‘Marketplace sellers shift focus to profitability’

Sellers no longer primarily measure their success on marketplaces by sales volumes, but by the returns they generate. Profit margin has overtaken net sales as the top success metric, while almost half of sellers (49 percent) added two or three new marketplaces over the past year.

This is according to ChannelEngine’s Marketplace Seller Trends Report 2026. The international marketplace integrator presents research findings from five markets, including Europe’s three largest ecommerce markets: the United Kingdom, Germany and France. The report also covers the United States and the Netherlands, where ChannelEngine originates. The company surveyed more than 550 ecommerce decision-makers.

More marketplaces

The average number of platforms on which sellers operate continues to increase. Almost half of sellers (49 percent) added two or three new marketplaces over the past year. The share of companies using seven or more platforms grew from 34 to 39 percent.

Nevertheless, increasing their marketplace footprint is no longer nearly as important to ecommerce companies as it once was. On sellers’ list of priorities, it dropped from fourth place last year to eighth this year.

AI implementation

The rapid rise of AI is clearly reflected in the report. Implementing AI to improve marketplace operations is sellers’ biggest priority, cited by 26 percent of respondents. This new metric was mentioned slightly more often than boosting profitability (25 percent). Below is the top 10 of priorities.

The vast majority of respondents (82 percent) are either adopting AI in marketplace operations or considering doing so. So far, adoption remains “supportive rather than transformational”, according to ChannelEngine. The biggest barriers center on risk, control and reliability. The United Kingdom appears to be the most progressive market in this respect, while Germany is the least progressive.

Profitable growth

Jorrit Steinz, CEO of ChannelEngine, sees ecommerce companies focusing less on sales volume and more on profit margins. He points to the finding that three in five organizations still rely largely on manual processes or partial automation.

‘Operational costs absorb much of the opportunity’

Steinz stresses the importance of reducing operational costs to improve profit margins: “Connecting data and automating operations will be critical to turning expansion and investment in AI into profitable growth.”

TikTok Shop

The research shows how established TikTok Shop has become as a sales channel: 55 percent of companies are active on the platform, either domestically or internationally. The United Kingdom leads the way, although TikTok Shop has also been available there longer than in any of the other markets surveyed.

‘Essential rather than experimental’

According to ChannelEngine, seling on TikTok Shop, which is developing into a pan-European marketplace, is here to stay: “As TikTok Shop expands across markets, social commerce is increasingly becoming part of marketplace essentials rather than experimental.”