Online marketplaces such as Bol.com and Amazon offer companies unprecedented opportunities to reach consumers directly, quickly, efficiently and on an international scale. The frontrunners in marketplace share are China (58%), the United States (46%) and Germany (44%). In Belgium and the Netherlands, that share is still limited for now, at 12% and 16% respectively. But that is changing: in the Low Countries, too, more and more companies and consumers are looking at online marketplaces as a potential D2C sales and purchasing channel.

According to Frank Laenens, one of the founders of Merkado, this is a gap in the market: “Precisely because marketplaces in Belgium are still in their infancy, they offer opportunities for early adopters like Merkado. There are virtually no competitors, which allows us to build up a significant lead.”

Marketplaces: challenges and opportunities
According to experts, the shift towards marketplaces will also be felt in advertising budgets. A substantial part of current Facebook and Google budgets is expected to move to marketplaces in the near future.

The biggest challenge? Companies often lack the knowledge, time and experience to make the most of marketplaces. Here too, a strong strategy and in-depth knowledge of those marketplaces are essential to market products and services successfully. What’s more, the marketplace landscape is becoming increasingly complex. Support from specialists is therefore no unnecessary luxury.

Maxence Vercruysse is one of the founders of Merkado: “During my time at Bol.com, I already noticed that companies found it very difficult to use marketplaces efficiently. Their marketing partners often fell short because they didn’t have the knowledge and experience in-house.”

A service package for new and existing marketplace users
A company that wants to integrate marketplaces into its sales model faces challenges on several fronts. Even for those already active on marketplaces, managing the flow of trade efficiently is quite a feat. Merkado wants to offer a solution to each of those challenges, for both new and existing marketplace sellers. Some examples of services:

The Merkado team consists of around ten people with diverse expertise and experience: e-commerce, sales, marketplaces, project management, business strategy, online marketing, data, growth marketing, finance and more.

A joint venture born from market demand, with the support of Heylen Group
Merkado is a joint venture between two complementary agencies, boostU and BossData, and is supported financially and operationally by Heylen Group.

Wim Heylen: “These days, you simply can’t ignore marketplaces. For many wholesalers and retailers, these platforms have become a crucial tool in their business strategy. For Heylen Group, the question was not ‘if’ we would invest in the marketplace sector, but ‘when’.”

Well begun is half done
The Merkado agency aims to respond to the growing demand for marketing support on marketplaces. The mission? To be an all-round partner for online marketplaces and to lighten the customer’s workload as much as possible. The vision? To identify priorities together with the customer and tackle the obstacles. This mission and vision seem to be catching on straight away, as Merkado welcomed some five customers in its very first days.

Merkado will initially focus on the Belgian and Dutch markets, but is already looking further afield.

Matthias Laqueur, Marketplace Strategist at Merkado, makes no secret of his ambitions: “Given the potential and scalability of marketplaces, we have to dare to be ambitious enough. The words ‘European market leader’ have already been mentioned internally, and I am convinced that Merkado has the growth capacity and the market to achieve that.”