Analytics services for marketplaces: why are they needed and which one to choose

We figure out how marketplace analytics services help manage sales and which one to choose for a beginner or professional specialist.

1.Why do we need marketplace analytics services?

2.External analytics

3.Internal analytics

4.Overview of Marketplace Analytics Services

5.Expert advice

Why do we need marketplace analytics services?

The main difference between a marketplace and an online store is the number of sellers (from the English “to sell”). In an online store there is one seller, while in a marketplace there can be hundreds of them.

The marketplace makes it easier for entrepreneurs and manufacturers to enter the market: it develops a website and mobile application, is responsible for the warehouse and logistics, promotes products and shares basic sales analytics.

Before starting to sell their products on the marketplace, the seller needs to study competitors , supply and demand. In-depth analytics will be required to find out the maximum and minimum cost of a product, niche leaders, sales dynamics and seasonality for specific items. This data can be collected using marketplace analytics services.

Analytics services help both beginners and experienced sellers:

● Choose a niche, reduce costs and avoid mistakes at the start

Analytics helps novice sellers understand whether there is demand for a product, how competitors operate, how much they sell. For example, a seller wants to sell hamster mats. The idea seems interesting, but you need to look at competitors: if there are 3-4 of them and they sell 6 mats per month, it is unlikely that you will be able to make money on the product.

Another example: an entrepreneur wants to sell socks on a marketplace. If competitors sell for hundreds of millions of rubles, and he does not have such a volume of goods, he will not be able to compete with them.

● Sell more

With the help of analytics services, experienced sellers evaluate sales volume and revenue dynamics in order to adjust their pricing policy.

If you work without using a marketplace analytics service, the cost of a mistake will be high. For example, if you start selling green swimsuits for the summer without analyzing the niche and competitors, it may turn out that they are unpopular this season, and competitors offer more popular products. But this situation can be avoided if you study the needs of users in advance.

In a narrow sense, the service of sales analytics on marketplaces helps to understand important details: where and at what price to sell a product, what will reach the top and what will become an outsider, which niche is easier to occupy, where there is less competition and where there is a greater chance of getting the maximum profit.

More broadly, marketplace analytics services provide the data needed to make management decisions, help you run your business more successfully, and increase your income.

The mentors of the course “Marketplace Manager” will help you learn how to analyze competitors, find popular niches and select positions. The practice takes place on real cases, and you can start with a free introductory part.

External analytics

1.External analytics — analysis of competitors and the market using data obtained from open sources, from several sites and using automated services. 2.External analytics is very important when a seller is just entering a marketplace: it will help to choose the right product if it is not there yet, to find out in which niche it will be easier to start, where there is a shortage of goods on the market, and where there is an excess.

Data that external analytics helps to collect:

1.● popularity of niches, minimum and maximum competitors;

2.● turnover of competing brands in a niche;

3.● price segmentation and top sales;

4.● sales volumes of specific products;

5.● the most active and inactive product categories;

6.● the fastest growing categories;

7.● the best seasonal products.

This and more specific information, such as sales data and price dynamics for a specific product, is available to everyone without restrictions, but you need to be able to collect a data set and analyze it.

Manually collecting information on hundreds of cards on several platforms is almost impossible, especially given the constant changes. Some of this data is presented in the seller’s personal account on the marketplace, but analytics services collect more detailed information. Automation allows the service to analyze thousands of cards on different platforms in a few minutes and provide an idea of the market situation.

Internal analytics

Internal analytics is a set of tools that allow sellers to collect data on their products and analyze sales in detail: find unprofitable and profitable positions, plan purchases and deliveries in time. This information is visible only to the sellers themselves, it is not available to others.

Internal analytics is more professional, its goal is a deep study of your product and competitors, analysis of your sales and optimization of expenses.

Basic internal analytics are collected in the seller’s personal account on the platform: data on products, sales, revenue and movements come directly from the marketplace.

The main tasks of internal analytics:

1.● increase sales and reduce costs;

2.● save money on paid storage;

3.● optimize inventory;

4.● save time.

A significant advantage of the services is that they systematize disparate information. The results — graphs, reports, diagrams — help run a business, including planning pricing and product deliveries, for example, removing unpopular products and replenishing the stock of best-selling products in a timely manner.

Data that can be obtained using internal analytics:

1.● sales statistics;

2.● product positions;

3.● number of launched positions;

4.● product details;

5.● orders in different statuses;

6.● returns;

7.● distribution of balances by warehouses;

8.● geography of orders.

Thanks to internal analytics services, sellers can more easily monitor business development, plan sales volumes and future deliveries, and identify top and illiquid products.

Overview of Marketplace Analytics Services

The main tools and functions of the services are the same, but there are differences in details:

1.● number of marketplaces the service works with;

2.● period of information collection;

3.● quantity of goods that the service can analyze;

4.● availability of a free trial period;

minimal trial period.

● Cost

the “Standard” tariff for a month is 6,499 ₽, “Corporate” – 7,999 ₽.

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