Marketplaces dominate ecommerce in 2025: what changes for brands, online stores and digital strategy

Ecommerce is undergoing a structural transformation that can no longer be analysed as a passing trend. In 2025, marketplaces account for 83.4% of gross merchandise value generated globally, confirming that the centre of gravity of online transactions has shifted from brands’ own online stores to third-party platforms. This change is reshaping how companies distribute products, invest in technology, define commercial priorities and build relationships with consumers.

For many years, a brand’s own online store was seen as its main digital asset. It was the space where acquisition, conversion, loyalty and positioning efforts were concentrated. Today, although this channel remains relevant, it no longer holds the central place in growth strategies on its own. The increased weight of third-party models, in contrast with first-party models, shows that companies are now operating in a more fragmented, more competitive ecosystem and, in many cases, one that is more dependent on digital intermediaries.

For brands, this new landscape represents both an opportunity and a challenge. On the one hand, marketplaces offer scale, traffic, trust and faster market entry. On the other hand, they reduce margin, limit control over the shopping experience and increase dependence on external platforms. The issue, therefore, is not only commercial. It is strategic. And it forces companies to rethink the balance between reach, profitability, data and autonomy.

The mistake here may lie in wanting to follow only one path, something that we at BYDAS do not recommend. We will see why further ahead.

A structural shift already visible in the numbers

The data shared for 2025 shows a clear evolution. The global share of ecommerce revenue generated through brands’ own online stores fell from 19.0% in 2023 to 16.6% in 2025. In the opposite direction, revenue generated by external sellers in marketplaces rose from 81.0% to 83.4% over the same period. This difference is not marginal. It is a redistribution of the market on a global scale, with direct impact on how brands, retailers and manufacturers design their digital presence.

The most revealing indicator of this trend is GMV, or gross merchandise value, because it measures where transactions actually happen. When more than four fifths of that value flows through third-party platforms, it is no longer possible to view marketplaces as a complementary channel. In many sectors, they become the dominant channel, the one that concentrates demand, simplifies price comparison and influences purchase decisions.

This context also helps explain why so many companies have stopped relying solely on a direct-to-consumer model. Selling directly still makes sense, especially to strengthen brand, margin and first-party data. However, today’s consumer values convenience, speed, variety, trust in payment and ease of returns. And those advantages are often more present within large platforms than in standalone stores.

Why marketplaces are gaining so much weight

The growth of marketplaces results from the combination of several factors. The first is traffic concentration. Instead of forcing consumers to discover dozens of stores, these platforms bring together offer, comparison and transaction in the same environment. The second is trust. Many consumers feel more comfortable buying within a familiar ecosystem, where they already have an account, saved payment methods and clear expectations regarding deliveries and returns.

There is also an operational reason. For many companies, entering a marketplace is faster than building enough awareness to grow an owned store from scratch. The barrier to entry may be lower from a traffic acquisition standpoint, even if internal competition is intense. This is especially important for new brands, for companies entering international markets and for catalogues with high price sensitivity.

Another decisive aspect is algorithmic convenience. Marketplaces work as internal product discovery engines, with search, filters, recommendations and reputation systems. In many cases, consumers no longer start the journey in a traditional search engine or on a social platform. They start within the platform itself. Those who sell in this context benefit from existing demand, even though they still have to compete for visibility against hundreds or thousands of rivals.

• Greater immediate reach among audiences already prepared to buy.
• Infrastructure ready to operate, including payment, logistics and customer support in some models.
• Perceived credibility, especially in categories with strong price comparison and review culture.
• Ability to scale internationally without replicating the entire local infrastructure.

Europe, the Americas and Asia: the same trend, different speeds

Although the global direction is shared, the intensity of marketplace adoption is not the same across geographies. Europe shows relevant growth, but still retains a considerable share of owned stores. In 2025, marketplaces represent 60.8% of ecommerce revenue in the region, up from 56.2% in 2023. The increase is significant and suggests that even markets where direct selling was historically stronger are reinforcing their dependence on aggregating platforms.

This European behaviour can be read in two ways. First, it shows that brands continue to value owned channels, especially to work on positioning, service, experience and loyalty. Second, it reveals that the competitive pressure exerted by marketplaces is strong enough to absorb a growing share of transactions. In practical terms, many European companies do not abandon their owned store, but instead operate it alongside third-party platforms in a hybrid logic.

In the American continent, the picture is more heterogeneous. North America still shows a strong dependence on owned online stores, which indicates greater brand maturity, a stronger tradition of direct selling and a more established relationship between consumer and retailer. In South America, however, consumers rely mainly on major digital platforms, bringing the region closer to models of higher concentration. In these markets, a significant share of GMV is generated within those ecosystems, reinforcing the role of intermediaries as the dominant purchasing infrastructure.

Asia stands out even more strongly. In 2025, 97.0% of ecommerce revenue in the region is generated through third-party platforms. This figure shows an almost total dominance of the marketplace model. It is not merely a matter of channel preference. In many Asian markets, these platforms helped build the digital infrastructure of online commerce itself, shaping consumption habits, trust in payments, logistics expectations and product discovery mechanisms.

When a region reaches this level of concentration, the relationship between brand and consumer tends to take place within the platform ecosystem, rather than outside it. This creates a structural dependency that is difficult to replicate in other geographies and challenges any company that wishes to grow without being present in these environments. The platform ceases to be merely a digital distributor. It becomes context, touchpoint and a criterion of competitiveness.

What this reality means for brands

In this scenario, the first reaction of many companies is simple: be where demand is. That reasoning makes sense, but it should not be the only one. Brands that depend too heavily on marketplaces become exposed to price pressure, commissions, visibility rules, algorithm changes and reduced control over the customer relationship. Growth may accelerate, but strategic autonomy may decline. It is something brands should already understand if we draw the analogy with dependence on paid media. It is the same scenario.

That is why the current challenge is not to choose between an owned store and a marketplace. The challenge is to design a digital distribution model that maximises reach without compromising brand control. In many situations, marketplaces become channels for acquisition and volume, while the owned store functions as a space for differentiation, loyalty, premium service and long-term value creation.

This complementarity requires greater operational maturity than in the past. It is no longer enough to simply place products online. It is necessary to decide which assortment belongs in each channel, which pricing policy is sustainable, which margins can be absorbed, which data remains available and what type of experience makes sense at each touchpoint. Brands that treat all channels in the same way tend to lose efficiency. Those that adapt the proposition by channel increase the probability of profitable growth.

In this context, a well-structured ecommerce strategy should consider not only store technology, but also integration with external platforms, catalogue management, communication consistency and business goals by market. Digital presence is no longer a sum of isolated channels. It has become an interconnected system.

The owned store is not disappearing, but its role is changing

The decrease in the relative weight of owned online stores does not mean their disappearance. It does mean that their strategic role is evolving. Instead of being the only centre of the digital operation, they become the asset where the brand has greater control over experience, positioning, content, data and margin. That gives them a critical role, especially in categories where differentiation does not depend only on price.

In an owned store, the company controls the narrative, the design, the commercial arguments, the information architecture, the navigation experience and loyalty mechanisms. It can work with segmentation, automation, campaigns for its own database and retention initiatives that would be much more limited in a marketplace environment. In addition, it has greater freedom to test offers, bundles, subscriptions, exclusive advantages and added-value experiences.

In strategic terms, the owned store becomes the centre of the brand’s commercial intelligence, even when it is not the highest-volume channel. It is in that asset that behavioural signals, preferences and relationship history accumulate. That data can inform product decisions, paid campaigns, social media actions, content and even the management of marketplace presence.

When this balance is executed well, the company does not get trapped in a binary logic. It uses marketplaces to gain scale and visibility, while protecting its ability to build owned assets. This approach is especially relevant for brands that want to grow sustainably rather than simply increase short-term sales.

This vision is, in fact, the narrative we have been trying to implement with our clients since 2025 — looking at the owned store not merely as a formal ecommerce system, but more as a space for digital brand experience. Some of our 2026 projects with certain clients will reflect this. Distinctive and memorable interfaces that offer the user a genuine experience with the brand.

This is essential to generate value. Otherwise, viewing a new ecommerce project as a traditional Shopify store with a free theme (or even a paid one) that will look the same as thousands of others will not bring added value and may even reduce brand perception — something we have noticed in the Portuguese market. A lack of investment capacity or strategic vision ends up misleading some business owners into not investing in art direction for an ecommerce project, creating analytical projects with dozens of filters, buttons, pop-ups and similar elements, under the illusion that if they have as many features as a marketplace or as the competition, they will sell more.

That is false, and the numbers prove it. It is necessary to invest in innovation and design to create the brand’s differentiating factor.

Technology, operations and data: the new field of decision

The rise of marketplaces does not raise only commercial questions. It also forces a review of the entire technological layer of the operation. Consistent catalogues, ERP integrations, stock synchronisation, pricing management by channel, content adapted to different requirements and performance control have become essential components of competitiveness.

A brand that sells across several channels without proper integration risks stock errors, logistical delays, inconsistent information and loss of profitability. For this reason, technology investment is no longer linked only to the design of the online store. It now involves data architecture, system connectivity, operational automation and multichannel governance.

This point is particularly important for companies working with extensive catalogues or operating in more than one market. The greater the presence on external platforms, the greater the need for structure. Without it, growth in volume may translate into uncontrolled complexity. With it, the business gains the ability to scale with predictability.

1. Define the role of each channel in the commercial funnel and overall profitability.
2. Segment assortment and pricing according to platform-specific objectives.
3. Integrate systems to reduce operational friction and manual error.
4. Measure real margins by channel, including commissions, logistics and returns.
5. Preserve owned assets, such as data, customer base and brand experience.

The risk of concentration and the need for strategic vision

The expectation that between 60% and 70% of ecommerce revenue in Europe and the Americas already flows through marketplaces in 2025, with further growth expected, points to greater concentration around the leading global platforms. This concentration brings efficiency and scale, but it also creates risks. The more the market is organised around a few dominant ecosystems, the greater the dependence on the rules defined by those operators.

For companies, this means a smaller margin for error. Changes in commercial policies, ranking criteria, logistics costs or reputation systems can have an immediate impact on sales. In addition, price wars tend to intensify in environments where comparison is simple and differentiation is harder to communicate. As a result, brands need to work on perceived value, service quality and distinctive proposition with more discipline than ever.

There is also a less visible but highly relevant risk: the erosion of the direct relationship with the consumer. When most transactions take place in third-party-controlled environments, a brand may sell more without necessarily knowing better who is buying. And without that knowledge, it becomes more difficult to increase retention, launch new products with precision and defend margins in the medium term.

This is precisely where strategy becomes essential. Growing in marketplaces is important. Growing only in marketplaces, without a plan for data, brand and autonomy, can become a problem. The future of ecommerce will not be decided only by who sells more, but by who builds a structure capable of balancing external scale with internal assets.

How companies should prepare for the coming years

The coming years should deepen this trend. The consolidation of marketplaces will continue to attract investment, traffic and innovation, increasing pressure on smaller operators and on brands that maintain an excessively channel-centred logic. The answer, however, does not lie in abandoning the online store. It lies in redefining its role and integrating it into a smarter commercial architecture. It is worth remembering that Shopify has a native integration with Amazon, for example, which allows a brand to sell at scale on Amazon alongside its owned store. However, it is imperative that the owned store differentiates itself from the marketplace experience.

The companies best able to adapt to this context will be those that can answer five essential questions: where their audience’s demand is, which products make sense in each channel, which margins are sustainable, which data they need to preserve and which owned assets they want to strengthen over time. These questions cut across technology, marketing, operations and management. They cannot be treated in silos.

It will also become increasingly important to align acquisition, content and performance. A strong presence in marketplaces does not eliminate the need to work on awareness, authority and qualified demand outside those platforms. On the contrary, more recognised brands tend to compete better both inside and outside them. Visibility remains an advantage, but strategic coherence becomes the true differentiating factor.

In summary, ecommerce has entered a new phase. The rise of marketplaces shows that consumers prioritise convenience, trust and integration. At the same time, it reminds brands that sustainable growth requires more than presence in a dominant channel. It requires vision, technology, operational control and the ability to turn data and experience into competitive advantage.

In a market where marketplaces gain weight every year, BYDAS helps companies combine scale and control, defining digital strategies and implementing Shopify online stores prepared to integrate channels, optimise operations and reinforce brand autonomy.