MARKETPLACE AS A SEGMENT OF THE E-COMMERCE MARKET

Abstract

The article is devoted to the comprehensive analysis of global marketplace development and its multifaceted impact on the functioning of electronic commerce in the twenty-first century. Particular attention is paid to the leading international platforms which dominate the global ranking, with a special focus on the Chinese players Taobao, Tmall, and JD.com that together concentrate more than sixty percent of sales among the top one hundred e-commerce websites. Their strategic role in shaping the architecture of online trade is contrasted with the presence of Western competitors such as Amazon and the fast-growing Southeast Asian platform Shopee, which highlight the regional diversification of the digital economy. The research emphasizes the dual nature of marketplaces for small and medium-sized enterprises. On the one hand, they reduce entry barriers by providing a ready-made technological infrastructure, integrated payment services, and logistics solutions. On the other hand, they generate substantial challenges, including high commission fees, intensifying competition, and dependence on constantly changing platform policies. Based on the TechNet-Ipsos survey of 2024, the article reveals that sixty-eight percent of small retailers reported attracting new customers through marketplaces, sixty-five percent experienced increased sales, and sixty-one percent confirmed that the use of such platforms became a key factor in business survival during periods of economic instability. At the same time, fifty-six percent of respondents pointed to excessive commission rates, forty-nine percent to stronger competition, and forty-three percent to persistent delivery difficulties. In addition to quantitative data, the article systematizes major advantages for both sellers and buyers: trust in well-known brands, enhanced transparency of the market due to price and review comparison, scalability that allows rapid expansion into new regions, and consumer-friendly mechanisms of delivery, payment, and buyer protection. The analysis concludes that marketplaces simultaneously act as drivers of innovation and as sources of structural risks for online commerce. Their further development requires strategic adaptation by enterprises, improvement of regulatory frameworks, and more balanced policies from platform operators in order to harmonize the interests of global corporations, local businesses, and end consumers.