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ChannelAdvisor publishes new Multichannel E-Commerce Study

Study finds that 90 percent of retailers surveyed are selling on marketplaces, 64 percent are using digital marketing.

August 20, 2014

ChannelAdvisor Corporation, a provider of cloud-based e-commerce solutions, has announced the results of its Multichannel E-Commerce Study, a survey of more than 200 U.S. and U.K. online retailers that averaged $3-$5 million in revenue in 2013. The study identifies e-commerce trends, opportunities and challenges, and yielded significant results: 90 percent of retailers reported selling on marketplaces, and 64 percent of retailers reported using digital marketing.

ChannelAdvisor commissioned Redshift Research to conduct the study, which asked retailers questions about marketplaces, cross-border trade, digital marketing and more. Below are some of the study’s findings:

Marketplaces: More than three-fourths of surveyed retailers (84 percent) are currently selling on Amazon, and more than half of retailers (63 percent) reported selling on eBay. Retailers said that the most challenging aspect of selling on marketplaces is maintaining competitive pricing.

Cross-border trade: Nearly a third (30 percent) of retailers surveyed reported that 21-30 percent of their online sales come from international marketplaces. Retailers reported that global marketplaces are the number one point of sale for these international transactions. The majority of surveyed retailers (62 percent) think that Amazon provides the best opportunity to sell internationally.

Digital marketing: Retailers reported that product listing ads are a top digital marketing strategy in terms of performance. Budget, confusion about options and the digital marketing landscape, and uncertain return on investment are the three most common factors preventing retailers from increasing their digital marketing spend.

Mobile advertising: Almost half of surveyed retailers (40 percent) reported that 21-30 percent of their current web traffic comes from mobile devices. Most retailers (86 percent) think that web traffic from mobile devices will increase over the next two years. To prepare, 75 percent of surveyed retailers expect to increase their mobile advertising budget in the next two years.

Social media: Retailers’ top three business goals for social media are to increase brand awareness, reach a new generation of customers and drive conversions. Surveyed retailers said Facebook is the social platform that creates the most conversions for retailers.