Retail media ads are an important way to boost marketplace spend, but how brands go about advertising requires strategy. When setting up your retail media approach this holiday season, consider which products sell when, what kinds of ads drive conversions, and the importance of discovery in retail media.

Michaels and Shutterstock are navigating growth through a blend of creative initiatives and hard metrics. Michaels is focused on enhancing its customer experience and its new online marketplace. Shutterstock is leaning into SEO, automated dashboards, social listening, and collaboration.

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.

US retail marketplace ecommerce sales will reach $603.20 billion in 2027, representing 34.8% of total retail ecommerce sales, per our forecast.

Snapchat+ hits 3 million subscribers in part thanks to MyAI chatbot, while Snap focuses on partnerships and exclusive content to boost engagement.

There’s no denying Facebook is a commerce powerhouse. But it also has Facebook Marketplace, which is primarily intended for C2C shopping and buying, though it also allows companies to list their items and place ads.

Despite slowing growth, US marketplace ecommerce sales are expected to hit $357.26 billion in 2022, making up 34.6% of all online sales.

Amazon flexes its market power with seller surcharges, anti-union stance: Despite rapid growth during the pandemic, the ecommerce giant is passing fuel and inflation costs onto its sellers while resisting calls to improve working conditions.

Walmart Inc.’s earnings show the benefit of prioritizing value over profits: The company’s decision to keep prices low helped it maintain growth and gain market share.

Amazon’s Q2 earnings are tomorrow: Due in part to the coronavirus pandemic, we expect Amazon’s retail sales to best last year’s.

The pandemic was disastrous for many retailers; we estimate that total retail sales worldwide plunged 2.8% in 2020. Though, while many physical stores were shuttered, digital retail sales soared by over 25% in a single year.

The Chinese insurance marketplace uses AI to match consumers with suitable coverage options—and its digital-first solution can help bridge China’s insurance gap, especially since the life and health insurance market is set to grow.

Amazon’s US ecommerce sales will grow by 15.3% this year to $367.19 billion after a meteoric 44.1% rise in sales during 2020.

Social commerce accelerated in the US in 2020 amid the pandemic-driven ecommerce boom as key platforms advanced their shopping and checkout capabilities.

If the coronavirus pandemic has produced any winners in the retail sector, digital merchants are among that number.

eBay’s US retail ecommerce sales are continuing to fall year over year as a result of lower marketing investment, changes to seller fees and new internet sales tax laws.

In June 2019, former Snapchat chief strategy officer Imran Khan set out to shake up the marketplace landscape, including Amazon, when he launched ecommerce platform Verishop. We recently spoke with Khan about how Verishop is helping direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands scale, as well as its ongoing efforts to give consumers a new way to discover products.

Utilizing marketplaces is one way for a seller to expand reach. But for some manufacturers and distributors, that increased reach is not worth the competitive threats that they may face on a marketplace.

When a B2B company is starting to build or assess its current marketplace strategy, understanding the different marketplace options is a first step. For our “B2B Marketplaces 2019” report, we analyzed the top three B2B marketplaces in the US—Amazon Business, Alibaba and Thomas—along with an overview of what makes their platforms work for both buyers and sellers.

When looking at the largest US ecommerce sites, eBay is a distant second to Amazon. But as third-party sellers become more prominent on Amazon’s marketplace, many want to expand to other platforms, a possible silver lining for eBay.