eBay’s consignment business is its latest play for luxury shoppers: The marketplace is betting on luxury to turn its fortunes around.

Amazon wants to compete with FedEx and UPS: The retailer relaunched its Amazon Shipping service, which delivers products sold on Amazon's marketplace, sellers’ own websites, and other sites and marketplaces.

eBay recently posted ad revenues of $367 million in Q2 2023—a growth of 35% YoY—in its latest earnings. But much of that can be tied to innovation in its ad types, improved measurement capabilities, and expanded third-party ads. eBay’s market also gives it a retail media opportunity outside of consumer packaged goods (CPG). Let’s break down what eBay is doing right.

The initial wave of excitement over generative AI is fading, leaving many retailers asking, “Now what?” Some might want to look toward Shopify, which is incorporating generative AI capabilities across its platform to help sellers build and scale their businesses more quickly. Or maybe take a cue from eBay, which is using the tech to make more accurate and helpful product recommendations. Meanwhile, Etsy is working to democratize access to machine learning models to help speed up deployment across its organization.

UK retail sales are performing better than expected, with consumers still spending despite high inflation—but ecommerce will lose further share this year as shoppers continue returning to stores and cut nonessential spending.

US ecommerce marketplaces will account for $384.57 billion in sales this year, a growth of 10.2% over 2022, according to our forecast. That growth will accelerate through the end of our forecast period in 2027, at which point sales will surpass $600 billion. “Amazon has really written the playbook for operating a successful marketplace in the US,” said our analyst Sky Canaves. Here’s a closer look at how the three biggest US ecommerce marketplaces stack up.

Amazon sits at the top of US ecommerce, accounting for 37.6% of sales this year, according to our forecast. In addition to generating billions of dollars in sales, Amazon’s ecommerce business propels its other ventures, including retail media and B2B ecommerce. By harnessing the power of generative AI, Amazon could leave its retail competition even further in the dust, and possibly catch up to the Google and Meta duopoly.

The pandemic ecommerce boom that drove online sales is over. But marketplaces will continue to expand their share of US retail ecommerce, contributing almost 40% of the $588 billion in US online sales growth that we forecast over the next five years.

Though we’ve downgraded our retail media forecast, we anticipate the channel will experience double-digit growth through 2027. “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that retail media is one of the most important and potentially most transformative ad spending channels in media right now,” said our analyst Max Willens.

In China, ecommerce channel ad spending represents over 38% of total digital ad spending, and ecommerce search spending accounts for 64.0% of total search. Could the US figures reach similar heights?

Tapestry brings its D2C and wholesale teams together to create a consistent brand experience across channels, while Hollister enables teens to fill their carts and send to a parent for purchase. Instacart and eBay find ways to offer customers more value.

Cross-border ecommerce is rising in popularity as US consumers look for value amid inflation. But growth has slowed from previous boom years.

Healthy growth will obscure the upheaval that retail media’s evolution is causing. Retailers racing to think more like publishers—and brands trying to rethink the value of retail media—are feeling some strain.

Secondhand shopping is soaring: We expect resale volumes will grow more than twice as fast as total US retail sales through 2026.

Online fashion resale remains a fast-growing retail channel despite ongoing economic headwinds—and Gen Z is the driving force. How can brands and retailers venturing into fashion resale find success amid pullbacks on discretionary spending?

As consumers continue to grapple with inflation and economic uncertainty, our inaugural forecast shows that the US resale market will remain one of the fastest-growing segments in retail.

First-party purchase data provides brands and sellers with the real-time insights needed to better understand consumer behavior and build loyalty without relying on third-party cookies. As a result, brands can build awareness, connect with consumers, drive sales, and foster seamless shopping experiences for shoppers.

Smaller retailers are gaining share and reshaping the ecommerce landscape, but will they be able compete with giants like Amazon?

Retail media’s positive hype is real. We expect it will disrupt the digital advertising landscape worldwide. In Canada, a handful of players—led by Amazon, Walmart, and Loblaw—have turned it into the fastest-growing ad segment in the country, and at scale.

Pinduoduo owner PDD’s growth slowed in Q4: That reflects a sluggish retail landscape in China, which is why the company aims to diversify its revenue streams.