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~ Ronan Bardet ~

COLUMN

THE RISE OF THE MARKETPLACE MODEL

or many years, we have associated the word “marketplace”
F with Amazon or other similar companies.

Nobody can deny that they have a large slice of the A great example of
cake, but it is also true that lately, the number of how this model can
companies implementing a marketplace in their make a difference is
digital strategies to better satisfy the needs of their the French DYI company ManoMano. Founded in 2015, the
customers is increasing. company raised a total of €311 million in different funding
rounds and closed 2020 with a global turnover of €1.200
I can see why some companies have been reluctant to add a million! The UK, Germany and the south of Europe are the
marketplace to their e-commerce. It is easy to think that you domains of companies with customer-centric strategies taking
could lose sales while increasing your portfolio, but, luckily, special care of every detail in the shopping experience they
this is not the case. offer to their customers.

By increasing the number of vendors and products, you Food, cosmetics, DYI, fashion… all industries are welcome in
can get closer to your customers by using local suppliers the marketplace model, both in B2B and B2C. Which will be
to improve shipping times without having to worry about the next industry taking this chance…maybe sports? ••
storing or sending the products. Something really important
as well, you will avoid the danger of being out of stock.
RONAN BARDET
With so many companies doing a great job online with a Founder of EGI Group & Club eCommerce; I have been named one of the Top
marketplace, this will improve your chances to have happy 10 Spanish eCommerce Influencers with more than 17 years of experience in
and loyal customers. Just to note, a study published by Mirakl the Digital Commerce industry.
says that among 60 tested marketplaces worldwide, they
noticed a 34% lift in overall organic site traffic. I am an expert in SaaS Retail Tech & eCommerce Tech Startup acceleration
(sales + marketing + capital). My passion for the industry has led me to
This leads me to Mirakl turning into a unicorn last launch and grow many Digital Commerce tech startups in Spain and create a
September. With a $300 million funding round at a $1.5 specific acceleration program for them. As an eCommerce expert, I have also
billion valuation, the company is ready to continue improving mentored many Spanish DNVBs / D2C Brands.
its services and expanding the net of marketplaces with
Mirakl technology, which, in 2020, registered transactions
with a value higher than $3.1B worldwide. Not bad, right?

The great thing about the marketplace model is that it
doesn’t have industry limitations, and well-known companies
such as Carrefour, Decathlon, Leroy Merlin, Maisons du
Monde, Worten or Best Buy are already benefiting from their
marketplace.

Another stunning new event in this field has been Lengow’s
acquisition by Marlin Equity Partners this February. Lengow
operates a software-as-a-service platform to optimise
e-commerce listings, and even if the terms of the deal are
undisclosed, I am sure that this will be a great year for growth
at Lengow and this acquisition was closed at the perfect time.

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