Marketplaces and the ‘Halo Effect’ – what does it mean to be seen?

What does it mean to be seen on marketplaces?

Many Australian retail brands are still weighing up whether to begin or increase their marketplace presence. 

To us, it’s a no-brainer, given the shopping behaviours we’re now seeing locally and globally. 

The obvious reason to start selling on marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Catch, MyDeal, Woolworths, Bunnings and the like is to create additional revenue streams. That’s important.

When you have the right marketplace strategy, combined with strategic marketing and advertising, an increase in revenue is usually what happens. 

But how else can you measure marketplace success? Have you paused during your busy day to think about the additional benefits of marketplaces for your brand and products? 

It’s called the ‘Halo Effect’, and when applied through the lens of e-commerce and marketplaces, it’s about the indirect benefits of having your products and brand seen on marketplaces. 

Millions of people shop on the 50+ marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Catch every month. It‘s undeniable that Australians are embracing these platforms (and being influenced by their huge advertising spends) to make shopping (and browsing) on them part of their day or week. 

Yes, your product is up against a bunch of others for purchasing consideration, and even if you don’t win the ‘buy box’ for that purchase – what’s it worth to your company to have your brand introduced to a new customer and start a journey with them? 

With our clients, we see an average of 246% increase in brand awareness and 176% increase in product engagement simply for their products being where the shoppers are. 

With over 50 per cent of product searches now starting on marketplaces, your brand has the potential to reach millions of new customers – have you ever thought about what it would cost in advertising and marketing to reach this number of people? 

We tell our clients often, when evaluating the success of your marketplace strategy, don’t just look at marketplace sales. 

After going live on one or more marketplaces, sales will often increase on their own e-commerce store, or at the very least drive more traffic to the brand’s website, as well as foot traffic to their bricks and mortar stores. 

So often shoppers discover new brands on marketplaces but will make the transaction directly on a brand’s website, an example of the Halo Effect in action.

Product impressions and engagement statistics are also important – marketplaces are like giant online shopping malls. Product views are the same as a shopper picking up, trying on, and considering your product to purchase in a bricks and mortar store.

Marketplaces present an opportunity to be in front of shoppers that you’ve never been able to reach before. 

We talk a lot about the importance of being seen on marketplaces – when we create the right marketplace strategy for clients, which is then optimised and promoted well, we know that it increases their bottom line.