Why consumer behavior on marketplaces matters in 2025

Understanding how consumers shop on marketplaces, gives essential insights that brands can use to guide their strategy.

We surveyed 4,500 consumers from the US, the UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, asking them questions about how and why they shop on marketplaces.

Read on for a sneak peek into the insights we gathered or download the full report to explore these trends and strategies in greater detail.

What can you expect in the Marketplace Shopping Behavior Report 2025?

Online marketplaces are already the dominant ecommerce channel

First of all, one clear trend emerged very quickly from this research: consumers overwhelmingly turn to online marketplaces as their ‘go-to’ source for a wide variety of products.

The reasons are also very clear. Although they’re ranked a little differently in each region, all agree that their top factors were:

• A wider selection
• Competitive pricing
• Ability to compare offers

Our research was also able to unpick some of the psychology behind consumer preference for online marketplaces. Brands that can leverage these simple drivers effectively have the potential to excel in these competitive shopping environments.

1. Consumers can always find the best deals on marketplaces

Deal-seeking is a prime driver for numerous shopping behaviors. OK – that’s not news. But what’s different today is that consumers are more certain than ever that they will secure the best deal by heading to online platforms such as Amazon or Zalando.

In fact, 79% of consumers think they’ll get the best deal on an online marketplace, compared to brand websites.

2. Platforms offer quality assurance and transparency

Price is one thing, but the quality also needs to measure-up. This is another area where marketplaces truly shine, because 61% of consumers trust online marketplaces to deliver good quality products.

So, why is this? It’s quite simple: clear and honest reviews help consumers trust the offers they find on marketplaces.

This social proof leverages basic human psychology to assure potential customers that they’ll get the quality products they expect.

After all, if they weren’t up to standard, everyone would know about it.

3. Marketplaces give consumers confident, ‘feel-good’ purchases

When asked where they prefer to complete a purchase, 63% of consumers stated a clear preference for marketplaces. This is a big difference compared to brand websites, which are preferred by only 14% of shoppers.

Confidence is a key factor in securing a sale. Because marketplaces offer a broad array of choices, clear and competitive pricing, and the ability to compare offers, consumers can make more confident purchases.  

It might seem counterintuitive to make your products easy to compare to the competition – but it’s essential for optimizing sales on these platforms.

4. Superior customer experiences generate better sales

User experience (UX) is an important driver for online sales, and poor experiences can seriously damage conversion rates. While many brands struggle to optimize their UX and customer experiences on their own websites, 72% of consumers find that shopping on marketplaces is always easy.

This is because, on marketplaces, every part of the customer experience is already 100% optimized and standardized. The shopping environment is familiar and easy to use. From finding the right product to comparing offers, and finally – the checkout.

Consumers love the fact they can complete a purchase in just a few clicks – and this convenience brings them back for more.

5. Online shopping journeys are becoming more omnichannel

The typical digital shopping journey has become increasingly channel-agnostic, and highly variable.

Consumers will typically get inspiration from a range of social and ecommerce channels before deciding on a purchase – making an omnichannel strategy even more important. On average, a consumer will visit 2 to 3 different marketplaces before making a purchase, visiting more than 4 platforms in the last 6 months.

Social commerce is featuring more too: 44% of consumers intend to purchase via a social channel in the future, while 40% have already done so at least once.

Social commerce is also used for product research, with 18% of consumers finding out more about products by browsing social channels.

A variety of social commerce platforms are popular.

• Half of consumers have bought items on Facebook Marketplace and more than one-third have purchased from Instagram (38%) and TikTok Shop (36%).
• Demographics play an important role in these preferences, so it’s important to focus on the right social channels for your ideal customer.

• Interestingly, while awareness of ultra-competitive platforms like Temu and Shein is very high (93% and 89% respectively), this awareness doesn’t convert to purchase intent.
• Only 37% intend to buy something from Temu, while 41% have their sights set on items on Shein.

Of course, this may change. So, keeping an eye on up-and-coming channels should certainly be part of your omnichannel strategy.

Staying relevant in an omnichannel age

As we can see, consumers are continuing to change the way they find and purchase new products. Social channels, for example, have become a key part of the online shopping journey, providing both information and buying opportunities.

The growth of online marketplaces is fueled by the fact that they can provide exactly what consumers want: choice, quality, and convenience.

While omnichannel and channel-agnostic shopping behaviors may appear difficult to predict, the drivers behind buying decisions remain measurable and predictable.

By being present on all the relevant channels for your target consumer and optimizing your ecommerce operations to meet their needs, this can become a powerful strategy for your brand.