Survey: Online marketplaces boost loyalty, build trust

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By: RickFerguson |

Posted on May 12, 2016

According to a recent study conducted by Forrester Consulting and sponsored by Mirakl and ChannelAdvisor reveals that consumers around the world love online marketplaces. 89% of global consumers surveyed agree that online marketplaces offer convenience, while 90% said they would shop with same marketplace again when purchasing a similar product. Those survey results support the role of online marketplaces in building strong affinity for sponsoring brands. The study, titled �Retailers Must Seize the Marketplace Opportunity,� evaluates the success of marketplace retailers and what they must do to better serve today�s empowered customer; it concludes that marketplaces encourage customer loyalty, increase average order values and build trust.

Among the findings uncovered by the survey, three stand out:

Online marketplaces enhance the customers� shopping experience.
Online marketplaces allow customers to shop more conveniently, compare a wide assortment of products and discover new retailers. According to the Forrester report, 95% of U.S. respondents agreed that marketplaces offer the convenience they appreciate.

Building trust is a central part of marketplaces.
Consumer generated content is a crucial component to building trust with retail shoppers, with 88% of U.S. consumers citing ratings and reviews as important attributes to purchasing via an online marketplace. To earn the trust of consumers, marketplace sellers must deliver a high-quality experience, avoiding long delivery times, damaged items and low-quality products. Therefore, marketplace operators need a robust technology platform that can automate and enforce seller quality control.

Marketplaces create deep customer relationships.
On a global scale, the majority of consumers indicated that they were satisfied with marketplace purchases, more than 90% translating into increased customer loyalty. In the U.S. alone, 94% of consumers said they would shop with same marketplace again if getting a similar product.

To take advantage of the growing popularity of marketplaces, Forrester recommends retailers develop a strategy to build their own marketplaces, with a focus on boosting customer experiences, building trust and getting noticed. Forrester also suggests that retailers building their own marketplaces should proactively recruit and continuously assess sellers, and enhance their technology capabilities to support their marketplace strategy.

In this study, Forrester conducted an online survey of 2,520 consumers who have purchased from a marketplace at least once within the past month in France, Germany, the UK, and the US. Forrester also interviewed five organisations that have an online marketplace to understand their current strategies, the benefits from having an online marketplace, and the challenges or barriers in taking their marketplace strategy to the next stage. The interviewed participants were at the director level or above and influence or give some input into the marketplace strategy.

You can download the Forrester report here.

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