata. 1,000 US adults ages 18+ were surveyed online during March 2026.